Description: Seats
at the Table depicts the
life-changing experience undergone by university students and maximum
security juvenile prisoners as they meet together to discuss classic
works of Russian Literature. This unique class reveals the common
humanity shared by these disparate groups when the opportunity to
form relationships to bridge differences is created by an innovative
educator.
Biography: Chris Farina was born and raised in Baltimore, one block away from Pulaski
Highway, which was the subject of his first award-winning independent
documentary Route 40,
made with Reid Oechslin. He continued this focus on roadside
communities with his second film, West
Main Street, another
collaboration with Oechslin, telling the stories of individuals who
lived and worked along this street in Charlottesville, Virginia where
Farina moved for his undergraduate education at the University of
Virginia and still resides. After obtaining an M.A. in Communications
at American University, he made another award-winning film, World
Peace and other 4th-Grade Achievements,
which had its world premiere in 2010, and has garnered awards at
several film festivals, including the Best Film-Audience Award at the
Bergen International Film Festival in Bergen, Norway, and the Youth
Vision Award at the United Nations Association Film Festival.
Farina’s award-winning short film, The
Holistic Life Foundation: Breathing Love into a Community,
focused on HLF’s work primarily focused on the youth of the
impoverished neighborhoods in west Baltimore.
