Reviving Rivers, a documentary film that premiered at Barrington’s FLM FWD Environmental festival in July and took top honors there, has been awarded a top prize at Europe’s Kinosaray Positive Film Festival. 

Reviving Rivers is about community members successfully working together to reverse drought. 

“This really puts us on the map,” says FLM FWD artistic director Don Mays. “Kinosaray is an established festival in the Ukraine that spotlights uplifting films. Selecting an unknown film that goes on to win a prize over there just put both Barrington and FLM FWD squarely on the international film festival circuit.”

The Environment festival’s winning film came out of FLM FWD’s community-based selection process, an innovation launched this year. Fifteen Barrington residents selected a pool of semifinalists from 995 submissions from 94 countries. 

Then, the professional jury led by Mays, whose credits include HBO and The Public’s Radio, chose the top dozen finalists and the festival winner. 

“It was so neat to actually be part of the festival and to get to rate the films,” says Barrington resident Laura Murphy, one of the community reviewers.

FLM FWD Founder Lisa Lowenstein said the local festival was created to connect Barrington community members through film and spark discussions on issues that people care about in Barrington.

“It’s exciting that an established festival halfway around the world picked the same winner,” Lowenstein said. “It’s a testament to the power of our selection process. The reality is that right here in Barrington we can be part of a bigger, positive conversation about addressing our most urgent issues.”

Launched in August 2021 with a two-day outdoor festival, FLM FWD, a Rhode Island nonprofit producing film festivals on themes of environment, empathy, and youth, has since produced a variety of film-related events, mini-festivals and collaborations with the Bristol Art Museum and the NYC-based, Rockefeller Brothers–funded nonprofit EcoArt Project. 

Most recently, FLM FWD produced its second outdoor festival in July on the environment, transforming the Barrington Town Hall campus into what Lowenstein called “a European-style arts venue” where the top dozen film submissions were shown on a 40-foot screen.

FLM FWD’s second annual Empathy festival, originally scheduled for Aug. 26 and 27, has been rescheduled to the second half of October, according to Lowenstein. 

“Thanks to our partnership with Barrington Schools, we’re excited to have been offered the opportunity to show our winning films to the public in the school auditoriums,” says Lowenstein, a Barrington native and community-building strategy consultant who has collaborated frequently with WaterFire International and produced WaterFire Rome. “This lines right up with FLM FWD’s educational and community missions.” 

New dates will be finalized in the first weeks of the school year and will be posted on FLM FWD’s social media channels. 

In addition to holding the second annual Empathy festival, FLM FWD plans to screen the prize winners from this summer’s Environment festival, including Reviving Rivers, offering a second chance to see the films.

Spots available

There are still a few spots available on the community review council for the upcoming Empathy festival, which garnered 1,270 submissions, Lowenstein said. Those interested should contact info@FLMFWD.org. Students needing community service hours can inquire about community reviewing or other internships with FLM FWD. 

FLM FWD has a variety of community partners, including the Barrington Public Library and the RI Army National National Guard, and fiscal support from individual donors and the Blount Fine Foods Fund, as well as a grant from the Rhode Island Foundation. 

“It was great to find out that the Rhode Island Foundation is also supporting FLM FWD,” said Murphy, who was one of the festival’s inaugural donors. 

“Empathy, environment, community—these elements, necessary to thrive in the modern age, make this film festival special,” says Julio Friedman Ph.D., who recently joined FLM FWD’s advisory board. 

Dr. Friedman, who grew up in Barrington and recently served as principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy, is one of the country’s top experts on carbon removal. 

“I’m eager to add my support and voice to this extraordinary and brave new festival that fosters solutions, generosity, and insight—the cornerstones of humanity and innovation,” Dr. Friedman added.

“Starting from scratch during the pandemic, it was not a given that this could work,” Lowenstein said. “Seeing a film we premiered go on to win an international award, and having people from town I’ve never met get excited about the festival and want to pitch in…it’s pretty cool.”