Margaret Mead Film Festival Receive Grant From The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The American Museum of Natural History's Margaret Mead Film Festival has been awarded a FilmWatch grant by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to support community outreach in order to reach a broad and diverse audience of film festival-goers. The grant will also provide for travel expenses to bring documentary filmmakers and film protagonists to participate in screenings and related educational events.

The Margaret Mead Film Festival, the internationally recognized film festival for new documentary and ethnographic films that illuminate the history, complexity, and diversity of human cultures, was founded in 1977 to honor the pioneering anthropologist Margaret Mead, one of the first anthropologists to recognize the significance of film for fieldwork. It is distinguished by its outstanding selection of titles and by the forums for dialogue with filmmakers, invited speakers, and film protagonists. The Academy's FilmWatch grants support programs that create culturally diverse viewing experiences, promote motion pictures as an art form, provide a platform for underrepresented artists, and cultivate new and dedicated audiences for theatrical film.

This year's Mead Festival will screen 55 outstanding films representing 39 countries and host special events and performances from Thursday, October 18, through Sunday, October 21, at the American Museum of Natural History. This year's festival selections-including 14 U.S. premieres and four North American premieres-will focus on the theme "Resilience in Motion," documenting stories that celebrate individuals who are breaking new ground or breaking free despite challenging circumstances. Filmmakers and film protagonists from all but two of this year's featured films will be at the Museum to participate in panel discussions.

For more information on the 2018 Margaret Mead Film Festival, visit amnh.org/mead or call 212-769-5305.

The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869, is one of the world's preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses 45 permanent exhibition halls, including those in the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the Hayden Planetarium, as well as galleries for temporary exhibitions. It is home to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, New York State's official memorial to its 33rd governor and the nation's 26th president, and a tribute to Roosevelt's enduring legacy of conservation. The Museum's five active research divisions and three cross-disciplinary centers support approximately 200 scientists, whose work draws on a world-class permanent collection of more than 34 million specimens and artifacts, as well as specialized collections for frozen tissue and genomic and astrophysical data, and one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, it is the only American museum authorized to grant the Ph.D. degree. Beginning in 2015, the Richard Gilder Graduate School also began granting the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree, the only such freestanding museum program. Annual visitation has grown to approximately 5 million, and the Museum's exhibitions and Space Shows are seen by millions more in venues on six continents. The Museum's website, mobile apps, and MOOCs (massive open online courses) extend its scientific research and collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to additional audiences around the globe. Visit amnh.org for more information.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world's preeminent movie related organization, comprised of 8,000+ accomplished men and women working in cinema. We recognize and uphold excellence in the motion picture arts and sciences, inspire imagination, and connect the world through the medium of motion pictures. The Academy Grants program directly supports the overall mission of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: to recognize and uphold excellence in the motion picture arts and sciences, inspire imagination, and connect the world through the medium of motion pictures.

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