Call for Submissions: United Nations IOM’s Global Migration Film Festival 2018

Deadline: June 21, 2018

The United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Global Migration Film Festival 2018 is open for entries. Professional and emerging filmmakers are invited to submit films about the promise and challenges of migration. The Festival focuses on the challenges and promises of migration, and the unique contributions migrants make to their new communities.

A committee of international film professionals will select a number of outstanding productions to be screened for a diverse audience: thousands of people in almost 100 countries. The screenings will take place in varied locales, from cinemas to concert halls, and even impromptu settings in hard to reach areas and along popular migration routes such as the trans-Sahara corridor.

The goal of the Festival is to pave the way for greater discussion around one of the greatest phenomena of our time: migration. Furthermore, it is an innovative avenue for normalizing discussions of migration through storytelling, and an advocacy tool that can draw attention to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), thus helping all nations as they work to meet them.

Festival Theme

The Promise and Challenge of Migration, and the Positive Contributions Migrants Make to Their New Communities. 

All submissions should portray the challenges and promises of migration, and the unique contributions migrants make to their new communities. Films that tackle negative perceptions of migrants, defy stereotypes and portray positive and welcoming actions by and toward migrants are encouraged.

Categories

1. Full-length features
2. Short films

The jury encourages films shot only with smartphones, and they will be considered for the Festival’s “Innovation Special Award”.

Eligibility

• Professional and emerging filmmakers working in all genres are invited to submit original films, to be screened around the world during IOM’s Global Migration Film Festival.
• Films that tackle negative perceptions of migrants, defy stereotypes, and portray positive and welcoming actions by and toward migrants are encouraged.
• Only films submitted through the festival’s designated platform, FilmFreeway, will be considered.
• Films may only be submitted by individuals with the legal right to negotiate the use of the work.
• Films of all genres (feature, documentary, animation, etc.) and lengths will be accepted
• Please submit your entry information and your film using Filmfreeway (click here).
• Films completed on or after January 1, 2015 are eligible for consideration.
• Films should be in English or subtitled in English. Subtitles are encouraged, even if the dialogue is in English, to ensure maximum comprehension for global audiences.
• Films in other languages are encouraged but must have subtitles in English.

There is no fee to submit films.

*Films produced with any financial support from IOM are eligible for the competition, but not eligible for grants*

Eligible Countries

• Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea,Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar,Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Tunisia, Zimbabwe,
• Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Suriname
• Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon slands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Viet Nam.
• Europe: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine.
• Middle East: Yemen, Jordan

The Global Migration Film Festival has an itinerant and unique format. The films that make up the Official Selection are included in a list which is then shared with about 100 IOM offices and partners worldwide. Each participating country office will then select the films to be screened locally during the Festival, which runs from 28 November – 18 December 2018, worldwide.

Application

Click here to submit.

For more information, visit Global Migration Film Festival.