On Saturday, August 2, BigTown Gallery and the Architecture & Design Film Festival will present a powerful evening of film, conversation, art, and shared food. “Film / Talk / Food: A Community Event on Justice, Resilience and Recovery” invites locals and visitors alike to an immersive afternoon of reflection and dialogue.
The event begins at 3:30 p.m. with a screening of “Frank Gehry: Building Justice” at Rochester High School. Directed by Ultan Guilfoyle, the 2017 documentary follows visionary architect Frank Gehry as he challenges architecture students from Yale and SCI-Arc to reimagine prison design and the justice system itself. A Q&A with Guilfoyle will follow the screening, moderated by Kyle Bergman, festival director of the Architecture & Design Film Festival.
At 5 p.m., the conversation moves to the BigTown Gallery for an uplifting and compelling panel on resilience, recovery, and healing after trauma and conflict. The discussion will feature Dr. Theresa Betancourt, a global mental health expert with over 20 years of work in Sierra Leone; Betsy Small, educator, Peace Corps veteran, and author; and moderator Colleen L. Meaney, program director at Tremont School.
Beginning at 6 p.m., guests are invited to gather for food, drinks, and art in the garden and gallery. Chef PJ Lauriello will be serving seasonal wood-fired pizzas, with beverages from Foley Brothers Brewery (cash bar). Visitors can also explore BigTown’s current exhibition: “Being Here Now” and the My Place, Workshop exhibition a photography show exploring themes of place and belonging, and “Being Here Now,” which reflects on memory, loss, and presence.
As part of the evening, National Geographic photographer Jon Brack will be in the gallery from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. to answer questions about his photographs on view in the gallery that document the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, 30 years after the disaster. Step into one of his virtual reality experiences of these spaces and engage in casual Q&A about how we witness and interpret aftermath – both environmental and human.
This BigTown Gallery fundraiser, in celebration of 25 years of community programming in Rochester, is a community event open to all and promises an evening of engagement, dialogue, and celebration of the arts as a tool for renewal and connection.
This is the second BigTown Gallery FILM/TALK/FOOD event of the summer. The final event will take place on Saturday, August 30, with the documentary Beyond Zero about visionary entrepreneur, Ray Anderson. Following the film, Vermont environmentalist, author, and journalist, Bill McKibben will be discussing his most recent book, Here Comes The Sun available in stores on August 19.
For tickets and more information, visit the BigTown Gallery website: https://bigtownvermont.com/events
