31st Annual Black Ships Festival Gala
GoLocalProv Lifestyle Team
31st Annual Black Ships Festival Gala
Black Ships Gala
The event was a fusion of Japanese and American culture. Attendees enjoyed wine by Oyster Bay and music was provided by Koto musician Ms. Sumie Kaneko.
This evening also included dancing to music by Night Life Orchestra, a American Harvest Martini Bar, Signature Drinks by the Cocktail Guru, and Gekkeikan Sake. Sushi was provided by Haruki and Asian inspired American food by Russell Morin Fine Catering.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe annual live auction was a success with the Japan America Society of RI donating 100% of the proceeds to The Yamada Jr. High School in Japan.
Ceremonial Sake Drum
The breaking of the Ceremonial Sake Drum was one of the many highlights of the evening. This is a tradition in which the Gala host and invited dignitaries use a wooden mallet to crack the cover of the drum, and then all Gala guests are invited to sample the sake from Gekkeikan Sake. Rear Admiral Gardner Howe and Deputy Consul General Watanabe made special toasts to the country of Japan and the United States of America.
The evening’s honorary Gala chair, Senator M. Teresa Paiva Weed was honored and recognized during the event. The Gala committee co-chairs were Ms. Barbara Peters of Newport and Dr. Anthony Regine of Middletown. The Japan-America Society and Black Ships Festival of Rhode Island, Inc. is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization that offers educational, cultural and business programs to strengthen the American-Japan relations and international goodwill to the general public through awareness projects and special events. The Black Ships Festival Gala is one of their Annual fundraisers.
For more information visit here or call 401-846-2720.
newportFILM's Summer Lineup
Heartworn Highways Revisited
July 25 8:15pm
This year marks the 38th anniversary of the seminal music documentary, HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS, a film that explored and captured the nascent roots of the Outlaw Country movement in the mid-70′s. HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS REVISTED will celebrate the authenticity and express the feelings of the legendary original, via a community of contemporary “outlaws” living and creating music in Nashville, Tennessee.
92 minutes
Director: Wayne Price
Producers: Graham Leader & Brian Devine
The Ballad of Shovels And Rope
July 26 8:15pm
From working for tips to becoming the emerging artist of the year, a two-man family band uses hard work and ingenuity to create something out of nothing.
72 minutes
Director: Jace Freeman
Producers: Paul Bannister, Sean Clark
Keep On Keepin' On
July 31 8:15pm
First-time director/drummer from Australia, Alan Hicks, convinced his surfing mate and cinematographer, Adam Hart, to travel to the U.S. to follow and film 89-year-old jazz legend, Clark Terry (Quincy Jones's first teacher) over four years - to document an unlikely mentorship between Terry and a driven, blind piano prodigy, Justin Kauflin, 23.
86 minutes
Director: Alan Hicks
The Battered Bastards of Baseball
August 14 7:45pm
Chapman and Maclain Way’s energetic telling of one of baseball’s great, unheralded stories is as much about independent spirit as it is about the game.
73 minutes
Directors: Chapman Way, Maclain Way
Producers: Juliana Lembi, Nancy Schafer
Dior And I
August 21 7:45pm
In Dior and I, one enters the storied world that is the House of Christian Dior with a privileged, behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Raf Simons’ highly anticipated first Haute Couture collection as the iconic brand’s new Artistic Director.
90 minutes
Director: Frédéric Tcheng
Producer: Guillaume de Roquemaurel
Emptying The Skies
August 28 7:45pm
Based on Jonathan Franzen’s "New Yorker" essay, the powerful new documentary about the secret struggle to save the songbirds.
78 minutes
Director: Douglas Kass
Producer: Roger Kass
Mission Blue
September 04 | 7:15pm
Funded as a gift to the ocean and four years in the making, the Netflix original documentary MISSION BLUE is legendary oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle’s wake-up call to save the world’s seas. Directed by Fisher Stevens (“The Cove”) and Robert Nixon (“Gorillas in the Mist”), the film follows Dr. Earle on her global quest to protect the ocean from the powerful forces of pollution, overfishing and climate change.
95 minutes
Directors: Robert Nixon, Fisher Stevens
Cast: Sylvia Earle, James Cameron, Michael deGruy
