Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/12/2018
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location
The Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts
The Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA . 02472
Wednesday, September 12, 2018 | 7:00 p.m.
$15 General Admission
Please join us for a screening of the award-winning, Kiss the Joy: The Story of Joan Lind Van Blom,” the story of Olympian Joan Lind Van Blom’s remarkable athletic rise which altered the landscape of rowing forever, was recently awarded Best Documentary – Honors at the Newport Beach Film Festival (Newport Beach, CA) where it premiered on April 28, 2018. Awards were announced Tuesday, May 8. In addition, the film also received the Staff Pick Award for the best documentary at the festival.
“Joan, as always, brings home a medal. Gold, as far as I’m concerned…just like her,” said Jean Strauss, Kiss the Joy’s Director and Producer.
Ms. Strauss, an accomplished rower herself, has generously made the film available for screenings throughout the country, with event proceeds directly supporting the Joan Lind Van Blom Women’s Sculling Endowment at the National Rowing Foundation.This endowment, established in 2015, supports women’s sculling on the national and international level.
Jean Strauss is a filmmaker and author living in East Brookfield, MA. The film was a three-year effort by Strauss, who wore every hat in the production, producing, writing, shooting, sound recording, and editing. A crowd of over 450 people attended the premiere, including Joan Lind Van Blom’s teammates from the pioneer era of US women’s rowing, her coach, Tom McKibbon, and several Olympians and National Team members, family. Festival programmers stated that the screening was “one of the best in NBFF history.”
Just 350 films were selected for the eight-day Festival from over 2500 films submitted for consideration. Founded in 1999, the Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) has evolved into a prestigious multicultural event, attracting over 55,000 attendees to Orange County, CA. The NBFF prides itself on bringing the best in new, local, international and critically acclaimed cinema to Newport Beach, CA.
The National Rowing Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to raising funds to support the U.S. National Rowing Teams. Founded in 1966, the NRF has been supporting Olympic and World Championship athletes for more than four decades. The funds raised support year-round training, development, and competition.