This year's Oscar® Experience is on Sunday, February 24th, 2013. Join us for an evening of elegance as we celebrate an amazing body of cinematic work.
SOLD OUT!
The Oscar® Experience: Providence is one of only 46 official parties sanctioned by the Academy to host an official Oscar® telecast viewing party on Oscar Night®
The Oscar® Experience: Providence is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' grassroots program that enables not-for-profit charities to host glamorous parties centered around Oscar Night while raising much needed funds. In 2013, the FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) has again been selected to host Rhode Island’s only officially Academy sanctioned party, one of only 46 official parties throughout the country.
On Sunday, February 24, 2013, guests will experience the thrills, surprises and excitement of the 85th Academy Awards® at Rhode Island's Oscar® Experience party which will be held at the The Vets , 1 Avenue of the Arts, Providence.
The Black Tie optional evening is chaired by Steven Feinberg, Executive Director of the RI Film and Television Office with RIIFF Advisory Board President, Michael Drywa, Esq. WLNE, ABC6 is the media sponsor and will be providing live coverage for our Red Carpet entrance to the event. Music will be provided by Lois Vaughn. Our hosts for the evening: Doreen Scanlon and Mark Curtis.
The cost is $85 for tickets.(Special reduced table rates are available.)
The elegant event will feature live coverage by our friends at ABC6, a Red Carpet entrance and reception with Paparazzi, Producer Circle Awards, hors d'oeuvres, drinks, live music, silent auction, a sit-down dinner, gourmet desserts, raffle of VIP Passes to RIIFF 2013, and of course screening of the Academy Awards.
This year's special Red Carpet Guests include: Anne Conway, Museum of Work and Culture/RI Historical Society; Jocelyn Donaghue, Jamestown Center for the Arts; Rob George, I.A.T.S.E, Local 23; Michael Janusonis, Arts Writer, Providence Journal; and Michael Ryan, Rhode Island Film Collaborative.
The FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF), now in its 17th year, has secured its place in the global community as the portal for the best in international independent cinema; earning the respect of domestic and foreign filmmakers, filmgoers and trend watchers. This confluence of art and commerce brought together world-class celebrities, award-winning filmmakers, new talent and audience members in record numbers last year.
Funding generated by The Oscar® Experience: Providence will be used to not only underwrite the Festival’s 17th Season in August, it will support such community outreach and educational programs as the Youth Film Jury, Rhode Island Film Forum; Cine ¡OLÉ!; the Golden Jasmine Chinese Film Festival; the Vortex Sci-Fi Film Festival; the New England Student Film Festival; the Providence GLBT Film Festival; the Providence Underground Film Festival; the Roving Eye International Film Festival; the RIIFF Technology Forum; the 7 Day PSA Competition; the KidsEye™ Summer Filmmaking Camp; Flickers North Country Film Festival; ScriptBiz™; the RI International Horror Film Festival; the Flickers North Country Film Festival and the Québec Film Festival (new for 2013).
“Many people do not realize that programming created and produced by the Flickers takes place throughout the year,” stated George T. Marshall, Executive Director/CEO. “From specialized screening events to internships, Flickers provides an ongoing opportunity to discover all the elements that compose the cinematic arts.”
2013 sponsors for The Oscar® Experience: Providence hosted by the Rhode Island International Film Festival include the RI Film and Television Office, WLNE TV6, WSNE, PMA Industries, Anna Begins: Vintage Apparel plus Retro Design, Dominion Diagnostics, Amtrak, Cabot, Just Ellen's Catering & Event Planning, Narragansett Creamery, Decadent Catering, Quality Rental, The Valet Connection, Woodchuck Hard Cider, Unibroue, Newport Storm and Soul Cachaca.
Makeup Services for Presenters and Honorees provided by Olga Hawwa, Licensed Esthetician and Makeup Artist, www.makeupandimage.com (401-353-4656). Video Blog courtesy of the Roger Williams University Film Production Club. Mike Braca of Rhode Eye is the event photographer.
For sponsorship opportunities or information, please contact Dana Schraudner, Events Associate at 401.861.4445 or dschraudner91@film-festival.org
ABOUT this Year's Red Carpet Honored Guests:
• Anne Conway, Museum of Work and Culture/RI Historical Society
Anne is Co-Director of the Museum of Work & Culture, a division of the RI Historical Society. Located in Woonsocket, RI the Museum opened its doors in 1997. Each year, hundreds of students of all ages, along with visitors from near and far, come to discover the compelling story of immigrants who came to find a better life in the mill-towns along the Blackstone River Valley in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For the past 15 years, Anne has been responsible for the day- to- day operations of the Museum, fundraising activities, special events, and programs. Working with various community leaders, Anne started the Museum of Work & Culture Preservation Foundation in 2007; a private non-profit organization with the mission of rising funds to insure sustainability for the future of the Museum. Recently, she spearheaded the project to translate the exhibits into French, making the Museum one of the only bilingual venues of its kind in New England.
