Manila – From Guyana in South America to Manila in the Philippines (and many other places in between) filmmakers from around the globe will soon showcase their skills as cinematographers at the Global Migration Film Festival (GMFF). 

Organized by the UN Migration Agency, IOM and supported by UN Information Centers worldwide and with the financial support of DHL, the festival will take place in over 100 countries from 5 to 18 December 2017.

In the Philippines, IOM is partnering for the second year running with Alliance Française, which will host some screenings in Makati. This year, the festival has grown and counts among its partners, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts who will be hosting the Festival on the 14th in Manila.

Of special interest for the Philippines will be the screening of the Filipino award winning short film, “Twighead,” which recently won the PLURAL + 2017 Together Award for the Up to 12 age category. The claymation film was created by young Filipino filmmakers, Precious Mika Elnah Quilaton, Ace John Quintos, Reuben Perez, and Lohan Povenyca Parcon, with their producer, Breech Harani.

The second edition of the annual Festival will explore the challenges and promises of migration, the heterogenous journey of migrants, moving from one location to another, settling for temporary or permanent periods, in search for a better future and economic prosperity, reuniting with loved ones, or fleeing war and despair.

Films have the power to show different facets of life, through which viewers may cultivate deeper empathy for migrants and a better understanding of their realities, needs, perspectives and capacities. The objective of the Festival is to use films as educational tools that influence perceptions towards migrants bringing attention to social issues.

The GMFF is not only spreading migration stories around the globe to inform, inspire, educate and transform, but it is also bringing the skills of storytelling through filmmaking, to vulnerable communities. 

The GMFF is a partner of PLURAL +, a youth-produced video festival annually organized by IOM and United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), United Nations Information Centres (UNIC), and the UN campaign, TOGETHER, which aims to change negative perceptions and attitudes towards refugees and migrants.

A full list of the films can be found here.

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For more information, please contact:

IOM: Alfred Caballero: acaballero@iom.int
UNIC: Maria Teressa Debuque: debuque@un.org