RiverRun Announces Their 2016 Films With Class Lineup

By Staff

The RiverRun International Film Festival has announced three films to be showcased during the upcoming Festival ( to run April 7-17). These films, part of RiverRun’s Films With Class educational outreach program, will be privately screened by Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School students as well as shown to the general public during the Festival. RiverRun will announce the full film lineup for this year’s Festival on March 7, 2016, which will be accessible to the public the following day.

RiverRun’s Films With Class program, presented by Wells Fargo with additional support from Hanesbrands, introduces students to films they wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to see,” said Jane McKim, RiverRun’s Community Director and former educator. “These films not only enrich and enhance school curriculum, they provoke and spark insightful dialogue which in turn contributes significantly to the learning process.”

In addition to its regular programming, RiverRun presents free public screenings to students and participating schools throughout the year and during the run of the annual Festival. Films With Class is the most active component of RiverRun’s year-round events, and unique among film festivals. Through these efforts, RiverRun helps thousands of students understand the diversity of the human experience and the need for global understanding.

Films With Class works with K-12 educators and curriculum coordinators to find new ways of incorporating great films into the classroom. The program selects documentary films from around the world and creates lesson plans that enhance established curriculum goals. RiverRun also holds complimentary student-audience screenings during the Festival that offer students the “festival experience.” Since 2009, Films With Class has visited dozens of schools and provided enlightening experiences through film to more than 23,300 students in Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools.

The documentaries selected for RiverRun’s Films With Class 2016 Festival screenings are as follows:

THE ANTHROPOLOGIST (Directed by Daniel Miller) – Public screening April 14, 2016.
At the core of this documentary are the parallel stories of two women: Margaret Mead, who popularized cultural anthropology in America; and Susie Crate, an environmental anthropologist currently studying the impact of climate change. Uniquely revealed from their daughters’ perspectives, Mead and Crate demonstrate a fascination with how societies are forced to negotiate the disruption of their traditional ways of life, whether through encounters with the outside world or the unprecedented change wrought by melting permafrost, receding glaciers and rising tides. Discussion with filmmaker to follow the screening.

HELP US FIND SUNIL TRIPATHI (Directed by Neal Broffman) – Public screening April 13, 2016. Director Neal Broffman chronicles the tragic search for university student Sunil Tripathi who disappeared in 2013 in this stark case study in the constructive and destructive power of social media. His family and friends turn to online resources to find their beloved Sunil, which then turns on them in a cruel twist. While highlighting the limitations and unpredictability of social media, this story simultaneously demonstrates the invincibility of humanity.

MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE BRAIN: THE LIFE AND SCIENCE OF DR. MARIAN DIAMOND (Directed by Catherine Ryan) – Public screening April 12, 2016. Enrichment & plasticity – capabilities of the brain we now take for granted – were the scientific battleground where Dr. Marian Diamond decisively challenged the old view and changed forever our paradigm for understanding the brain. She is a beloved professor, worthy role model for women in science, and all round brain-whisperer. Discussion with filmmaker to follow the screening.

Now in its 18th year, RiverRun will run April 7-17 in downtown Winston-Salem. To become a member and view more information about the Festival, visit HERE.