Cannes Market Dailies

International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA)

To Present Film Programs, Panels, Awards & Receptions

 At The

2023 Marché du Film & Cannes Docs Events At Festival De Cannes

IEFTA And United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

Present

The 6^th Edition of

REFUGEE VOICES IN FILM

Screening and Q&A - Saturday 20th May at 11.30am - 1pm @ Palais J

Please note only people accredited with a Marché du Film, Press or Festival badge can attend

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IEFTA In Collaboration With The Marché du Film-Festival De Cannes Announces For The Fifth Year IEFTA’s Sponsorship Of A 10,000€ Prize For Docs-in-Progress

At The Marché’s Cannes Docs

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IEFTA, in conjunction with Arab Cinema Centre, and MAD Solutions

Presents

“The Critics Awards for Arab Films Ceremony"

And Special Honor To UNHCR

The International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA) returns to Cannes for the Thirteenth Year with film programs, panels, awards, and cocktail receptions. IEFTA promotes cultural diversity and international understanding and engages the art of cinema. Central to the IEFTA mandate is discovering and developing new film talent from emerging regions, globally, and connecting them with established members of the entertainment community and to foster relationships that are, mentoring, inspiring and educational.

IEFTA is celebrating its sixth year collaborating with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) at the Marche du Film presenting films and programs which help bring awareness and to urge immediate action and long-term responses to the current global humanitarian crisis.

The program honors the imaginative and humanitarian efforts of filmmakers – a number of them refugees themselves – as they document the experience of those forced to flee, whether from violence, famine or political oppression. Here, refugees speak out about not only loss and desperation, but also resilience and hope. UNHCR and IEFTA provide filmmaking tools and training to those affected, inviting them to tell their stories.  Witness the impact of film in giving a powerful voice to the displaced and dispossessed.

Refugee Voices in Films, 6th Edition, features films centering on projects from the Sudan Workshop focusing on the Horn of Africa. The Sudan Workshop is a part of Telling the Real Story developmental program within UNHCR’s work with refugee filmmakers.

This year’s program comprises five films about the physical and psychological trauma of forced flight and displacement, stories which simultaneously express the transformational power of resilience and hope.  A sixth short film weaves interviews with refugees from global crisis zones into a tapestry of connection, aspiration and humanity.  All will be celebrating their Market Premieres at Cannes!  A panel discussion featuring some of the filmmakers as well as representatives from UNHCR will follow the screenings.

This year’s screening and Q&A will be held on Saturday 20th May at 11.30am - 1pm @ Palais J.

1. ‘The Future Depends On Us’ – From UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency

2. ‘The Unknown’ - Made by Refugees during Sudan Workshop

3. ‘Metamorphosis’ - Made by Refugees during Sudan Workshop

4. ‘Mosaic’ - Made by Refugees during Sudan Workshop

5. ‘Sara’ - Directed by Eritrean filmmaker Nahom Abraham

6. ‘Portrait of a Stranger’ - Directed by Photographer/Storyteller Platon and produced by Anadil Hossain in collaboration with UNHCR

Please visit marchedufilm.online for more information

“The most authentic and compelling storytelling on the global displacement crisis features not only the voices, but the vison, of those forced to flee. The films selected for this year’s event reflect the evolution of UNHCR’s long-standing partnership with IEFTA. We’re proud to support talented filmmakers living in exile, who may have been forced to leave every behind, but who’s creativity and drive to tell their own stories remains” - Dana Hughes, Deputy Head of Global Communications for UNHCR.

For the fifth year, IEFTA will sponsor a cash award of 10,000€ given to one of the 32 docs-in-progress from eight presenting partners participating in the Marché’s Docs-in-Progress Showcases at the Cannes Docs program headed by Pierre-Alexis Chevit, Head of Cannes Docs.

“We at Cannes Docs - Marché du Film are truly grateful for our ongoing partnership with IEFTA, this year for the 8th in a row” states Pierre-Alexis Chevit, Head of Cannes Docs. “This year, the collaboration comprises the presentation of the 6^thedition of Refugee Voices in Film, the €10,000 cash IEFTA Award for one of the competing docs-in-progress, and not forgetting an IEFTA-hosted Happy Hour on May 19th, for the sheer pleasure of networking! We’re very happy to be rolling out all of this together once again this year and looking forward to many more years of cooperation.” 

Each year, Cannes Docs partners with a number of festivals and organizations from all over the world to showcase curated selections of docs-in-progress in finalization stage, aiming to hit the circuit within a few weeks or months. These showcases of docs-in-progress are primarily designed for decision makers looking for fresh new titles, in particular festival programmers and sales agents. The projects are also generally in search of post-production funding or general gap financing, and sometimes still open to co-production opportunities. All the showcases are composed of four projects, each presented in the form of a pitch and a 10-minute excerpt of the rough cut.

This year the Docs-in-Progress Showcases at the Cannes Docs come from: Canada, Chile, Italy, Scandinavia, Scotland, Spain, the Docs by the Sea Asian Filmmakers and the Circle Women Doc Accelerator.

In conjunction with the Arab Cinema Centre, and MAD Solutions (Egypt), IEFTA will be co-hosting a cocktail reception at the Plage de Palmes on 20^th May to celebrate the work of UNHCR. This event is being held in conjunction with the The Critics Awards for Arab Films Ceremony, an initiative created by the Arab Cinema Centre (ACC), that brings together the finest film critics from all over the world to select the best Arab films every year. In addition, IEFTA’s Marco Orsini will participate with the ACC in ’MENA 360: Accessing the Largest Untapped Market’ in the World, it will run as part of the Cannes Next programme and comprise three panels exploring the best ways for the international industry to secure financing, partners, locations and talent from the region. 

"IEFTA is one of the key supporters of Arab Cinema and we are proud that they are again part of this year's ceremony of the 7th edition of The Critics Awards for Arab Films," stated Alaa Karkouti, and Maher Diab founders of MAD Solutions & Arab Cinema Center.

“We are honored to collaborate again this year with the UN refugee agency and the Marché Du FIlm’s Cannes Docs on screenings highlighting the plight of refugees. Now more than ever, this program needs to be seen, discussed, shared and brought up in discussions beyond the people it directly impacts,” states IEFTA Founding Board Member Marco Orsini. “This year is especially rewarding from IEFTA’s perspective, from our continued relationship with Cannes Docs ‘Docs-in-Progress Showcases,’ as well as with the ACC and MAD Solutions, where we see several of our alumni engaging the film world independently at this year’s festival. They represent the Horn of Africa and the MENA Region in documentary and narrative feature projects. We wish them luck and we hope you take the time to consider their work.”

Contact: Gary Springer, gary@springerassociatespr.com, +1.914.659.4802 (international)