Spotlight Charity: FilmAid International
Each year the Fresh Voices Screenpaly Competition donates a portion of the competition proceeds directly to charity. We are pleased to announce this year, the 2015 Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition will be donating to Film Aid International.
What is FILMAIDall about? (courtesy - www.filmaid.org)
FilmAid is the film and TV industry’s leading humanitarian and development organization, harnessing the power and influence of film (and other media) to bring lifesaving information — along with hope and joy —to refugees and other communities around the globe affected by disaster, wars, displacement and economic disparity. We work at the front lines of human crisis: Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya, Nairobi slums, post-Katrina New Orleans, the Thailand-Myanmar border, Afghanistan, Haiti, and most recently Jordan.
Background
In 1999, as the war in Kosovo was raging, independent producer Caroline Baron tuned into a radio story covering the crisis. The report explained that the key necessities — food, medicine, and shelter —were being handled by large humanitarian aid agencies, but a big, unresolved problem facing the hundreds of thousands of Kosovar refugees was boredom and hopelessness. Coming from the film industry, this sparked an idea for Caroline: she would bring movies to the camps.
Within 48 hours, Caroline's idea had been set in motion. She mobilized funding from the film industry and assembled a crew of committed volunteers and a stash of films and left for Macedonia. They worked in the Macedonian camps screening educational shows about HIV prevention and landmine awareness between screenings of movies like E.T, classic Charlie Chaplin films and Tom & Jerry cartoons. FilmAid's experience in Macedonia and Kosovo proved the power of the big screen: films can restore hope and provide education and inspiration.
This project was so well received that the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and UNHCR invited FilmAid to extend and expand their activities on a global scale. Since 1999, FilmAid has worked with refugees, displaced groups and marginalized individuals from across the world, bringing them hope and helping to make their voices heard.
The breadth and span of FilmAid’s programs has grown over the years, but the foundation of all of our work remains in providing access through film —both to information and entertainment for psychological relief. Whether it is a life-saving informational video on cholera or a Charlie Chaplin masterpiece, we believe that films can change lives. With giant inflatable screens, and screens attached to the side of trucks, or a television set up under a tree, FilmAid’s Mobile Cinemas bring the power of film to the people who need it most. Individual programs vary from one region to another, but every FilmAid activity falls into one of three broad categories:
Making Media Communications is a critical component for international development and humanitarian operations. From post-crisis situations in refugee camps to urban development programs, FilmAid produces and distributes media content on critical social issues such as maternal health, HIV, Cholera, psychological health, early marriage, Gender Based Violence (GBV), human trafficking, conflict resolution and more. FilmAid works in close collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), governments, humanitarian NGOs, local communities groups and other stakeholders, to produce films, radio, community newspapers and other media that resonate with audiences, address their most pressing concerns and effect powerful change.
Mobile Cinema & Community Outreach Screening films to the communities who need them most, providing education and empowerment alongside much needed diversion and joy. Whether through a giant inflatable screen seen by thousands, or a simple television set transported by donkey & cart and set up under a tree, FilmAid’s Mobile Cinema program brings film to places and people it would otherwise never reach. Through screenings of targeted, locally produced content, critical information can be disseminated, saving lives and improving living conditions. Other screenings, of Hollywood favorites, or contemporary regional cinema, serve to provide psychological relief and offer a little of the hope and joy that is the magic of film.
Skills Development FilmAid is committed to a participatory approach, teaching skills and involving local communities with the media making process. Our training program empowers young people to tell their own stories in their own voice. Through film, photography, journalism, radio and digital media education, FilmAid gives individuals the creative and technical skills necessary to explore the concerns of their own communities and to express themselves creatively.
