By Iminza Keboge
Published May 14, 2016
An international youth festival is looking for original and creative videos focusing on migration, diversity and social inclusion.
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United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) who organise the PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival say the deadline for submission is May 29, 2016.
“PLURAL+ encourages youth to address key challenges and opportunities related to social inclusion and cohesion, migrant integration, respect for identity, diversity, and human rights, both at local and global levels through video production. Young people aged up to 25 are invited to submit short videos of five minutes maximum in length for consideration in the PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival,” UNAOC and IOM say in a statement.
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Saying that it is important for youth to be recognised as agents of change in a world they describe as being “characterized by intolerance, and cultural and religious divisions,” UNAOC and IOM say “PLURAL+ supports young people’s expression by providing them with a variety of media platforms and distribution networks, including broadcasts, video festivals, conferences and events around the world.”
Entries are judged in three age categories–up to 12 years, 13-17 years, 18-25 years–and winners in each category receive US$1000 and all-travel-expenses-paid to New York to present their work at the PLURAL + 2016 Festival Awards Ceremony at the Paley Center for Media in November 2016.
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“PLURAL+ partner organizations will also award other prizes and professional opportunities to over 20 of the best videos submitted, partners award winning videos will be invited to present their work at film and video festivals, conferences and events around the world,” UNAOC and IOM say, is on pluralplus.unaoc.org website.
Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, UN High Representative for UNAOC, says, “PLURAL+ , provides youth around the world with the opportunity to submit real stories told by real people, which when widely disseminated help to foster intercultural dialogue and understanding as well as respect for diversity and tolerance.”
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On his part, William Lacy Swing, Director General of IOM, observes, that the youth not only “make up a large portion of today’s migrant population,” but that they also “have something valuable to tell us about their migration experiences. And this is what PLURAL+ aims to achieve: to provide young filmmakers with a global platform to share their thoughts and experiences with us.”
