Encompass New Opera Theatre to Present PARADIGM SHIFTS, 2/26-3/9

Encompass New Opera Theatre, in association with the Environmental Education Fund, will present PARADIGM SHIFTS, a Music and Film Festival Bridging the Soul and Mind, at The Actor's Fund Arts Center, 160 Schermerhorn Street at Hoyt Street, in downtown Brooklyn from Wednesday, February 26 through Sunday, March 9, 2014.

Nine films - bridging indigenous cultures, women's wisdom, the global conservation movement and western science - will be screened as part of the festival. A notable inclusion is the American Premiere of Aluna on March 8th, in which filmmaker Alan Ereira documents his return visit to the Kogi tribe in South America, subjects of his earlier BBC documentary film, From the Heart of the World: The Elder Brother's Warning, which will open the festival on February 27th.

Living 18,000 feet above sea level, the Kogi are the last survivors from the world of the Incas and Aztecs who have come down from their isolated home with specific messages for the modern world. Alan Ereira, will do a Q&A via Skype with audience members on the films and what the Kogi want us to know on both evenings.

Each film showing will be paired with a live musical performance directed by Nancy Rhodes, Encompass artistic director and Mara Waldman, musical director. Uniquely matched to the film being shown, performances will range from new and classic American compositions performed by Encompass singers and instrumentalists, to Krgysz folk music and indigenous music from Native Americans, and a Jazz Quintet.

According to artistic director Nancy Rhodes, "Encompass has often brought music to the stage that speaks to environmental awareness and protection with Angel of the Amazon, about the rain forest, and works exploring science, spirituality and indigenous cosmology, with The Theory of Everything. Bringing this music and film festival to New York, together with our friends at the Environmental Education Fund, just seemed like a natural expression of our values as a cultural organization."

In addition to films and musical performances, each screening event will also include question-and-answer sessions with the filmmakers and individuals involved with the cultures, countries and organizations featured in the film.

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