Rosendale Theatre Celebrates A Story of Invention

Celebrate, explore and investigate the role of invention and real-life problem-solving in an upcoming program at the Rosendale Theatre with the second installment in our Science on Screen Series. Building from two films available online, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind ( Netflix) and William and the Windmill (Kanopy), the Theatre has created original content to engage viewers in issues inspired by the story of William Kwambamba, a young boy from Malawi who used a library book to build a windmill and save his village from starvation.

From March 15 to March 31, this free series of mini-programs will be available online for viewers to watch at their leisure. Then on March 24, in celebration of National Science on Screen Week, all of the experts featured in the Rosendale Theatre videos will be available for a live Q and A. The original content, available on the Rosendale Theatre website (rosendaletheatre.org) includes: Visit to a Green Energy Lab with

Doni Wulandana, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at SUNY New Paltz, who is experimenting with turbine engines. See the lab and meet a student or two.

Students from Purdue Polytechnic, a STEM-focused high school in south Bend IN share their solutions to personal or community problems. Working under the direction of award-winning teacher, Andrew Goodin, we hope these projects from a highly diverse group of young people, encourage others to invent and dream big.

Understanding Book Donation Programs tells the story of the book that William used to build his windmill. Dr. Wendy Saul, formerly President of the International Book Bank, the organization that sent the book on energy to William’s library, explains the process of getting books to under-resourced nations.An African Perspective on William’s Story features Shereen Osoff , a native of Zimbabwe and now Executive Director of Jass (Justice Associates) and her colleague Joanne Sandler, formerly of the UN. Both speakers share their observations and insights on the film.

Filmmaker Cameron Zohoori, talks about differences between scripted and documentary presentations of story. Projects in varying media have taken Cameron from rural Kentucky to the streets of Monrovia. Cameron, a Lewis Hine Documentary Fellow, is committed to work that embodies a social justice perspective.

“Typically, were the Theatre open, we would show a film and follow it with an informative discussion by experts,” said Wendy Saul, producer of this program and a member of the Rosendale Theatre Board. In response to the pandemic, however, we are trying something new, offering more discussion material than usual, material that viewers can access asynchronously and that can be archived.”

The Rosendale Theatre’s “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Program” is part of a National Science on Screen initiative, in which engaging films are paired with lively discussions from experts in science, technology and medicine. This year, 37 cinemas nationwide (see https://scienceonscreen.org/grants) were chosen by Coolidge Corner, in collaboration with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, to participate. . For the 2021 season, the Rosendale Theatre chose to focus on 3 films: Coded Bias in February, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind in March and The Awakening to be shown in April.

Amazon will donate a portion of your purchase to the Rosendale Theatre! Go to smile.amazon.com and sign up for the Rosendale Theatre Collective.