Projecting Hope on this World Refugee Day

Camp Villambetta, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Dear Friend,

43 million. The number of refugees and other displaced people is at the highest it's been since the 1990s, and so on this World Refugee Day, we're working harder than ever to harness the power of film to help bring inspiration, self-empowerment and life-saving information to refugees around the world.

Coming from the film industry, I've long believed in film's unique capacity to connect with audiences on a deep, emotional level. Since joining FilmAid as Executive Director this spring, each day has only strengthened my conviction that film - from inspirational Hollywood and Indie fare to locally produced narratives addressing critical health and safety issues - has enormous power as a force for good.

But don't take my word for it. Check out some of the work we're doing.

Here's a short documentary made by refugee filmmakers in Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp, part of our Participatory Video Project which trains young filmmakers and provides a platform for them to tell their own stories. The seven minute film gives a taste of what life is like in a refugee camp.

Or follow the children of Dadaab Refugee Camp as they learn animation skills to create a film about HIV/AIDS.

This past March we completed our fifth project in Haiti since the earthquake, screening the Haitian presidential debates and a short film on voting in five displaced person camps, reaching over ten thousand people - a nice complement to last year's screenings of the World Cup (with the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti) and Disney's sublime "Up". In Asia, we are working with the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, and recently completed a short film to encourage refugees to grow their own kitchen gardens.

Later this month I'm heading to Geneva for my first UNHCR-NGO Consultations gathering and hope to meet many of you there. Next it's on to Kenya, for the FilmAid Film Festival, presenting our own student filmmakers' films along with Film Forward, a cultural exchange program that is an initiative of Sundance Institute and The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

That's just a slice of what's happening at FilmAid. We hope you'll stay tuned and take a moment today to learn more about the challenges refugees face everyday.

Thank you for your ongoing friendship, partnership and support.

Best,

Liz Manne

Executive Director, FilmAid International

+1.212.529.1088 | info@filmaid.org | www.filmaid.org

Learn more about World Refugee Day with UNHCR's Do 1 Thing Campaign.

Huge thanks to our supporters and partners:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), CARE, Chivas Regal, The Co-operative Bank, Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), Financial Times, Glamour Magazine, Golden Scene, HealthRight International, Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), Hong Kong Tatler, International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Rescue Committee (IRC), KEE Club Hong Kong, Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, Nocturne Productions, Oxfam, Population Services International (PSI), Soho House, Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, ZOA Refugee Care... our incredible staff and volunteers in Haiti, Hong Kong, Kenya, London, Los Angeles, New York, Thailand... our incomparable Boards of Directors... and many, many more!