From Oct 9th to 12th 2009, Refugee Film Festival in Nagoya 2009 (RFFN2009) was held at two venues, “Will Aichi” in Nagoya-city and “Nagakute Cultural Center”
in Nagakute-cho, for the 2nd time in Nagoya.
Our mission through this RFFN is “to deliver the realization and raise awareness of refugees.”
We have been working on this activity by introducing newly selected documentaries presenting challenges and vigor of refugees struggling all over the world, under the cooperation of UNHCR, for raising awareness of each individual toward issues related to refugees.
RFFN2009 can be differentiated from the previous year by two aspects. First, we utilized double venues to provide opportunities to the maximum number of people in this Chubu area.
Second, we have created this event truly and thoroughly by amateur and volunteer spirit which consisted of many energetic students and citizens. It is worth pointing out that besides Tokyo, this refugee film festival was held only in Nagoya. While the refugee film festival in Tokyo has been held with great support from UNHCR, Government of Japan, several foreign Embassies, and NGOs, our RFFN made itself unique for the grass-rooted activities thoroughly run by the passion of volunteers.
In terms of the result, we must say it is not easy to evaluate this quantitatively and qualitatively. It is important to measure it by the size of the audience. However, we must also consider the “soft” part or qualitative aspects unable to be evaluated by quantitative measures, such as selection of the documentaries, and contents of related events (Symposium, forum, pre-event), the accomplishment and growth of the volunteers.
From this perspective, we have achieved many and significant results in qualitative aspects through this film festival. This is because the preparation process itself was enjoyable, and those involved were filled with a sense of fulfillment. Especially, we were astonished by the fact that the Forums (the table discussion on movies and issues related to refugees) were so active and flourishing. Despite our fears that there would be limited participation, we have realized that many people seeking a place to express themselves actively participated in the festival. Through this RFFN, we have found new possibilities for developing study sessions and research groups on issues related to refugees.
For the next RFFN, we are faced with the crucial challenge of considering strategically how we can advertise and encourage more people to participate in the RFFN and further its development.
This refugee film festival is just the initial step in seeking a strategy for refugee related issues.
For our future perspective, it will be crucial to our mission that we actively conduct our campaign and organize refugee film events in cooperation with schools, universities, public facilities, and companies.
Furthermore, we do believe that the more we organize activities closely related to our daily and cultural life, the more people will be attracted and involved in them.
Most important, we hope to carry on our fun and cool activities.
November 2009
From all the staff of Refugee Film Festival in Nagoya 2009
