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Upstander Project Team
More than $3.4 million in grants awarded to ...

Upstander Project is thrilled to be one of the grantees as part of this year’s Boston Cultural Council/Reopen Creative Boston funding!

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New Feedback on Coexist

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What are viewers saying about Coexist?

Audience members yearn for more time to unpack the many messages of Coexist. Here are recent comments about both the film and the debriefing discussions facilitated by members of the Coexist team:

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"This is an excellent film. Of the various films I have seen on the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, this is the most truthful, the most real. It presents things as they are, not driven by the desire to show how wonderfully people reconcile. It shows the pain, the mistrust, with some glimmering of hope." -Professor Ervin Staub, author of Overcoming Evil: Genocide, Violent Conflict and Terrorism (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Founding Director of the doctoral program in Psychology of Peace and Prevention of Violence, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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Coexist was carefully and sensitively made, drawing in a variety of narratives, beliefs, and perceptions that underscore the complexity of mass violence. The video and educational programs serve as beneficial learning tools for American adults and young people who may not know much about Rwanda and have not been faced with the need for social healing and reconciliation after genocide. I especially appreciate the film for not offering simplistic remedies to the profound questions of how people live together, and live with themselves, after such atrocity. The film reminds us that we each face ourselves and manage our recovery differently, and that human beings have an astounding resilience." - Dr. Paula Green, founder, Karuna Center for Peacebuilding, and CONTACT Program, SIT (School for International Training Graduate Institute)

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"The power of the film and Mishy's way of inviting us to experience it deeply has Saturday evening still reverberating in me. So many levels of engagement arose as the evening progressed, with Mishy setting the context, with the brief history presented, with Mishy’s inviting and facilitating comments from the audience." - Sarah Conn, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist and Co-Founder, Earth Circles

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"Coexist is outstanding, in part because it brings up for viewers so many profound thoughts and feelings. The film underscores our capacity as humans for evil and betrayal and injustice. And Mishy's welcoming, context-setting, and facilitation of the debriefing were terrific." - Robert Ryan, Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness Consultant/Coach

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"Coexist is so evocative; it crushes the heart because it is so real and tells the truth about what did happen and what could happen. I feel edified by having seen it." - Brett Litz, Ph.D., VA Boston Healthcare System and Boston University

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Metropolitan Film Festival of New York

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Coexist has just been awarded an Honorable Mention in the documentary category at the Metropolitan Film Festival of New York!

Through Coexist we want audiences to become activists in their communities. We hope Coexist inspires dialogue with friends, family, and most importantly strangers and the "other". We encourage you to explore our site to learn more about our educational mission that we are working to achieve.

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The World Premiere of Coexist

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400+ guests gathered for the World Premiere of Coexist at Temple Israel in Boston on Saturday November 6th. They saw the 40-minute film which tells the stories of Rwandan genocide survivors, perpetrators, and bystanders. Reverend Hurmon Hamilton of Roxbury Presbyterian introduced the film saying that it is as much about "them" as it is about "us". Through Coexist we want audiences to become activists in their communities. We hope Coexist inspires dialogue with friends, family, and most importantly strangers and the "other". We encourage you to explore our site to learn more about our educational mission that we are working to achieve.