Regional Film Festival on Migration reaches every Azorean municipality
The Secretariat for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities is promoting the second edition of Films Without Borders – Regional Film Festival on Migration over the next few weeks in all the municipalities of the Azores, through the Regional Directorate for the Communities and in partnership with the Terceira Island Film Club.
With a new format compared to the first edition, held last year, the initiative runs from November 18 to December 18, including 19 public screenings, one in each of the municipalities of the nine islands of the Azores.
All sessions of the 2nd Regional Film Festival on Migration are free to the general public. They aim to raise awareness among the Azorean population of the theme of interculturality with the screening of six films about migration stories.
The selected films include “Flee,” an animated documentary directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, which portrays the experience of a refugee in Denmark, and “The Merger” by Mark Grentell, a dramatic comedy about the decline of an Australian club that recruits refugees to stay in business.
“Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures” by Portuguese director Marco Martins tells the drama of Portuguese emigrants in the UK with Brexit as a backdrop and “Eu Capitão,” a moving drama directed by Matteo Garrone, which follows the journey of two Senegalese cousins who decide to leave their family to try their luck in Europe, are other films in this regional showcase.
The II Films Without Borders also features “Tory and Lokita” by brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, awarded at the 75th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, which focuses on the harsh conditions of exile in which two young Africans find themselves in Belgium. In turn, “Mediterráneo” by Spanish director Marcel Barrena is a drama about two men who travel to Greece to create a team that rescues people in the Mediterranean Sea.
The island of Corvo will host the opening of this regional exhibition on November 18, with the screening of the film “The Merger” at the Multipurpose Hall of Corvo Ecomuseum scheduled for 3 p.m.
On November 22, the Teatro Ribeiragrandense on the island of São Miguel will screen the film “Flee’” at 8:30 p.m., while “Eu Capitão” will be screened at the Santa Cruz da Graciosa Cultural Centre.
The following day, the 2nd Regional Film Festival on Migration comes to the island of Flores, with a screening of “The Merger,” scheduled for 8:30 pm at the Lajes das Flores Museum.
Six days later, on November 29, the same film will be shown at the Povoação Municipal Auditorium on the island of São Miguel at 7:30 p.m.
November closes with two screenings on the islands of São Miguel and Terceira. On November 30, the Cineteatro Lagoense in Lagoa will screen”Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures” at 5 p.m., and the Ramo Grande Auditorium in Praia da Vitória will screen “The Merger.”
On December 6, “Eu Capitão” will be at Nordeste Secondary School in São Miguel at noon, and “The Merger” will be at São Roque do Pico Basic Education and Secondary School at 8:45 am. Also on Pico, the film “Mediterráneo” will be shown the following day at 9 p.m. at the Whaling Museum Auditorium in Lajes do Pico.
On December 13, “Films Without Borders” will be on three islands. “Flee” will be shown at the Santa Cruz das Flores Cultural Centre (8 p.m.) and the Francisco Lacerda Museum in Calheta de São Jorge (8:30 p.m.), while “Tora e Lokita” will make its debut at the Vila Franca Campo Cultural Centre in São Miguel at 8 p.m.
On Saturday, December 14, the Madalena Municipal Auditorium on Pico Island will screen “Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures” (9 p.m.), the Aeroporto Cinema on Santa Maria Island will screen “Flee2 (9 p.m.) and the Velas Municipal Auditorium in São Jorge will present “The Merger” (9:30 p.m.).
On the last day of the festival, December 18, which coincides with International Migrants Day, “Flee” will reach the Angra do Heroísmo Cultural and Conference Centre on Terceira Island (6 p.m.), while “Tora e Lokita” will be shown at the João José da Graça Public Library and Regional Archive on Faial Island (9 p.m.). The event closes with a screening of “Mediterráneo” at the Santa Clara Civic Centre, in Ponta Delgada at 9:30 p.m.