Prior to the opening of the Museum, Anne was on the planning committee for the former Jubilé Franco-Americain, where the RI International Film Festival had its debut. In 1998, she was instrumental in bringing the Farrelly Brothers’ East Coast Premiere of the smash hit movie “There’s Something About Mary” to the Festival and the Stadium Theater.
More recently, she served as a member of the Champlain Committee, working with the Québec Government and representatives of each New England state to create and dedicate a monument for Québec City’s 400th Anniversary. Currently, she is working with the RI League of French Organizations, Rhode Island International Film Festival, the Québec Delegation, and the Canadian and French Consulates in Boston to plan a series of programs and activities for the month of Francophonie, a celebration of French language and culture which takes place in March each year.
Anne is originally from Québec City, Canada. She lives in Cumberland with her husband, Peter, their three children, and their dog, Samson.
• Jocelyn Donaghue, Jamestown Center for the Arts
Jocelyn Donaghue is a thirteen year resident of Jamestown, RI and has been working with George Marshall and the RIIFF for twelve years. During her eleven years as the Film and Visual Arts Director at the Courthouse Center for the Arts she programmed and presented monthly screenings of RIIFF films – which received a “Best of RI” award from RI Monthly magazine. In addition, the Center was a venue for the Main August film festival screenings and a “Best of the Fest” program presented in September.
She is a graduate of Princeton University and holds a degree in illustration from the Parsons School of Design. She spent ten years in New York City working in the advertising industry, at HBO and as a production coordinator on independent films. In the mid 1990s she worked in Pakistan with Afghan refugees and then spent three years in Uzbekistan working with an Educational Exchange program for Uzbek youth.
Five years ago she and five fellow arts enthusiasts created the Jamestown Arts Center (JAC) which has become a vibrant center for arts education, gallery exhibitions, theater and music productions and most importantly a monthly film program showing RIIFF short films on the third Thursday on the month from October through June. The Jamestown Arts Center also is a venue for the main RIIFF in August. She continues to serve on the JAC Board of Directors and to collaborate with the RIIFF in bringing the best of the short film genre to southern Rhode Island area. She is also the Shorts Film Programmer at RIIFF.
• Rob George, I.A.T.S.E., Local 23
Robert George is Rhode Island-based an audio engineer, cinematographer, artist,
photographer and musician. He has been a member of IATSE Local #23 since 2007, where he
works as a stagehand and is currently the House Audio Engineer at the Veteran's Memorial
Auditorium in Providence, RI, (the home of FLICKERS and the Rhode Island International Film
Festival) and IATSE Local #11, where he works as a stagehand and camera operator at the
Comcast Center (formerly Greatwoods) in Mansfield, MA
After serving in the US Army as an Airborne Ranger, Squad Leader and Operations NCO,
Robert attended the University of Rhode Island, where he studied US History and Film with
renowned Cinema scholars Don Kunz, John Leo and the late Marjorie Keller. As a student,
Robert wrote the petition to the RI Board of Governors of Higher Education in support of
approval for the University's Film Studies major. The petition, which garnered over 700
signatures from student and faculty, was a key component in the Board's decision to give URI the
final approval for its Film major program, which today is on of URI's fastest growing and most
popular fields of study. While at URI, Robert served as the first student representative on the
University's Film Studies Committee and went on to become the first graduate of the URI
Bachelor of Arts in Film Media program in 2006, when he graduated Magna Cum Laude and was
inducted in the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society. Robert also acted as the Director of the
URI Visualizations Film Festival from 2005 to 2008.
Since graduation, Robert has dedicated his professional life to the Arts. As a guitarist, he
has performed throughout the region with his current band Area 51 and has recorded projects
with Grammy nominated artists Joe Parillo and Chris Gorman. As a cinematographer, he filmed
Super 8mm footage for the documentary Holy Water-Gate (Best Documentary, RIIFF 2005)
along with several rock videos and has recently shot concert IMAG video for such groups as
Soungarden, Phish, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Ozzie Osborne/Ozzfest, Def Leppard, The New York
Dolls, Journey, Slayer, Motorhead, Motley Crue, The Further Festival, 311, Sublime, Velvet
Revolver, Alice In Chains, Pat Benetar, Chicago, The Doobie Brothers, Drake, Cypress Hill, Wiz
Khalifa, Bill Cosby, NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Former Secretary of State Colin Powell. His
work as a scenic artist can be seem in the films Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) and Tell Tale (2009).
As an audio engineer, Robert has worked with Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor,
President Bill Clinton and the 2009 Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama, as well as
countless regional and national Rock, Country and Jazz artists. He has also served as a
projectionist and sound engineer for the Rhode Island International Film Festival since 2005.
In 2005, Mr. George acted as the Festival Director for the Rhode Island Hurricane Relief
Festival, which raised money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He has also been active in the
efforts to support the victims of the Station Nightclub Fire and has recently worked on concert
productions for the Wounded Warrior Project, The Jake and Lily Fund, the North Attleboro
Firefighter's Kids Day Festival and the Hasbro Children's Hospital.
Robert lives in Rhode Island with his wife Laura and children Sam and Maya.
