Warsaw, Poland – Cinema and migration have a powerful bond stretching back over a century ago when filmmakers, many of whom where migrants themselves, began making movies that depicted a world on the move. Their films brought the dramatic, poignant and comic stories of migrants to diverse audiences through images that provoke feeling amongst people of every culture. In keeping with this tradition, on December 14, 2023, IOM Poland held its second edition of the Global Migrant Film Festival (GMFF) as part of its celebration of International Migrants Day, observed on December 18th.  IOM launched the GMFF in 2016 as a means of featuring films and documentaries that capture the promise and challenges of migration, and the unique contributions that migrants make to their new communities. Over the last seven years, the GMFF has been hosted by IOM offices all over the world.  

This year, IOM received over 600 films, 84 were pre-selected by IOM HQ, of which IOM Poland selected four, featuring an array of international and Polish talent. HOPE, by Turkish director Volkan Girgin, tells the story of three refugee women that were torn from their homeland and forced to migrate. Divided by geography, religion and nationality, the women are united across time and space by a common fate. 100 Million Displaced is a timely and urgent documentary on the global refugee crisis, directed and narrated by Australian filmmaker Karis Ramsay. Closer to home, Polish director Kasia Cera’s documentary, Borderline Stories, offers a moving examination of the first moments of the humanitarian crisis triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, building on testimony from Ukrainian refugees and humanitarian relief volunteers from around the world. Eden, by Polish film school graduates Marta and Piotr Szymanek, tells the story of Mila, a seventeen-year-old trapped in the illicit activities of her family. During a chance encounter with a Syrian refugee amid a moment of desperation, Mila receives a lesson in resilience from a man who won’t give up on life without a fight.

“I am very honoured to be selected as a finalist for this festival. I am proud that I could show the unity and solidarity of volunteers from all over the world who came to help those in need at the Polish- Ukrainian border in 2022,” says Kasia Cera, director of Borderline Stories.

What struck the audience most at the GMFF in Warsaw was the fact that migrants, refugees and internally displaced people are very often portrayed as a threat, and not as a contribution to society in Western media. Filmmakers, producers and journalists have a role to play in changing this perception.  

“Films have the power to show different facets of life, which can help viewers to cultivate deeper empathy for migrants and a better understanding of their realities, needs, perspectives, and capacities,” explains Lívia Styp-Rekowska, Chief of Mission for IOM Poland. “The festival is an innovative, creative venue for normalizing discussions of migration through storytelling. It's an advocacy tool that can also draw attention to the UN SDGs, in turn helping nations to meet them.

This project was funded by the German Foreign Office.  

For media information, please contact Ewelina Kawczynska, Public Information Coordinator for IOM Poland: ekawczynska@iom.int.