Press Releases

The 2018 Global Migration Film Festival in Cyprus was marked with success, in honour of the International Migrants Day, which is honoured every year on December 18.

This year's Festival was the outcome of a fruitful cooperation between the UN Migration Agency (IOM) office in Cyprus, the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Cyprus, the Press and Information Office (PIO), the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Information of Greece and the University of Nicosia.

The presentations, discussions and films presented on Tuesday, December 11, at Cine Studio of the University of Nicosia, were focused on the communications dimension of the migration issue, both at managerial level of governmental agencies, from Greece and Cyprus as primary hosting countries, as well as at the level of recording and displaying the root causes and consequences of migration through the cinematographic camera, the photo lens and the journalistic speech. The common ground for a humane-centred approach to the migration issue at national, European and global level.

In her welcoming speech, the Head of IOM Cyprus, Ms Natasa Xenophontos Koudouna, thanked all the co-organizers for their cooperation and pointed out that the annual Global Migration Film Festival, which has become an institution, aims to inform the media and the public to get informed and raise awareness on the life and the challenges of migrants.

In her address, PIO Director, Ms Sophie Michaelides, referred to the need for all national and international actors to take responsibility for tackling more effectively the complex phenomenon of modern migration, which concerns economic migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. She also stressed the need to invest in an effective communication management of the phenomenon in order to prevent xenophobia and stereotypes, underlining that, while the migration issue has political and economic dimensions, the communication challenge we are faced with is a human one.

Ms Michaelides also noted that Cyprus is receiving increasing migratory pressures, resulting to the top of the EU member states that receive asylum applications, in a disproportionate way in relevance to the population. As she specified, in the first half of 2018, applications for international protection in Cyprus increased by 55% compared with the respective period in 2017, while the majority of the applicants in 2018 came from Syria, followed by India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt and Iran.

Special Secretary for Communication Crisis Management, MInistry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Information of Greece, Ms Foteini Pantiora, stressed, inter alia, that culture contributes to the communication and mutual understanding between people. “Cultural actions such as film art create a common pan-humane language of communication, contribute to the social inclusion of migrants and refugees, strengthen social cohesion and contest hate and racism,” she stated. She also added that the migration and refugee issue is a global challenge and requires global response. After her presentation it was screened the short film Ajin, which described the daily life of a 7-year-old migrant from Erbil of Iraq who arrived and integrated in Moria, Lesvos.

All speakers welcomed the ratification of the Global Compact for Migration by the UN member states at the UN Intergovernmental Conference on the 10^th of December 2018, in Morocco.

The morning speeches section was completed with the interventions of the Acting Director of the Department of Civil Registry and Migration of the Ministry of Interior, Mr Makis Polydorou, and the Head of IOM Cyprus, Ms Natasa Xenophontos-Koudouna, who presented the situation in Cyprus and the work of the organizations they represent, pinpointing that behind statistics and figures there are humans with many personal stories.

The second section included the presentations of the Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication of the University of Nicosia, Dr Costas Constandinides (“Migration and Cinema”), the photo-reporter-anthropologist, Mr Dimitris Bouras (“From the "TRUST ME” to the “SHOW ME "era: Accuracy and transparency in the field of New Media”) and the photographer, representative of the Cyprus Guild of Directors and GMFF 2018 jury committee, Mr David Hands (“Reporting Migration”). Following the presentations, there was a very fruitful discussion, coordinated by the IOM Cyprus Communications Assistant, Mr Dimitrios Tsagalas, with the three panellists and the public about the migration image in traditional and New Media.

The films “The Merger”, “Mohammed, the First Name”, “Salaam B'y”, “Unbroken Paradise” and “Bushfallers’ portrayed with different techniques and writing about the lives of different migrants and refugees from Australia and Canada to France, and from Africa to Germany, portraying their efforts for survival, the search for a better life and the integration to new homelands.

For more information:

Mr. Dimitris Tsagalas, Communications Officer of IOM Cyprus, tel: 22772270, e-mail: dtsagalas@iom.int

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