newportFILM will present a special free screening of UNBOWED, an intimate documentary following the extraordinary life and work of Rhode Island refugee advocate Dr. Omar Bah, on Tuesday, October 6 at Hope High School Auditorium in Providence. (newportFILM)

newportFILM will present a free screening of “Unbowed,” a documentary about Rhode Island refugee advocate Omar Bah, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the Hope High School auditorium.

Doors open at 6 p.m., the film starts at 6:30 and a conversation follows at 7:20 with directors Mae Gammino and David H. Wells, Bah, and Refugee Dream Center Executive Director Teddi Jallow. Jessica Brown, an associate professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, moderates.

Bah became a journalist in The Gambia after walking into a newspaper office and offering to help expose government corruption. His reporting made him a target of then-President Yahya Jammeh’s government. He was tortured, learned a bounty had been placed on him, and fled, eventually resettling in Rhode Island. He now runs the Refugee Dream Center, which helps refugees rebuild their lives in the United States.

The film covers his life as a husband and father alongside his work, and follows him as he confronts the exile that shaped it.

“He is one of the most alive people I have ever met,” Wells said. “The camera didn’t have to do much except keep up.”

The screening is presented with Hope High School’s film production program, where newportFILM works as an industry partner providing students mentorship, workshops and hands-on production experience.

RSVPs are at newportfilm.com/films/unbowed.

Ryan Belmore is the owner and publisher of What's Up Newp. He took over the publication in 2012 and has grown it into a three-time Rhode Island Monthly Best Local News Blog (2018, 2019, 2020). He was named LION Publishers Member of the Year in 2020 and received the Dominique Award from the Arts & Cultural Society of Newport County the same year. He has been awarded grants for investigative and community journalism, and continues to coach and mentor new local news publications nationwide. Ryan...