PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival Announces Winning Videos

New York, December 18th, 2009 – The PLURAL+ international youth-produced video festival on migration, identity and diversity, is pleased to announce the three International Jury Award winners who will be honored at the PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival Awards Ceremony on December 18th, 2009 in New York.

The International Jury of PLURAL+ is pleased to announce the following winners:
9-12 age category: “Warda”, by the Arab Educational Institute of Bethlehem and Camera-etc, Belgium. A group of 12 Palestinian children produced an animated video that deals with the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the way young people perceive the wall between Palestine and Israel.
13-17 age category: “Who am I?”, by Youngmin Kim, from the Republic of South Korea. A clay-animated video narrating the challenges of a young Korean girl whose father is Korean and the mother is of Uzbek descent.
18-25 age category: “Something to Exchange: a dialogue between old and new migrants”, by Veronica Owusu Kyei, Yanira Incio Noe and Zouine Chaimaa, Italy. A documentary produced by a group of young girls from Ghana, Morocco and Peru, the documentary challenges misperceptions of recent immigrant communities in Italy.

During the PLURAL + Awards Ceremony additional awards given by partner organizations of the festival will also be announced and screened. The award winning videos will be presented at festivals and events around the world through out 2010.

Over150 videos from 36 countries responded to PLURAL + call for entries. The PLURAL + Youth Video Festival aimed to provide a platform for youth from around the world to speak about the main issues they have to face in their communities related to migrant integration, inclusiveness, identity, diversity, human rights and social cohesiveness.

An initiative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and the International Organization for Migration, PLURAL+ is organized in collaboration with 18 international partners, including the Anna Lindh Foundation, the Royal Film Commission of Jordan, Chinh India, The Paley Center for Media, UNESCOCat, Red Unial, NoGhetto, COPEAM, UN Television, BaKaFORUM, Roots&Routes, Center for Migration Studies, Al Jadeed Television, NEXOSAlianza and WithoutBordersFilmFestival.

The PLURAL + Award Ceremony will take place on Friday, 18 December, 6-8 pm, at the Paley Center for Media, 25 West 52nd Street, in New York City.

For more information on PLURAL + please visit: www.unaoc.org/pluralplus or contact Jordi Torrent at torrent@un.org.

For media queries, please contact Karen Lerman or Andrea Petkovic at plural@unaoc.org.