Hilton’s award goes to The Island President

The Island President, a documentary film featuring Mohamed Nasheed, the President of Maldives, is internationally acclaimed by Sundance Institute for the Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability Award. Launched for the first time this year, Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability Award is presented with US$25000 prize to two winners, to one feature film and to one impressive one going documentary project.

According to Sundance Institute, the winning documentaries of Hilton Award showcase the balance between sustainability, economic growth and development.

About 1500 feature length documentaries and 5000 short films were screened by Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program to select a winner for Hilton Award.

 The Island President directed by Jon Shenk is the proud winner of first Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability award.

The critically acclaimed documentary follows President Nasheed through his first year in office, showcasing a president’s effort to protect his people from threats of climate change.

This documentary gives a glimpse into climate summit in Copenhagen, and how, as the leader of one of world’s most low-lying states, President Nasheed meets the odds to turn tables to the favor of most vulnerable states.

Solar Mamas directed by Jehane Noujaim and Mona Eldaif was selected for the award from documentaries in-process.

This feature depicts the inspiring story of three spirit full grandmothers who travel to India’s Barefoot College to get expertise on Solar Engineering.  

They envision returning back their home with skilled hand to deal with energy crisis.

The awards will be presented to the winners this week, at the Sundance Film Festival. Hilton Worldwide will be screening the winning feature film, The Island President at special private event during the festival, following which, director Jon Shenk will speak about this project.

The Island President is scheduled to be released on March 28th. Hilton’s loyalty program, Hilton Honors is the official hotel sponsor of Sundance Film Festival under an agreement that extends to 2014. In partnership with Sundance Institute, Hilton Worldwide will also be supporting Sundance’s Documentary Program, by awarding grants to documentary projects focusing on sustainability issues.

 “Our partnership with Sundance Institute provides a platform for filmmakers to tell stories that can catalyze change and elevate dialogue around critical global issues,” Christopher Corpuel, vice president of sustainability, Hilton Worldwide, was quoted by media reports.

“The LightStay Sustainability Award recognizes these compelling documentary projects for their ability to highlight the complexities around the challenges of living in a resource-constrained world and create inspired solutions.”

Hilton’s partnership with Sundance celebrates their commitment to promote way of life that ensures a sustainable environment for all. Hilton Worldwide owns world top hotel brands totaling to 3800 hotels in 88 countries across the globe.

The Sundance institute, founded by Robert Redford in 1981, is a nonprofit organization that promotes independent storey telling.