Anne Makepeace to Appear for Screening and Discussion of Latest Film: "Rain In A Dry Land"
01.30.2008
LONGMEADOW, MASS. – Award-winning independent filmmaker Anne Makepeace will be at Bay Path College to discuss her documentary Rain in a Dry Land, which will be screened prior to her discussion. The event will take place Thursday, February 7 at 7:00 p.m. in the Blake Student Commons on the Bay Path College campus.
Rain in a Dry Land chronicles the journey and resettlement in America of two Somiali Bantu families from Africa. Beginning with “cultural orientation” classes in Kenya, where they are introduced to such novelties as electric appliances and the prospect of living in high-rise apartment buildings, the film follows the Muslim families on divergent yet parallel paths as they learn that the streets in America are definitely not paved with gold, especially for poor immigrants.
Connecticut-based Anne Makepeace has been a writer, producer, and director of award-winning independent films for more than twenty years. In 2003, Makepeace completed Robert Capa In Love and War for the American Masters series. That film premiered at Sundance and was broadcast nationally on PBS, as well as on the BBC and many other foreign stations. The film won a national prime time Emmy and the Voice for Humanity Award at Telluride MountainFilm. Coming to Light, her documentary about Edward S. Curtis, the pre-eminent photographer of Native Americans, was short-listed for an Academy Award in the feature documentary category, premiered at Sundance 2000, and was broadcast on American Masters/PBS in 2001, on Arte in France and Germany, and other foreign stations.
Joining Anne Makepeace at the Bay Path discussion will be Yasmine Ahmed, a caseworker for the New American Center for Jewish Family Services, two Somali Bantu women from Springfield, and Kathy Wiezbicki-Stevens, assistant professor of psychology at Bay Path College.
Registration for this program is not necessary. For more information please call Bay Path College Office of Special Programs at 413.565.1066.
