Unity College renews its longtime partnership with the Camden International Film Festival this week, as a Major Sponsor of the annual event and by leading numerous panels and discussions about the environmentally-themed films being screened.

This year marks Unity College’s seventh year as a Major Sponsor of CIFF.

Over that time, hundreds of Unity College students have attended CIFF screenings during the festival and at a CIFF Selects series of screenings at the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts. CIFF Director Benjamin Fowlie is an Adjunct Professor of Humanities at Unity College.

“It’s a natural fit for Unity College to be a Major Sponsor of CIFF,” President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury said. “Science has always needed creative expression to turn fact into knowledge, knowledge into wisdom, and wisdom into social change. That’s why Unity College grounds its sustainability science education in the liberal arts and humanities. And that’s why we love the Camden International Film Festival.”

During this year’s festival, which runs today through Sunday, Sept. 18, Unity College students will attend film screenings and discussions, and Unity College faculty and staff will introduce films and participate in panel discussions on them.

Participating Unity College faculty and staff include President Khoury, Chief of Staff Dr. John Zavodny, Chief Fundraising Officer Erica Hutchinson, Assistant Professor of Environmental Humanities Deanna Witman, Assistant Professor of Environmental Communication Dr. James T. Spartz, and Assistant Professor of Environmental Humanities Dr. Joshua Kercsmar.

Khoury and Unity faculty will attend a screening of the Opening Night film Rats — a new form of documentary horror storytelling by Director Morgan Spurlock.

Later, Unity College faculty will moderate discussion regarding films such as “Salero,” a film about the world’s largest salt flat, Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, a pristine, otherworldly expanse of white; “Peter and the Farm,” offering a window into the bucolic but difficult world of organic farming; and “When Two Worlds Collide,” the tense, immersive Closing Night tour de force in which audiences are taken into the line of fire between powerful, opposing Peruvian leaders who will stop at nothing to keep their respective goals intact.

For more about the Camden International Film Festival and to view a complete schedule, visit its website or Facebook page.

Thursday, September 15, 2016