Global Migration Film Festival Kicks Off in Minsk

Cinema and Migration. It’s a magical bond that began over a century ago when filmmakers, many of whom were immigrants themselves, began making movies about a world on the move. Their films brought the dramatic, poignant and comic stories of migrants to diverse audiences, through a language of images and emotions that were meaningful to every culture.

The Global Migration Film Festival was launched by the UN Migration Agency (IOM) in this spirit. The festival features new films that capture the promise and challenges of migration for those who leave their homes in search of a better life and the unique contributions migrants make to their new communities.

IOM’s first Global Migration Film Festival in 2016 took place in 89 countries. Some 10,000 people attended 220 screenings at cinemas, universities, cultural institutions and other venues. The festival hosted 13 feature films and documentaries and nearly 200 short films about and by migrants, as well as dozens of post-screening discussions and side-events.

This year the Global Migration Film Festival will take place on 5-18 December in more than 100 countries where more than 30 films in different languages will be screened.

In Belarus the official kick-off of the Global Festival took place on the World AIDS Day, 1 December 2017. The topic of the “Inside Story” film chosen for the pre-screening within the Global Festival, is migration and HIV, which basically determined the topic for discussion organized before the film screening. Thus, the participants of discussion talked about how migration influences health and HIV risks, why migrants’ rights to health could be violated and what the right to health means in general. Every participant had an opportunity to take an express saliva HIV test at the end of the evnt. The initiative was supported by Kate Tikota, fashion designer of the Belarusian brand TIKOTA UNIQUE, who regularly participates in information campaigns on HIV prevention.

The Global Migration Film Festival in Belarus was the part of the annual film festival “Human Dignity, Equality, Justice” organized by EU and UN Offices in Belarus.