OUTREACH &
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
OUR MISSION
We seek to change the current paradigm and promote meaningful discussion that bridges our widening political and social divisions through this film. We designed our film campaign to reach a large targeted audience of established and new readers of Faulkner, documentary fans, history buffs, educators, literary nerds and those who simply want to know how a nobody from a rural town pursued his passion and fulfilled his dream.
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Festival and Conferences releases to build audience and engage key partners
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Red Carpet Literary events to share the film and spark important conversations
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Unique Book Club presentations with scholars and team members
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Advocacy Screenings and Q&As at libraries, bookstores and classrooms
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Limited Theatrical release
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Educational release to colleges and universities around the world
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National PBS broadcast reaching millions of views
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Digital release on online platforms such as iTunes and Amazon
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Metaverse partnership events
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Pipes, Bourbon and Faulkner evenings
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Adult Literacy Campaign using Faulkner's short stories, like "Go Down Moses"
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Guided Faulkner Tours in Mississippi, Louisiana and Virginia
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Faulker wrote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Faulkner’s perceptive views “illuminated the crisis of conscience in race relations long before it worked its way out of the shadows.”
It may seem extraordinary that Faulkner continues to have a place in contemporary society given that his works take place within a particular local and historical identity.
But Faulkner’s views on his postage stamp of soil transcends time and place. The world needs William Faulkner. His voice is “a pillar to help us endure and prevail.”
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Meet Our Outreach Program Director
Andrew Weaver
To set up an outreach event,
call Andrew at
972-567-2527
Faulkner is considered one of the greatest American writers of all times. And yet his influence and connections go way beyond American borders and take us all the way to France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia, Poland, Mexico, South America, South Korea, Taiwan, China and more. Scholars continue to study his work and his current readership is in the millions.
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WHY?
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Because Faulkner is an ENIGMA. He continues to engage us in issues that are not past. Below are a few facts and connections that illustrate the reach and contribution of Faulkner's work.
"We love Faulkner because we consider him a revolutionary novelist."
Guardian Columnist Agnes Poirier on why the French love Faulkner
PETER BRODERICK JOINS TEAM AS PRODUCER IN MARCH 2023
French Connection
Faulkner's connection to French culture is substantial. Like many writers of his generation including Hemingway, Faulkner spent some time in Paris and paid attention to the rise of Sartre or Camus. The latter translated and adapted Faulkner's work including "Requiem for a Nun". A Knight of French "Legion d'Honneur", Faulkner was recently the second most-cited writer in a poll of France's favourite authors beating local literature heroes. He worked with Renoir, influenced Goddard's cinematography and is still considered in France a revolutionary novelist thanks to his bold, experimental sense of narration.
Faulkner in Japan
Faulkner was invited to Japan in 1955 for the Exchange of Persons Branch of the United States Information Service. His presence made the headlines all over Japan, where his work was resonating more and more with the local audience, finding in his stories of the defeated South an echo to their own very recent military disaster following the bombings of Nagazaki and Hiroshima.
"I believe that something very like [what happened in the American South] will happen here in Japan in the next few years--that out of your despair and disaster will come a group of Japanese writers whom all the world will want to listen to, who will speak not a Japanese truth but a universal truth.
Faulkner in Canada
Faulkner was not able to join the American army when the US entered WWI. Instead, he made his way up North to Canada and enrolled in the RAF, where he was trained as an officer of the Royal Air Force.
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Although it is unclear if Faulkner actually flew a plane during this time (and he certainly did not fight), this episode inspired him a specific persona and he enjoyed to pose as a uniformed officer for photographs and fun upon his return to Mississippi.
FAULKNER AROUND THE WORLD
Beyond Japan, France and Canada, Faulkner had a massive impact on writers in Europe and Asia.
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Literature Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan often quotes and is compared to Faulkner while Carlos Fuentes, arguably one of Mexico's most respected writer, dedicated him an entire essay called "The Novel as Tragedy: William Faulkner"