REFUGE IN FILMS FESTIVAL
AT THE BFI-SOUTH BANK

Next Refugee In Films Festival In June 2010 !

This year again has been a great success thanks to the help of many people ! (see the aknowlegments at the bottom of the page !! ) . Please have a look at some of the pictures of the film festival here and read more about it below if you missed it !

Clic here to see the programme

For the third year running, Nueva Generation and RefugeeYouth presents Refuge in Films 2009 at the British Film Institute (BFI). Refuge in Films festival is dedicated to raising awareness about refugee and migrant issues. In 2009, the festival is being entirely developed by a group of young people. By giving a voice to young refugees, the festival will address issues of representation of refugees and migrants in the film industry and will be a space of celebration, contributing to a more tolerant society.

The festival has been curated by a group of young people (19-25 years old) from New Generation and RefugeeYouth that come from different countries: Colombia, Somalia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Zambia, Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, Palestine, Kosovo, Algeria, Angola, Guinea, Mauritius, Bangladesh, France and England. They met weekly over three months to watch films and discuss them from different angles and came up with an amazing programme to be presented at the BFI for the celebration of Refugee Week.

Refuge in films 2009 has developed a Film Challenge in which young people produced short films about immigration and refuge in collaboration with professional filmmakers and Grain Media.

The grand opening of Refuge in Films 2009 will take place on Friday the 19th of June, at the Delegates Centre BFI, where we are screening the films produced by young people especially for the festival at our film challenge. In addition RefugeeYouth will be launching “Becoming a Londoner” a book produced by young people, about their own experiences in the process to become part of their new city. We are preparing dance and music performances it will be a night in which young people form different communities in London will get together to share their diversity.

During Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st June, Refuge in Films will present a programme of films to be published, and alongside the films there will be different visual workshops for young people at the BFI Southbank’s Delegate Centre, and a photography exhibition by Mustakbal and World Remix artists.

Reel Refuge In Films 2008

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Programme also available as a pdf if you clic HERE otherwise you can copy the link below in your internet browser

http://www.nuevageneracion-uk.org/refuge_in_films/REFUGE_IN_FILMS_ 09_programme.pdf

REFUGE IN FILMS FESTIVAL

PROGRAMME

from the 19th to the 21th of June 2009 @ the BFI-Southbank

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Friday 19 June

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17:00 Delegates Centre BFI

Opening of the film festival with performances by young artists, a photography exhibition and the launching of our new book “Becoming a Londoner”. Guests Only.

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Saturday 20 June

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11:00 – 12:30 BFI Studio

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• Back to Bosnia – (UK Premiere)

Bosnia, USA 2005. Dir Sabina Vajraca. 70min EST. Age 12.

This documentary is about a family who returns to post-war Bosnia, in order to reclaim their stolen property. While there, the family is confronted with the destruction of their city and forced to examine the community they left behind. They stumble upon an exhumation, visit the sites of war crimes, and seek out the remnants of a city they once called their own. The film portrays Sabina Vajraca as she probes into the history of the war and her own family’s involvement. Accompanied by a small film crew, she embarks on a path of discovery, guided by the stories of her parents and those they meet along the way.

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13:00 NFT2 (NFT1 and NFT2 are the names of the cinema theatres at the Bfi)

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• bExile: Dreams and Nightmares

Materclass with director Mohamed Maklouf.

Films featured will include Home in Exile (2007, 22min), a documentary exploring the experience of Libyan refugees in Europe and the US, and Who’s Afraid of the Censor?, a look into the world of Egyptian independent cinema (2008, 11min), both produced by Al Jazeera International. The session will finish with the independently produced film The Cage (2005, 13min) exploring the personal impact of exile.

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13:30 BFI Studio

bCharacters, a Collection of Short Documentaries

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• Rootical

UK 2006 Dir. Nike Hatzidimou 25 min. Film-maker present at screening

This is the story of Charlie Phillips, an Afro Caribbean photographer who documented the social implications of immigration in the 1950’s and 1960’s in Noting Hill. Charlie has experienced much ignorance with regards to the importance of his work. The working class seems to be excluded from the art world. In discussion with Benjamin Zephaniah and the curator of the museum of London, they get to the bottom of that issue.

Winner “Best First Film” Portobello Film Festival.

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• The Sea Front

UK 2006. Dir Anton Califano. 6 min. Film-maker present at screening

Two meditative portraits of contemporary British life at the seaside. Penpa had never seen the sea before coming to the UK as an asylum seeker from Tibet. He was surprised to find that the sea was so salty. Syed, originally from Bangladesh, loves the sea and dreams of owning a boat for him and his family.

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• Against the light (UK Premiere)

UK/Czech Republic. 2007 Dir. Koutaiba Al-Janabi.15min. Film-maker present at screening

A silent documentary, it is an experimental film, art film about art, presenting its subject with visual tools rather than words. The film shows the work of Mahmoud Sabri, and artist who invented the idea of Quantum Realism, exploring the world as an ongoing process. For Mahmoud Sabri, the future of Art IS Quantum Realism.

