9 January, 2009Films about unions and working people takes center stage at this year's film festival hosted by the IMF, ITUC and Global Union Federations.
GENEVA: To explore ways of reaching broader audiences and to promote and support the capacity of trade unions to communicate through film, the International Metalworkers' Federation in collaboration with the ITUC and fellow Global Union Federations will take part in the third annual Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival.
The event will take place in Geneva, Switzerland on 16 June 2009 and all unions are invited to submit copies of films that they have produced or been involved in producing for possible inclusion in the programme.
Started in 2007 as part of the IMF Communicators' Forum, the Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival has grown over the last two years and has positioned itself as one of the only international film festivals to showcase primarily film and videos made by unions about unions and working people.
The three-hour programme will focus on films that are excellent examples of communicating labour stories and messages and the selection will include a range of different films from different parts of the world. Selection of films featured will be made by a jury of GUF representatives.
Unions are encouraged to submit copies of films on DVD with a short paragraph describing the film and why it was produced. The festival will need unfettered rights to show the film and publish it online, of course with full acknowledgement of who created the material. Due to resource constraints for interpretation, the festival is only able to accept films in English language or with English subtitles.
The deadline for film submission is 13 February 2009.
If you would like to know more about this initiative or to get involved, please contact Kristyne Peter ([email protected]) or Alex Ivanou ([email protected]) in the IMF communications department.