British Film Director Receives Recognition Award at DREFF

British Film Director Receives Recognition Award at DREFF
Santo Domingo, September 7, 2013

On the evening of Friday September 6, as part of the many activities of the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF), GFDD and FUNGLODE honored Director, Lucy Walker with a Recognition Award for Inspirational Documentary Films.

Ms. Walker is represented in this year’s DREFF with her film The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, which focuses on the aftermath of the devastating tsunami that hit Japan on March 11th, 2011. Nominated for a 2012 Academy Award for best documentary and having won the 2012 Sundance Film festival prize for short film in the non-fiction category, this inspiring documentary shares the journey of survivors in the areas hardest hit by the tsunami. They find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins – a symbol of hope and new beginnings in Japanese culture.

Lucy Walker received the prize, a small glass hummingbird bird, an overarching symbol of the DREFF. GFDD’s Executive Director, Natasha Despotovic, enthusiastically congratulated Lucy on the award and welcomed her participation in the DREFF 2013 with her short film, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, which was screened that evening.

Ms. Walker was extremely very happy to receive the prize and said it was an invaluable experience to come to the DR for the Festival. “I am just so honored to receive this award for Inspiring Documentary Films”, she humbly told Natasha Despotovic. “Well, honestly, I think your Muestra is inspiring in the education and awareness it raises. I am very touched, and it spurs me on to do more documentary films. I should do one in the DR!”

About the Director
Lucy Walker is a two-time Academy Award nominated British film director, whose films have won over fifty awards. On January 25, 2011 she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Waste Land, which she directed. The film has won over thirty awards including Audience Awards at Sundance and Berlin, the IDA’s Best Documentary and Pare Lorentz Awards. The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom is her second consecutive Academy Award nomination. Lucy was born in London, United Kingdom, where she began directing theatre in high school before continuing as an undergraduate at Oxford University. After graduating from New College, Oxford with a B.A. and M.A. in Language and Literature, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the graduate film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. There she won a contest to direct a video for Cowboy Junkies, directed three award-winning short films and earned an MFA.

The Recognition Awards are special acknowledgements, and DREFF congratulates Lucy Walker for earning this important recognition.

About DREFF
By screening a diverse selection of high quality films that deal with pressing issues, and by organizing discussion panels with environmental experts, filmmakers and other stakeholders, the Festival seeks to promote dialogue and inspire Dominican audiences to adopt practices that will ensure the country’s environmental sustainability and health.

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