Geneva – Since opening calls for submissions in April, IOM’s 2018 Global Migration Film Festival (GMFF) ‘Call for Films’ closed on 21 June – more than doubling last year’s total roster of entrants after receiving 784 submissions, including features, documentaries and short films.

 “We have received submissions from 96 different countries!” exclaimed Amanda Nero, director of the GMFF. “Last year we had 303!”

India has sent the most submissions – 65 in total – followed by Italy with 62, the United States with 60, and the Islamic Republic of Iran with 46 films.

Almost 40 per cent of the total submissions are from Western Europe, which stands at the leading position with 288 films offered. Middle Eastern and Asian countries each have over a hundred submissions. North America ranked number four with 84 films submitted. Both Eastern Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean have over 60 submissions, and Sub-Saharan Africa, 21 submissions.

The GMFF also is an inclusive festival: anyone who is interested in migration or film is welcomed; the entrance to all events is free. Screenings begin 28 November and run through 18 December – the UN’s international day of the migrant – with events scheduled in some 100 countries.

“There are many fascinating films, it will be a hard selection process,” added Nero.

The submitted films cover a wide range of themes, including a film from Germany about people who have to apply big politics to individuals every day. Whoever applies for asylum in Germany has to sit across from them just once: the deciders of the Migration Office, the ones who evaluate who can stay and who cannot. It is a film about thoughtfulness and morals, and the impossible task of always doing the right thing.

Another remarkable film follows the moving testimonies of Muslim refugees from Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan, resettled in the US. This unconventional documentary film creates intimate psychological portraits, restores the refugees’ voices, and allows them full personal and political agency.

For more information, please contact IOM HQ at Tel: +41 227 179 482, Email: migfilmfest@iom.int