NewportFILM Moves NBS "Waste Land" Screening to Salve Regina

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NewportFILM has moved its screening of "Waste Land" indoors Wednesday night to the Salve Regina auditorium.

"Waste Land" was scheduled to be shown outdoors at the Norman Bird Sanctuary Wednesday night, but rain put a damper on those plans. The film will be screened at 7:30 pm at the Salve Regina Antone Academic Center/DiStefano Theater, located at the intersection of Leroy & Lawrence Streets, Newport, RI ,02840. Click here for tickets.

Still, given the advance publicity and rave critics' reviews of the film, "Waste Land" should still be able to find its Aquidneck Island audience. The highly acclaimed documentary artfully follows dumpster pickers in Rio de Janeiro and speaks to issues of social and environmental concerns.

Filmed over nearly three years, "Waste Land" was directed by Lucy Walker and follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of "catadores" -- or self-designated pickers of recyclable materials.

Muniz's initial objective was to "paint" the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both dignity and despair as the catadores begin to re-imagine their lives. Walker (Devil's Playground, Blindsight) has great access to the entire process and, in the end, offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.

"Waste Land" is among a series of NewportFILM-sponsored screenings this summer as the newly-formed group begins a year-round run-up to a film festival planned for the Summer of 2011. So far, the community has responded strongly to the first  screenings in Newport and Middletown. NewportFILM's opener, a free screening of "Nowhere Boy" at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport last month, drew 690 people to register for the event, while 350 people registered for the later screening of "No Impact Man" at Sweet Berry Farm.

NewportFILM founders Nancy Donahoe and Andrea van Beuren are bringing documentary films to Aquidneck Island as part of the group's goal to bring in "intelligent, thought-provoking films that help create a dialog between the filmmaker and the audience," said Van Beuren following the most recent screening at Sweet Berry Farm.

NewportFILM is gearing up to hold a larger film-centered event in 2011. The group is also seeking volunteers and sponsors. For more information, visit www.newportFILM.com.

What the Critics are Saying about "Waste land"

"A joy to watch despite the abject poverty it contains, "Waste Land" transcends the artist-doc format and has a broad emotional appeal that should ensure a warm reaction from theatrical audiences. Easily as concerned with social and environmental issues as it is with the fine-art career that sets it in motion, the movie never focuses on big issues at the expense of the individuals it encounters."
–The Hollywood Reporter