WELCOME TO THE INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
8 MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND
KNOWING THE OTHER
FIRST EDITION – September 2009
8 MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND
KNOWING THE OTHER
FIRST EDITION – September 2009
Nine years ago, the United Nations set ambitious goals to be attained by 2015: the 8 Millennium Development Goals. These goals reflect the ambitions and ideals of humanity. Today, however, the news is dominated by the financial crisis, food and emigration problems, and climate change. Given this focus of the news and of popular thought, the big Goals from the beginning of this Millennium have nearly been forgotten.
The creation of a thematic festival
The aim of the festival is to give attention to quality documentary movies that have a subject linked with the very spirit of these 8 broad goals. The selected films have in common the authenticity of the filmmakers’ approaches and their personal commitment and research. The selected films will promote and improve general understanding of the importance of the Millennium Development Goals. Film-makers take time to discover their subjects, to observe them, to live with them, to exchange information and ideas, to establish a relation of trust with the persons they are filming. Indeed, film-makers help us to understand the other, to understand that behind the reports and the statistics there are human beings . This approach is a necessary first step towards achieving the 8 Millennium Development Goals.
The first edition took place from September the 19th through the 29th 2009 in Brussels. We would like to thank directors, independant producers, moderators, journalists and all our partners who participated in the festival and who give it its quality. It proved the importance and necessity of such a festival. The first edition of the festival was warmly received by the public and by the media. It had an international impact far beyond the Belgian borders.
The second edition of the festival is planned for June of 2010. It will once again reunite filmmakers from all over the world with their movies which speak about the Millenium Development Goals, their context,and their realisation. The chosen movies will introduce the Development Goals by presenting concrete cases with human fates that depend on it. Directors will bring their approach which "Knowing the Other" because "Knowing the Other" is a preliminary step about the realisation of the 8 Millennium Development Goals.
Fifty preselected movies will be introduced to the audience during a one-week period.
The competition - fifteen best movies will be in competition for the festival awards – The “Objectif d’or” and the “Objectif d’argent” as well as many other special awards.
For one week, the festival will reunite film-makers, writers, musicians and politicians to debate and to introduce the documentaries related to the 8 Millenium Development Goals.
Following the experience of the first edition many special events will take place during the festival.
