In Partnership with the Maine International Film Festival

Unity College to Host Maine International Film Festival Pre-Party at Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts on July 10, Special Preview of Documentary Film

Unity, Maine – July, 2008 – Unity College will host the Maine International Film Festival Pre-Party at the Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts in Unity on Thursday, July 10. The party is free and open to the general public and will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

The pre-party is co-sponsored by Unity College and UniTel of Unity, Maine.

Special guests include filmmakers who are participating in the festival, who will be housed on the nearby campus of Unity College, along with Festival Director Shannon Haines, Festival Programmers Ken and Beth Eisen, and Directors Christina Hemaner and Roman Keller.
Hemaner and Keller will screen a trailer of their documentary entitled A Road Not Taken, which will be among the works screened during the festival.

An item featuring A Road Not Taken by the Boston Globe is available online at http://www.unity.edu/NewsEvents/News/SolarPanelsMIFF.aspx.

A re-enactment of President Carter’s historic rose garden speech given during the installation of the solar panels atop the White House will be staged during the party.

This film was shot in part at Unity College and tells a timely story about American oil dependence and lack of will to pursue alternative energy.

The backdrop of the film includes the installation of solar panels atop the White House in 1979 by former President Jimmy Carter as a statement about the need to conserve and develop sources of alternative energy. The panels were ordered removed by former President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1990, the panels were retrieved from government storage and brought to Unity College. Among those who contributed to help refurbish the panels for use heating water in the cafeteria of the College was Academy Award winning actress Glenn Close, a summer resident of Maine.

In A Road Not Taken, Hemaner and Keller travel back in time and, following the route the panels took, interview those involved in the solar panel decisions, in the oil crisis of the time, and in the way that moment in time presaged our own era.'

Details of the 2008 Maine International Film Festival are available online at http://www.miff.org/about/.

The Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts is located at 42 Depot Street (off Route 202) in Unity, Maine.

Unity College is a small private college in rural Maine that provides dedicated, engaged students with a liberal arts education which emphasizes the environment and natural resources. Unity College graduates are prepared to be environmental stewards, effective leaders, and responsible citizens through active learning experiences within a supportive community.