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• Immigrant of Expression (UK premiere)

UK 2009 Dir David Caneva Akle 10 min. Film-maker present at screening

This intimate journey trough Diana Garcia´s life (a Colombian immigrant in the UK), reveals that work by helping others she can have personal rewards. This new generation of strong a dynamic individuals are more interested in contributing creatively to their community instead of being part of the consumerism of a capital city like London. The film is part of a trilogy were “Strong female immigrant minds” are portrayed to document what happens with minorities and young people in the South of London.

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• Journey of the Piano Tuner

UK. Dir. Danny Weinstein. 2007. 7.14min. Film-maker present at screening

An intimate, poetic documentary that tells the dramatic story of Anva Luc and the day that changed his life. Aged eight, Anva was wounded by an unexploded land mine in the North/South Vietnam war. In 1980 he fled his country and landed in Britain as one of the ‘Vietnamese Boat People’. The experiences and feelings that Anva had as a child in Vietnam are still very much part of his identity and they have transplanted themselves into a new country and a different culture. Anva’s life story is a testament to his resourcefulness, endeavor and resilience.

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15:30 NFT2

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• Made in LA (UK premiere)

USA 2007. Dir Almudena Carracedo. 70min. EST

Emmy award-winning feature documentary that follows the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops and their battle to win basic labour protections from a clothing retailer. In intimate, observational style, the film reveals the impact of the struggle on each woman’s life as they are gradually transformed by the experience. Compelling, humorous, deeply human, Made in LA is a story about immigration, the power of unity, and the courage it takes to find your voice.

Followed by a discussion with No Sweat activist.

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Sunday 21 June

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11:00 BFI Studio-Youth Refuge in Films

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• Houna and Manny (UK Premiere)

USA 2009. Dir. Jared Katsiane. 10 min.

The film recount the day Houna meets Manny, one summer afternoon outside the US immigration Office. It shows the effect that US immigration policies have in the life of two teenagers.

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• Bin our World

UK. 2008. By Anchor Project Young Film-makers & artist Cyril Lepetit. 10 min.

Series of self-portraits by young asylum seekers and refugees who meet regularly at the Anchor Project in Brixton. This short film was shot within the walls of the youth project based in Brixton where these young people, who are mainly from Afganistan, Irak, Eritrea and Somalia, meet to socialize. Filming took place over 5 sessions.

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• Mix it up Musical Videos

UK/All over the world. 2008 By RefugeeYouth filmmakers supported by Grain Media. 2 min. each film.

These music video are an illustration of our Mix It Up days, where young people from different cultural backgrounds and around the world get together and use their creative and diverse skills to produce amazing events filled with love and friendship.

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• My New Life

UK. 2009 By Young film-makers from Queens Park Community School. 5min

A really moving snapshot into the life and thoughts of a young Somali boy when he moved to London.

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13:00 NFT2

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• The Fortress (UK premiere)

Switzerland 2008. Dir Fernand Melgar 104min.

For the first time, a camera looks into the hidden world of a Swiss reception centre for asylum seekers and immerses us in the daily sorting process of the human diaspora. Awarding it the Golden Leopard, the Locarno festival jury cited ‘a remarkably sensitive film exhibiting profound human intelligence. Discreetly and masterfully realised, but never voyeuristic, and with a message that is directly and evocatively conveyed.’

Guest film brought to Refuge in Films by Refugee Action.

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13:30 BFI Studio

Landless Part I

Landless is a collection of films about people who do not have land

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• The Life and other Building Yards

Italy 2007. Dir Giuseppe Schettino. 37min. (First award in the international Jordan film festival)

A sinti family of Bolzano was used to earn a living playing music, but since Laki, the only violinist of the group, has become an evangelist, it had to stop playing music. Trying to reunite the group, Radames the chief of the family, will experience how much the sinti traditions are changing. The documentary “The life and other building yards” is about conflicts between generations and cultures, between fathers and sons inside an ethnic reality that is disappearing.

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• Tebraa

El Aiuun – Saharawi Refugee Camps. 2007. Zanabu & Zaina Dir. Laura Alvea & Pilar Pinar/ Azuha Sah Dir. Maria Duran y Carmen R. Marzal /Aminethu Haidar Dir. Ana Rosa Diego. 15 min.

Those three films show the reality of the Saharan women. The Saharan people have an admirable capacity for resisting and fighting, but most of all it is their woman who have managed to live, by creating a solid organization beyond and despite their refugee status, in the hammada desert of Algeria.

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14:15pm BFI Studio

bLandless Part II

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• Landless Movement of Brazil (UK premiere)

Brazil. 2007. Dir. Edson Costa – 28 min. Film-maker present at screening.

Forty-Six percent of the land in Brazil belongs to less than 1% of the population. In the past decade, 2o million rural workers have moved to the towns and cities to look for a better life. There are still 12 million rural workers without land. This documentary takes a look at the history of the MST – the Landless Movement of Brazil created 20 years ago to fight for land redistribution. It shows images of an eviction of 700 families from an occupied farm by the army and police.

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• Rightful Place

Kenya/ USA. 2007. Producers: Hakima Abbas and Yobo Rutin – 16min.

