We continue to be humbled and grateful that our award-winning documentary, A Plastic Ocean, continues to screen to large audiences around the world, and is still creating meaningful change.
That’s exactly what happened recently when the film had its premiere in Macedonia, screening to a sold out audience of 260 at the Cinema Frosina, in Skopje.
“Along with our local NGO partner, we appeared on two national morning TV talk shows to promote the Skopje showing,” said Kris McElwee, Assistant Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Macedonia. “In addition to a red carpet entrance, opening remarks from partners and U.S. Ambassador Jess L. Baily, we had a plastic-free cocktail reception afterwards, partly sponsored by Coca-Cola, a photo exhibit of solid waste problems and solutions in Macedonia and around the world, and booths hosted by our NGO partner and a couple other environmental organizations.”
The screening garnered quite a bit of media attention with Embassy and NGO partners appearing in various media, and here’s a great video put together by a member of the Embassy Youth Council that shows what a great event this turned out to be:
The second screening in Macedonia took place on April 20, at the Bitola Center of Culture (in south-central Macedonia), where a crowd of 90 guests filled the Small Hall. The event started with the same photo exhibition provided by the U.S. Embassy, with photos representing ecological problems and actions that every person can do in order to contribute to the process of preserving the environment. The exhibit was created by representatives of the U.S. Embassy Macedonia and environmental organizations. An NGO, SFERAMacedonia, also hosted a booth just before the start of the movie to present their work on recycling projects, what they have created, and how we can re-use most materials.
NGO partners educate at the screening in Bitola.
We are excited to learn that further screenings are being planned and that even the Coca-Cola bottler in Macedonia is interested in using the film as part of a program they run in schools to educate on the importance of recycling.
We applaud the U.S. Embassy in Macedonia, as well as our NGO partners, for making these screenings a runaway success … helping us to further make a wave of change!