President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue is an international cultural exchange program designed to enhance cross-cultural understanding, and collaboration by engaging audiences here and abroad through filmmakers and their films. By inviting exceptional U.S. and international filmmakers, Film Forward mirrors the diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints that are characteristic of the US, underscoring the importance of mutual understanding and respect for other cultures and traditions. 

Film Forward:  Advancing Cultural Dialogue chooses a carefully curated group of ten contemporary independent films, five American and five international, and invites the filmmakers to present their works in selected locations in both the United States and at American embassies and other venues abroad. Master classes, discussion panels, Q&As and other engagements between filmmaker and audience are programmed around the screenings in all locations, cultivating dialogue that highlights common values, helping to challenge stereotypes and open doors to other cultures and ideas.

Film Forward is an initiative of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and the Sundance Institute supported through an unprecedented collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.