The United Nations Association Film Festival
October 22-30, 2010
We are delighted to announce the 13th United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF), which was originally conceived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was founded by Stanford educator and film critic Jasmina Bojic with the participation of the Stanford Film Society and United Nations Association Midpeninsula Chapter—a grassroots, community-based, nonprofit organization. The 13th UNAFF will be held from October 22-30, 2010 in Palo Alto, Stanford University, East Palo Alto and San Francisco. The theme for this year is “POPULATION – MIGRATION – GLOBALIZATION.”
UNAFF celebrates the power of films dealing with human rights, environmental themes, population, migration, women’s issues, refugee protection, homelessness, racism, health, universal education, war and peace. UNAFF has screened some of the most awarded and talked about documentaries in the industry including five that went on to win Academy Awards (“Panama Deception,” “Thoth,” “The Blood of Yingzhou District,” “Freeheld” and “Taxi to the Dark Side”) and fifteen that were nominated (“Regret to Inform,” “Genghis Blues,” “Long Night’s Journey Into Day,” “LaLee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton,” “Promises,” “Daughter from Danang,” “When Abortion was Illegal,” “Twist of Faith,” “God Sleeps in Rwanda,” “War/Dance,” “Salim Baba”, "Trouble The Water", “The Garden”, “Burma VJ” and “China’s Unnatural Disaster – The Tears of Sichuan Province).
Last year UNAFF jurors reviewed over 520 submissions. Our final program consisted of fifty films related to issues from Afghanistan, Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Burma, Canada, China, Colombia, Congo, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Ghana, Guatemala, Jordan, Kenya, India, Iraq, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, the UK, the US, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
Encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response from our audience and the media, we continue with the UNAFF year round screenings through our Traveling Film Festival, which has so far taken place in San Francisco, Berkeley, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Davis, Saratoga, Sonoma, Sebastopol, San Diego, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Honolulu, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington DC, New York, Burlington, New Hampshire, Bellevue, Durham at Duke University, New Haven at Yale University, Waukesha at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, Houston at Rice University, Boston and Cambridge at Harvard University and internationally in Paris, Venice, Belgrade and Phnom Penh.
UNAFF gives five awards - the UNAFF Grand Jury Award for the Best Documentary, Best Short Documentary, UNAFF Youth Vision Award, the UNAFF/Stanford Video Award for Cinematography and the UNAFF/Stanford Video Award for Editing.
We are proud that UNAFF has twice won the WAVE Awards for best promotional trailer and the prestigious Earl W. Eames Award for innovatively combining new technologies with traditional media. As an acknowledgment of the 10th anniversary, UNAFF received the “Community Treasure Award” from Stanford University President John Hennessy for its contribution in promoting dialogue and education about different cultures and issues. For the last seven years the Mayor of Palo Alto has proclaimed the festival days as UNAFF Week, consistently recognizing the significance that UNAFF has for the community.
UNAFF is an independent project of the UNA-USA, a nonprofit organization. By making a tax-deductible donation to UNAFF you will directly give a chance to tens of thousands of people to see these important films that bring us together as a diverse community. Please send your gift (check payable to UNAFF) to: UNAFF, P.O. Box 19369, Stanford, CA 94309
MONTHLY SENIOR CENTER SCREENINGS
Every first Monday of the month at 2 pm, the Chapter hosts a free UNAFF Special Screening at the Avenidas Senior Center in Mountain View. Please see our Events page for current films.