• Michael Janusonis, Arts Writer, Providence Journal
Michael Janusonis has been the Providence Journal film critic since February 1976. Over the years he has reviewed more than 200 films a year, some of them actually good, often traveling to Boston for advance previews two, three and even four (!) times a week . . . sometimes seeing two a day. He has covered the Academy Awards presentation in Los Angeles 10 times for the Journal and the late lamented Evening Bulletin. Over the years he has interviewed so many film stars, wannabes, has-beens, directors, producers, animators that he has lost track. Suffice it to say everyone from Woody Allen to Elizabeth Taylor to William Holden to Jack Lemmon to John Travolta to Jane Fonda to Ginger Rogers to Olivia de Havilland to Tom Cruise to Emma Stone to Steven Spielberg to Martin Scorsese and Rhode Island's own Viola Davis, Richard Jenkins, James Woods and on and on and on. The only great insight gleaned from all of this is that he can name all of Elizabeth Taylor's eight husbands . . . in order.
• Michael Ryan, Rhode Island Film Collaborative
Mike Ryan is one of the founding members of the Rhode Island Film
Collaborative, where he produced or co-produced Rhode Island's 48 Hour Film
Project for several years and spearheaded numerous educational initiatives,
including ones in partnership with RIDOT, The Apeiron Institute, The Media
Educators Alliance, URI, Kidventures and the Providence After School
Alliance. He currently serves as a producer of Rock & Reel, a project to
unite local filmmakers with local musicians, and teaches at URI, where's
he's taught in the multimedia certificate program for 15 years. This year,
Mike became the publisher of Motif Magazine, an RI alternative arts and
entertainment paper, where he plans to introduce multimedia coverage.
Mike owned and operated his own web development company, NewMedia Advantage, for five years before being acquired by Envision Technology Advisors in early 2001, where he worked as a partner and director of web development for the next ten years, helping the company grow from 4 to 30 employees. In his career, he has managed projects for clients of all sizes – from one-person hobby sites to sites for fortune 500 companies, including Titleist, Fleet Bank, Narragansett Bay Insurance, Met Life and Amica Insurance.
A 1991 Princeton graduate with a degree in social psychology, Mike also holds a degree in advertising and public relations from Johnson and Wales University and an Advertising Design degree from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
Oscar® Experience: Providence Committee Members :
Steven Feinberg, Honorary Chair
Michael Drywa, Esq.
Lawrence Andrade
Nicholas Belt
Carol Conley
Matthew Connolly
Dr. Ana Cella Grenier
Adam Grenier
Olga Hawwa, Consultant
Ellen Loconto, Consultant
George T. Marshall
Dean MIstretta, Consultant
J. Scott Oberacker
Shawn Quirk
Nick Palermo
Duncan Putney
Dana Schraudner
Doreen Vitale
Plus members of the RWU Film Production Club and class member of "Curation and Film Festival Production"
ABOUT The Oscar® Experience: Providence:
Since its inception in 1994, the program has generated nearly $30 million in funding for a wide spectrum of charitable organizations. Formerly known as "Oscar Night® America," The Oscar® Experience: Providence Party in Providence, Rhode Island will raise vital funds to enable the Rhode Island International Film Festival to further its educational and arts outreach efforts and underwrite RIIFF’s August 2013 season.
ABOUT The Academy
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards – in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners – the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; provides financial support to a wide range of other movie-related organizations and endeavors; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.
ABOUT Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival:
The mission of FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival is to discover and empower filmmakers. Held in Providence, and at locations throughout the state, RIIFF is one of only 75 film festivals worldwide that is a qualifying event for the Oscars. It is also New England’s largest film festival. Its innovative programming, cultivated industry ties, and loyal audiences have made the Festival a strategic and desirable platform for film premieres, drawing hundreds of independent filmmakers from around the globe. The next Festival will take place August 6-11, 2013. For more information about the festival, please visit www.rifilmfest.org.
For student rate, please call our office at 401.861.4445
NO EXCHANGES OR REFUNDS. ALL SALES ARE FINAL. QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED AND MAY SELL OUT AT ANY TIME
The Oscar® Experience: Providence is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' grassroots program that enables not-for-profit charities to host glamorous parties centered around Oscar Night while raising much needed funds. In 2013, the FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) has again been selected to host Rhode Island’s only officially Academy sanctioned party, one of only 46 official parties throughout the country. 
This year's special Red Carpet Guests include: Anne Conway, Museum of Work and Culture/RI Historical Society; Jocelyn Donaghue, Jamestown Center for the Arts; Rob George, I.A.T.S.E, Local 23; Michael Janusonis, Arts Writer, Providence Journal; and Michael Ryan, Rhode Island Film Collaborative.
“Many people do not realize that programming created and produced by the Flickers takes place throughout the year,” stated George T. Marshall, Executive Director/CEO. “From specialized screening events to internships, Flickers provides an ongoing opportunity to discover all the elements that compose the cinematic arts.”
• Anne Conway, Museum of Work and Culture/RI Historical Society 
• Jocelyn Donaghue, Jamestown Center for the Arts
• Michael Janusonis, Arts Writer, Providence Journal 
• Michael Ryan, Rhode Island Film Collaborative
ABOUT The Academy
