SECOND ANNUAL UN DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL TO BE HELD ON 22, 23 APRIL

Note to Correspondents

SECOND ANNUAL UN DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL TO BE HELD ON 22, 23 APRIL

Over 180 Film Entries from 16 Countries More Than Double Previous Record

“Stories from the Field: The Second Annual United Nations Documentary Film Festival”, presented by the Media Communications Association-International, New York Chapter (MCA-I NY) and the United Nations Department of Public Information, will take place on Saturday, 22 April, and Sunday, 23 April, at Tishman Auditorium, The New School, 66 West 12th Street (between 5th and 6th Aves.), New York.  It will feature film screenings, panel discussions with the filmmakers and award presentations.

In its first season as a public competition, the Festival more than doubled its previous entry record, receiving 180 films from 16 countries on five continents.  Nations represented include Burkina Faso, Canada, China, Germany, India, Iran, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Launched in 2005, the Festival was originally conceived as a showcase for films produced by United Nations offices and agencies around the world.  However, so many non-United Nations filmmakers expressed interest in joining the competition that it was expanded in 2006 to include works from the general public.

The Festival’s theme, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, remains the same.  To compete, films must reflect one or more of the eight goals:  eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.

The Festival is a way to highlight some of the people and cultures in areas with a United Nations presence throughout the world, and discover what these groups are doing to overcome challenges such as poverty, hunger, disease, civil unrest, trafficking and injustice; to show how United Nations programs and services are helping communities to develop civil society, participation and a better quality of life for their people; and to afford those in the trenches -- United Nations workers, community leaders and the people they serve -- the opportunity to share their stories of adversity and triumph.

Finalists will be selected by a screening committee of United Nations officials, MCA-I representatives and New School faculty, based on the topical relevance, artistic merit and production values of their work.  Awards will be presented in the following categories:

-- Best Public Film (60 min. and under)

-- Best United Nations Feature (15 min. and longer)

-- Best United Nations Short (under 15 min.)

-- Best United Nations Public Service Announcement

-- Audience Choice Award for Best (United Nations or Public) Film

For more information, please visit: www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/ and www.mcainy.org/unfilm, or contact: Isabelle Broyer, broyer@un.org, 212-963-9480

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For information media • not an official record