The Nashville Film Festival may not begin until tomorrow, but one award has already been announced. We have chosen “Remote Area Medical,” directors Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman’s document of the annual three day “pop-up” medical clinic organized by the non-profit Remote Area Medical (RAM) at the Bristol, Tennessee NASCAR speedway, as the 2013 recipient of the NPT Human Spirit Award.
The NPT Human Spirit Award, presented each year by NPT to a Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) documentary selection, acknowledges a filmmaker’s work that best explores and captures the human spirit. The film must illuminate in a high artistic manner the important characteristics of what it means to be human: generosity, kindness, mercy, compassion, fortitude and honor. The award will be presented prior to screening of the film at the Nashville Film Festival, Sunday, April 21, 4:15 p.m. at Regal Green Hills 16 Cinemas.
“‘Remote Area Medical’ hits close to home, capturing and communicating what it means to be human today, in Tennessee.” said the jury in a joint statement. “Doctors and Nurses who once flew to Central and South America to care for people with no access to basic health care now find they don’t even need to leave the U.S. to find those people. They can find them right here in our home state. This is a beautiful, moving and ultimately troubling film that viewers will be thinking about long after it’s over.”
The NPT Human Spirit Award jury is Kevin Crane, VP of programming and technology; Sheila Fischer, Corporate and Community Development Manager; Justin Harvey, program manager; Brian O’Neill, director of brand management and creative services; Linda Wei, producer.
“We are tremendously excited to receive an award like this in Tennessee, the state where our film takes place,” said Reichert. “We wanted REMOTE AREA MEDICAL to honor the resilience, resourcefulness, kindness and spirit of the great folks we met from Mountain City, Bristol, Kingsport, Rogersville and more, and we’d like to dedicate this NPT Human Spirit Award to everyone from the region who graciously invited us into their lives for a little while.”
The NPT Human Spirit Award comes with Nashville Public Television’s intention to broadcast the film so that others may celebrate the generous role that great filmmaking plays in our lives. Previous winners of the NPT Human Spirit Award are “Salaam Dunk” (Dir. David Fine, 2012); “Fambul Talk” (Dir. Sara Terry, 2011) “Raw Faith” (Dir. Peter Wiedensmith, 2010); “Crude” (Dir. Joe Berlinger, 2009); “Sons of Lwala” (Dir. Barry Simmons, 2008); and “The Clinton 12” (Dir. Keith McDaniel, 2007).
The 44th Nashville Film Festival takes place April 18-25, 2013 at the Regal Green Hills 16 Cinemas.
Remote Area Medical | Jeff Reichert & Farihah Zaman from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.
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