Short Film NEVER FADE AWAY Will Screen at The Jamestown Arts Center In Conjunction With Their Exhibit, 'Second Time Around'

On Sunday, May 19th, at 4 pm, the Jamestown Arts Center (JAC) will present a special event featuring a screening of the acclaimed short film 'Never Fade Away.' Immediately following the film, Rhode Island PBS producer Lacy Warner will lead a thought-provoking talkback session. Notably, one of the film's central themes will resonate with the current exhibit at the JAC, 'Second Time Around,' creating a unique and engaging experience for attendees.

Never Fade Away features the history making dancer Chun Wai Chan the first Chinese principal dancer in New York City Ballet's 75 year history. Written, produced, and directed by pianist Donna Weng Friedman, Never Fade Away is the true story about her Chinese immigrant father who came to this country in the 1940s with nothing but his hopes and dreams, and how a radio and a waltz changed his life. It is a story told through narration, music, and dance, and has garnered forty-four laurels from film festivals worldwide.

The event will be filmed by Rhode Island PBS, parts of which may be included in an upcoming episode on ART Inc. A Rhode Island PBS Original, ART inc. is a digital-first series plus a half-hour magazine-style broadcast exploring the art around us, from the traditional and iconic - music, performance, visual arts - to unexpected discoveries: the art of crafting reef to table sea salt, of the Chinese tea ceremony, of creating a prosthetic eye. Through dynamic footage and narrative storytelling, ART inc. explores the full possibility of the arts: the diversity of who creates it and why, where art can take us, and why it takes us there.

From the JAC Website: Second Time Around brings together contemporary works that reimagine past stories, memories, objects, materials, images, and artistic practices in ways that further their meaning for the present and future. The exhibition scope emerged in conversation surrounding the change of seasons and the practice of cleaning out of one's closet. This yearly ritual involves revisiting artifacts that contain the traces of personal histories and passing them on to new owners who will give them new life. Considered in relation to the urgent need to promote everyday practices of sustainability at the local level, this deceptively mundane custom takes on much greater significance for our world now.

The works on display weave together narratives of resilience, revitalization, and repair using innovative conceptual approaches to material. Works cross temporal boundaries to highlight colonial histories and assert the visibility of diverse cultural inheritances. Others evoke the nostalgia attached to images, objects, and clothing, suggesting both the fragility and constancy of memory, as well as art's ability to heal. The layering of histories on the body is evident throughout the space, as objects play between the absence and presence of the body in images and material traces, or in embodied processes of repair and interactivity.

The Jamestown Arts Center is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary visual and performing arts space that hosts art EXHIBITIONS, cultural EVENTS, and provides art + design EDUCATION for all ages. The JAC is a leading arts and cultural hub where creativity, ideas, and innovation flourish. For tickets and more information about the JAC: https://www.jamestownartcenter.org/events/never-fades-away

For more information about Never Fade Away: https://www.donnawengfriedman.com/neverfadeaway

For more information about ART Inc.:https://www.ripbs.org/production/locals/artinc/

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