Remarks at Society of the Snow Film Screening and Reception

Elizabeth M. Allen:  Well, thank you Ambassador Moreno.  Thank you, Charlie my friend, and the MPA for hosting us – you are incredible partners to us in this work.  To Ruchi and the Netflix team, thank you so much.  Netflix is not only a great partner to us in the U.S. government but an incredible platform for global storytelling, really giving voice to authentic stories around the world.  And we really appreciate you and the whole Netflix team’s partnership here.  To Ambassador Moreno and Ambassador Durán, the embassies of Uruguay and Spain, we’re so pleased to be your partner in this event.

I will say that in addition to being a representative of the State Department here today, I am a film buff.  So, this is exciting.  And award season is a time where we can have nice things and find some joy and really understand the power of storytelling.

I also too want to shout out Susan Koch, she’s our partner at the Middleburg Film Festival.  It’s worth me mentioning that this screening tonight is the first in a series of screenings that the State Department and the Middleburg Film Festival will be sponsoring with embassies across Washington in the year 2024.

And I’ll use my brief time up here maybe just to comment on the question I’ve already been asked tonight, which is, why does the State Department believe in the power of this programming?  Why is the State Department a partner?

And I would offer simply that cultural diplomacy is diplomacy.  And storytelling is a tool of diplomacy, which makes it a tool of national security.  And it is something that we strongly believe leads to better outcomes, right?

There’s so much discussion about how we create understanding in this world that can feel quite divided and quite complex.  And as Charlie mentioned, culture is a way to forge understanding. It’s a convening power – it’s a way to break down barriers, get past divisions, and start conversations that otherwise would not exist.

And I think often we think about forging agreement in this world when we really believe we need to be forging understanding.  It’s that understanding of each other that allows us to create solutions for problems, to create better economic outcomes, security outcomes, and humanitarian outcomes.

A lot of those conversations – a lot of that understanding – starts with culture.  And we know that culture and storytelling are ways in which we’re going to forge relationships between people around the world, not just governments around the world.  And it’s going to take everybody to forge the future that we all want to see.

So, in the spirit of that relationship building, of honoring storytelling, and of honoring authentic voices – I want to say congratulations to the entire film team.  Very excited to watch your success and to watch the awards.  And thank you to all our partners here today.  And so with that, the Honorable Ambassador Durán.