09.04.2023

Addis Film Festival: Migration Stories

Between April 6th and 9th, 2023 the first Addis Film Festival: Migration Stories took place in Addis Ababa. The films screened at the festival focused on the experiences of African migrants and the challenges they face on their journeys.

First of its kind in Ethiopia, Addis Film Festival: Migration Stories is an advocacy-based initiative dedicated to promoting the use of films as tools for social change. The film festival, focusing on the experiences of African migrants, was organized in collaboration with WAG Entertainment’s initiative, Addis Film Way, and Generation Africa. Held between April 6th and 9th, the festival included half-day long workshops on the first three days, and the screening of sixteen short films and documentaries (all from African filmmakers) followed by in-depth discussions on the issues displayed in the films. One of the goals of the film festival was to provide insight to the various forms of migration as well as the multi-faceted challenges migrants face on their journeys. In order to do so, the screening sessions were divided according to the focus-areas of the films, such as “Struggles of Integration”, “Gender Rights”, and “Family Separation”. The thematic variety of the documentaries encouraged the audience to discuss the complexity of migration within Africa, and the challenges it poses to both migrants and policy actors.

One of the documentaries screened was the film “Hopes and Despair: The Odyssey of Youth and Child Migrants in the Sahara”, co-produced by FES Benin and the Benin Multi-Stakeholder Platform on Migration (Plateforme Multi-acteurs de la Migration au Bénin, PMB) and directed by Beninese filmmaker Ignace Yechenou. The filmmaker and a representative from PMB, Nariccise Zannou, participated in the workshops and discussions following the screenings, sharing their experience in filmmaking as well as working on migration issues in Benin. The documentary highlighted the challenges faced by Beninese youth and child migrants in neighboring countries, the need for migrant protection mechanisms against exploitation and cross-border trafficking, and the need for comprehensive migration policies.

The film festival has proven the potential of creative works on policy-making, and that initiatives like the Addis Film Festival can encourage policy dialogues through art.

To view the short films produced by Generation Africa, click here!

To view the documentary produced by FES Benin and PMB, click here!

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
African Migration Policy Center

Yeka Subcity, Woreda 05, Block No.03, House No. 109
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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00251 11-1233245/46
00251 11-1233855

info.ampc@fes.de

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