After a successful week-long public screenings to communities in Kakuma and Daadab refugee camp, the annual FilmAid festival is back in Nairobi .
The festival in its 11th year is set to showcase films and hold panel discussions with various stakeholders in the film industry and humanitarian organisations from 17th to 22nd September in Nairobi.
This will be followed by the highlight of the festival – FilmAid Festival Award gala dinner.
This years showcase will include screening of 50 selected films in strategic areas within Nairobi targeting urban refugees, Kenyans as well as the international community.
This year, the festival received over 1400 submission from creative storytellers, artists, filmmakers, journalists and photographers across the globe.
Speaking on the project, FilmAid Executive Director said, "We are thrilled with the submissions we got this year, the numbers improved significantly and this shows our commitment and vision of informing, inspiring and empowering refugees and marginalized populations is bearing fruit".
This year’s theme for the festival is My story. My voice. Your move.” a non-confrontational demand for dialogue, and is a self-confident assertion that refugee voices be included in any dialogue about their lives and their future.
The theme also captures the dynamism, determination and ‘swag’ of FilmAid’s remarkable Media training Class of 2018.
The film festival is held annually and it strives to fulfill FilmAid’s vision of informing, inspiring and empowering refugees and other marginalized populations throughout the world.
Through FilmAid’s extensive programming in Nairobi, Kakuma and Daadab, each year, FilmAid is able to train, support and empower more than 100 refugee youth to tell their own stories through the power of film.
This year’s festival will see around 14 student films from Kakuma and Daadab showcased. These include 6 fiction films and 8 documentaries.
The refugee films will additionally be shared through FilmAid’s online platforms, including the website, YouTube, Vimeo and linked through social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), and international film festivals.