Rightful Place tells, through the personal stories of members of the Endorois community, of the impact of displacement on individual, identity and community and of the struggle of the Endorois to reclaim their rightful place.

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15:50 NFT2

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• The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)

USA 2008. Dir. Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath – 96min.

During the Vietnam War, the US government waged a secret war in neighbouring Laos. When they withdrew, Laotian supporters of the Americans faced imprisonment or execution. One family, the Phrasavaths, decided to take refuge in America. In Brooklyn they faced another kind of war. Director Ellen Kuras (cinematographer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and co-director Thavisouk Phrasaveth (eldest son of the refugee family portrayed) worked for 20 years to create this beautifully realized, complex film, which received an Oscar nomination for best documentary feature 2009. (Screening presented in partnership with Refugee Action)

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Sun 21 June will be followed by a discussion lead by young people from RefgeeYouth and Nueva Generacion.

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bFor more information please contact Beatriz Villate : refugeinfilms@gmail.com or 07903494703.

http://www.myspace.com/refugeinfilms

We gather at refugee Youth for two days to make films for Refuge in Films 2008 film challenge!!!

ACKNOWLEGMENTS

Thanks to Orlando and Chris for all the fun we had with the green screen and of course to Jon for making us feel good… I feeeeeeeeeeel gooooooood da nee naa nee na nee na etc….

Thanks to Noel, David and Susie from the BFI for all the support. Thanks to all the projectionist and ticket office staff, security and cleaning people from the BFI that made the festival possible. Thanks to Refugee Action for their support and contributions

Thanks to AlphaT for a great job as Artistic director!!! Thanks to J.P, Hinda, Sus for setting uup the theatre. Thanks to Naomi for leading us to a great performance with sho sholosa!

On the Opening night thanks to Alpha T and Peter and Iman for the great hosting of the eve… and djing. thanks also to Javier for being a great projectionist!!!.

Thanks to NG dancers “Nu Tempo” and Everaldo Pereira for an amazing performance on the opening night.

Thanks to Ingrid for working so hard on the planning and execution of the photo exhibition, thanks to Mustaqbal and woman’s worth and World Remix for participating on the project and delivering such an amazing collection of pictures. Thanks to German, Coco, Biruk, Muna, Djamilla, Fahad, Javier, Asha, Alassane (and his great little brother), Pakom, Fatma, Salwa, Susana, Eman, Iman, Lucy, Diana G, Hamid, Peter, Naomi, Diana C, Hinda, Osman, Andres and all the people who make the exhibition as beautiful as it was!

Thanks to all the red carpet stars for a beautiful presentation of the festival! And thanks to all the team who came for all three days and kept the energy alive through the weekend…

Thanks to the curators team who worked for months and delivered an amazing programme of films Great introductions of the films by Asha, Naomi, Diana Carolina, Hamid, Peter , Panchita Ibtisam and Hinda.

Amazing Q&A’s lead by Kaleb and Justin from No sweat

Thanks to Asha and Constanza for painting our faces… every time you make it more beautiful!!!

Thanks to Ingrid and Federico for the photography workshop.

Thanks to JP and Jaime, for the bar…. It looked great and tasted better!

Thanks to Susanna, Kylie, Ibtisam and Rula for welcoming everyone at the Refuge in Films Festival desk, and helping everyone else out.

Thanks also to Diana, Andres, David, Laura, Sebastian and Juan: The NG youth arts! for a great animation and a lovely workshop!

A big thanks to Romi for coming in the first place and to volunteer being the photographer of the festival!!! Your pictures are sooooo good!

A big thanks to Andres, who seems to have helped everyone in every way possible! You rock!

Thanks to Mustaqbal and Woman’sWorth, Victor, NG Youth Arts and Becoming a Londoner team, for their great films. Thanks to Dost for their three films for the challenge and for coming to our opening! Well done guys! Thanks to Insight for helping us with our film-in-a-day… Barandhu! Special thanks to Diana, Andres, Nike, kylie, David and Jon for lending us their expertise and making possible the film challenge!!!!

Thanks to all the filmmakers that came to the festival, and thus contributed to the discussions surrounding the issues raised in the films. Thanks to Charlie for your support!

Thanks to everyone involved in preparing and carrying out the greatest parade the Southbank has ever seen, special thanks to Andres, Federico, Naomi, Coco, Muna, Diana Garcia, Curtis, Fahad, Adrian, Hamid, Jeanelle, Djamilla, Hassan, Salwa, Emma and Diana Carolina.

Our props looked beautiful!!!

Thanks to the Latin American Youth forum and the refugee council smile project for visiting the festival, and to Queens Park community school, for their film and presentation, .

Thanks to all the very busy and important people who came to the opening of the festival!

Big thanks to Anne for helping once more with international transactions!!!

Thanks to Ros for coming back and being with us the whole weekend, and to Pascale, Ceri, Leah, Michale, Anne, Davorka for all their support!

Huge thanks to Nike, for coming on board as a volunteer and giving us 100% of everything – please stay involved!

Big, big thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks to Beatriz and Lucy for doing everything and a bit more!

WITH ALL OUR LOVE,

REFUGE IN FILMS FESTIVAL