The Sag Harbor Whaling and Historical Museum will be presenting Sag Harbor and the World: Strength in Diversity, an emerging arts film festival, on Saturday, September 9, at 7:30 p.m. The festival will showcase a series of short films by young, local artists. Films will be shown in an outdoor theater setting on the Museum grounds.
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Sailor Brinkley Cook will present Identity and Freedom – Episode:3. (Photo: Owen Hoffmann/PMC) |
“I shot visuals of my subjects first, in a place they said to feel most themselves, and interviewed them last because I wanted the videos to feel separated (and yet brought together) by how their identity is viewed publicly and how they truly view themselves as [self-perception],” said Sailor Brinkley Cook, one of the filmmakers featured in the festival. “I hope to keep this project going and explore these ideas more until I run out of people to interview.”
Through their films, the artists hope to bring a new perspective to their audience about the “similarities we share with people we label as different”. The ultimate goal of all of the featured films is that if we want to live well then we must get along with one another despite our differences.
Sag Harbor and the World: Strength in Diversity will include works by Sailor Brinkley Cook, Vincent Urban, Jackson Hyland-Lipski, Nicholas Whelan and Dave Fitzpatrick.
Brinkley Cook is a photography major and psychology minor at the Parsons School of Design. She will be presenting her film Identity and Freedom – Episode:3, which she started as a way to dive deeper into her thoughts in times of despair.
Urban will be presenting his film In Lebanon – during the Syrian Crisis, 2014. For this film he traveled to Lebanon to capture what life was like for Syrian refugees living in the Bekaa Valley. He was hosted by MEDAIR, a humanitarian organization that helps newly arrived refugees establish safe shelters.
“This film is a collection of sights and sounds from our experience in the informal settlements of the Bekaa Valley where more than 130,000 Syrian refugees are seeking safety,” Urban explained. “The government has been hesitant to allow formal refugee camps, so these families are living in makeshift shelters on rented farmland from Lebanese farmers with little to no amenities such as water and sanitation.”
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Vincent Urban will be presenting his film In Lebanon – during the Syrian Crisis, 2014 |
Hyland-Lipski received a BA in film and philosophy with a minor in writing from Northeastern University and currently works as both an activist and filmmaker. He is also currently on the National Team of Women’s March as the videographer/Head of Web Development and Head of Special Projects for Women’s March Global. Lipski’s film A Day without a Woman will be played at the festival.
“March 8th, 2017 was International Women’s Day. For this day, Women’s March decided to create an event called ‘A Day Without a Woman’ to amplify the necessity of women’s rights and shed light on the numerous issues under that umbrella,” Hyland-Lipski explained. “I filmed, edited, and composed the music for this video within two days so that it could be released quickly by Women’s March.”
Nicholas Whelan uses his drummer background to tell stories through rhythm and sounds. He hopes to bring a new perspective to his audience and change the way that we see both ourselves and the world around us through his films such as, A Refugee’s Story – Rezwan, which takes a look at the growing refugee population in Belgrade, Serbia.
Lastly, Dave Fitzpatrick will be presenting From the Head to the Heart. This film was shot over five months and explores an education start up in Southern India. Fitzpatrick’s goal was to create a series of “Empathy Challenges” – short films that help us all move towards a more understanding and accepting future.
This event is free and open to the public. Seating will not be provided so everyone is encouraged to bring chairs/blankets. The rain date for the event is Sunday, September 10, at the same time.
The Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum is located at 200 Main Street in Sag Harbor. For more information call 631-725-0770 or visit www.sagharborwhalingmuseum.org.
