Events

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Celebrating our 8th Annual Film Festival in Kakuma and Dadaab

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This week, FilmAid is holding our 8th Annual Film Festival in Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps, celebrating the unique stories of refugees and other marginalized populations.

Crowds at Hope Primary School in Kakuma for this year's film festival

The screenings of these films have had an amazing reception from the refugee populations so far (and it’s only been two days)! Community spaces where the films are being shown are crowded with men, women and children, vying for front row seats.  Showcasing the films of young refugee filmmakers trained by FilmAid in both Kakuma and Dadaab, the Film Festival also provides an opportunity for filmmakers across the world to share the “Untold Stories” (our 2014 Festival theme) of the vulnerable and the voiceless.

If you’re not in Kakuma or Dadaab right now, you can still get a sneak peek of the Film Festival by watching our trailer here. 

For more updates about the Film Festival activities this week (as well as the Nairobi activities happening next week, which are free and open to everyone), check out our featured Film Festival Facebook page.

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Chivas Regal donate $100,000 to FilmAid at Cannes 2014

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Global film elite including Naomi Watts, Harvey Weinstein, Gael Garcia Bernal gathered on Friday May 16 at the world famous Charles Finch Filmmakers Dinner in Cannes where FilmAid received a generous donation from our long-time supporter Chivas Regal. The highly anticipated annual dinner, filled with international superstars and with the stunning Riviera as a backdrop, was held during the Cannes Film Festival 2014 and confirmed the film industry’s dedication to using media to support marginalized and vulnerable communities. 

World-class actor and social activist Edward Norton (Fight Club, The Illusionist, Primal Fear) invited guests to toast the charitable efforts of the film industry and praised the work of FilmAid highlighting our work to help, “people who are voiceless, need to have their stories told or need what is going on around them documented. There’s an empowerment in giving people the tools to tell their own story.” Cannes Film Festival is known for showing its political conscience, and the Charles Finch dinner was no exception.

The evening brought together film stars, directors and producers to celebrate the opening of the film festival. Christopher Hampton and Alfonso Cuáron were presented with the Filmmaker Award for their massive and lasting contributions to the film industry.

The highlight of the night was undoubtedly Edward Norton leading the final toast and presenting a check of $100,000 to FilmAid’s Executive Director, Simon Goff on behalf of Chivas. Norton commented, “It is a great pleasure to be here tonight at the Charles Finch Filmmakers Dinner, sponsored by Chivas Regal 25. To be able to present FilmAid with such a generous donation on behalf of Chivas Regal is a great honor… Increasingly, we are seeing brands addressing social and environmental issues more than ever before. Charitable causes such as FilmAid need support in order to drive awareness and change consumer attitudes and behavior. With the help of partners like Chivas Regal around the world, FilmAid will be able to reach their next milestone”.

We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thanks to our long-time supporter, Chivas Regal, for their on-going generosity, as well as to Charles Finch and Edward Norton for paying tribute to FilmAid.

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The Two Faces of January – UK Premiere in association with FilmAid

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On May 13th, 2014 Working Title and Studio Canal teamed up with FilmAid to screen the UK Premiere of The Two Faces of January.

The Two Faces of January is Hossein Amini’s directorial debut. Famous for his work on Drive and The Wings of the Dove, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Writing - Adapted Screenplay, Amini’s latest thriller transports us to the ruinous beauty of Greece in 1962. The film uncovers the tangled secrets of a glamorous American couple, the MacFarlands (Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen) and their tour guide, Rydal (Oscar Isaac) who has a propensity towards small time con work. Amini engineers some gorgeous scenes, as the group travel across 1960s Greece and gradually become embedded in a web of lies, deception and murder.

Kirsten Dunst plays her role exceptionally well, demonstrating uncertainty and insecurity as she learns some unappealing truths about her companions. Meanwhile Mortensen and Isaac’s painfully competitive and almost Oedipal relationship dictates the thrilling journey of the story and its ultimate finale. 

The premiere, which was held at the Curzon Mayfair, was an enormous success filled with cast, crew and FilmAid supporters. FilmAid screened a short film before the movie, which invited the audience to contemplate the significance of film beyond the cinema walls, and imagine how it can bring about positive change for communities in need around the world. 

FilmAid are enormously grateful for this opportunity and would like to thank Working Title, Studio Canal and Hossein Amini for their generosity and support.