Start of the 20th edition of the OEW Youth Film Festival with the public closing film “The Swimmers”

For the 20th time, the OEW – Organisation for a Solidary World is moving the school lesson for more than 2,600 upper secondary and vocational school students into the cinema. As part of the One World Film Festival, which started this morning, the organisation has once again selected five films for young people dealing with global, socially critical and environmental topics. Afterwards, the films are discussed and reviewed in class together with OEW experts.
For the general public, the highlight of the 20th anniversary edition will be the screening of “The Swimmers” by Sally El Hosaini on 10 November at 8:00 pm at the ASTRA Cultural Centre in Brixen. The evening will be followed by a get-together with refreshments. Admission is based on a voluntary donation. This year’s festival prize money of €1,500 will go to the project “Oasis of Endless Hope Centre” in Ruiru, Kenya, which provides young people with educational opportunities.
The 20th anniversary edition of the One World Film Festival will once again reach more than 2,500 students in Bozen, Meran, Brixen and Bruneck from 6 to 10 November 2023. This year, four selected films will once again address socially critical topics in line with the values and mission of the OEW – Organisation for a Solidary World. Through confronting and discussing these topics afterwards, students are encouraged to reflect, question and engage in dialogue.

This year’s festival focuses on topics such as racism and colonialism, addressed in the film “Der vermessene Mensch”, but also on people who seek to free themselves from their realities of life and resist oppressive systems. They fight against structural violence, sexism and the power of individual billionaires, as shown in “She Said”, where two journalists challenge a powerful Hollywood producer with their investigation, helping to spark the #MeToo movement. The film “Dark Waters” also portrays the fight against a major chemical corporation.
The discussions following the screenings in classrooms, led by various OEW experts, provide an important space for reflection.
Monika Thaler, OEW staff member and co-organiser of the festival, explains: “Just like in the previous 20 editions of the film festival, we are once again addressing incredibly important topics this year that are more relevant than ever. These include colonialism, which continues to have a profound impact on many people in more subtle forms. Or the issue of migration and displacement, which has always been part of human history but is currently leading to extremely precarious situations worldwide due to increasing crises, wars and environmental changes. Some films also deal with the power of a small number of influential individuals and economic sectors who appear almost beyond legal accountability. All these topics are part of a reality that we often prefer to ignore.”

The film made accessible to the general public this year in exchange for a voluntary donation is “The Swimmers” by director Sally El Hosaini. It will be shown at the closing event of the film festival on 10 November at 8:00 pm at the ASTRA Cultural Centre in Brixen, followed by an invitation to enjoy refreshments together.
The film tells the true story of the two talented Syrian sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini, who dream of competing as swimmers at the Olympic Games. When the war in their hometown Damascus increasingly threatens their lives, they flee via the Mediterranean and the Balkans to Germany, taking the dangerous route that many people undertake every day to escape war, poverty, persecution and other hardships.

OEW Director Stefanie Unterthiner emphasises: “With the One World Film Festival, we address important topics and put them into context together with students and teachers. This approach allows us to work with tomorrow’s decision-makers on issues that are relevant today and will continue to shape our world in 20 years. This makes it all the more important to bring these topics into focus now.”

The €1,500 prize money of the One World Film Festival will this year go to the project “Oasis of Endless Hope Centre” in Ruiru, Kenya, which enables young people to receive an education.
More information about the project can be found here: www.oew.org/kenia

The initiative is supported by the Office for Foreign Relations and Volunteering.