Shortlist and Announcement of Winners on November 25, 2016
The Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) at LSE has launched a video competition in the spring of 2016 with the support of online video platform Chainy for short videos on the topic of migration. The competition winner and ‘top 5 finalists’ will be awarded prizes sponsored by Open Society Foundation.
The competition is now closed for entries and judges from Cannes Lions, The Guardian and LSE IGA are currently reviewing a total of 47 submissions from around the world.
The overall winner and the top 5 finalists will be announced at a prize-giving ceremony at 12.30pm on the 25th November at the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre at an exciting LSE event: Beyond Tolerance: Citizenship, Diversity & Constructive Conflict, where a range of domestic and international speakers, members of parliament, civil society, corporate leaders, creative artists and academics are expected to attend.
The winner will receive £5000, and the top 5 finalists will each receive £500.
Come and join us at the November 25 event - the event is free, but spaces are limited. Please register here to reserve your place. Until then, please find below the IGA team’s top eleven entries.
Professor Erik Berglof is the inaugural Director of the Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Laura Gregory is the production heavyweight founder and CEO of Great Guns. She is a returning guest juror at Cannes Lions.
Patrick Kingsley is the Guardian's first-ever migration correspondent, and was named foreign affairs journalist of the year at the British Journalism Awards.
This short film by Will is based on his two trips to Calais and Dunkirk camps in France. These trips unearthed a personal connection for Will: his own great-grandfather hailed from Iraq, and Will told us what happened when he met refugees fleeing the same area:
"It was only matter of circumstance, that I was there trying to help them, it could easily have been the other way round. In the UK it is often easy to forget that people fleeing war are teachers, doctors, students and normal people just like us. I wanted to do something to make people think about this."
Watch the video here
Andres is a Mexican-born cinematographer and filmmaker who has been working with social orientated stories for the past 6 years. Native indigenous cultures and immigration have always been part of his life, his father’s family originally from Arriaga, is now spread all over the world. For Andres, migration is “something that we can find in all living beings and the history of humans have been influenced in huge ways because of it. The criminalisation of this human behaviour is one to the topics I decided to fight a long time ago. Moving images is how I fight.”
Watch the video here
Thales Corrêa was born and raised in Brazil and moved to the USA to study cinema in Los Angeles. He has been living as an immigrant for almost six years now, most of the people in his college were immigrants as well as the majority of the cast and crew of his films. In his short film, Thales explores some common misconceptions of the term ‘migration’ in the USA: “In the USA, immigrants are living a delicate moment during the current presidential campaign, and there’s a lot of misconceptions about what migration means, so I saw this contest as a good opportunity to try to explore its positive sides."
Watch the video here
When filmmaker Tim Gregory returned from Lesvos, he was left with this impression: “What had struck me the most about my time in Greece was not the misery but the kindness. It felt like an observation that was missing from the public discourse so I was very happy for the opportunity afforded to me by this video competition to express it, using the immortal words of Kurt Vonnegut that had come to me in so many quiet moments of contemplation in my hotel room in Greece: Goddammit, you've got to be kind."
Watch the video here
Charlotte Manicom works at the Scalabrini Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, who provide free legal advice to refugees and migrants. Working with migrating youth, she is constantly amazed at the resilience and creativity of these young people despite their circumstances. When asked about the inspiration behind her work, Charlotte explains: “this is a piece that looks at the desperate measures that Allan is driven to due to strict migration controls - but it also celebrates his strong spirit, his abilities and his strength.” She hopes this video can counter the cliché image of a 'migrant', and can encourage reflection on statelessness and its consequences.
Watch the video here
After visiting with a friend the two main camps in Lesvos, Moria and Kara Tepe, and seeing the striking differences between the two - FiIippo believed more than ever that it was a story that needed to be told. With his video, Filippo wanted to help humanize the refugee crisis in the eyes of others: “The refugee crisis is not made of faceless numbers and problems for our economies and societies. Behind every refugee there is a story, a person struggling, a human being going through what is probably the most difficult moment of his/her life. And we can, and should, help making this moment a little bit less difficult.”
Watch the video here
Hamza chose to participate in our migration competition having experienced its impact first-hand. His grandparents moved to Pakistan after partition, abandoning their ancestral homes and community- with the ramifications of their migration still affecting his family to this day. Hamza tells us his thoughts on using art as a medium of communication: “I am horrified by the current situation in Syria. I believe it is the duty of artists, and filmmakers especially, to create content that speaks to current issues.”
Watch the video here
Whilst filming this short documentary, Alice tells us how when refugees from sub-Saharan Africa arrived in Sardinia, she found they were faced with tough immigration bureaucracy and a lackluster job market and thus locals had to find a different way to get them involved in the community. That’s how ASD PAGI, Italy’s first all-migrant soccer team to be allowed to play in a regional football league, was formed. Alice told us what she learnt from meeting all the players: “I learned that hospitality means creating the right environment for a social and human integration. I learned that sport could be a fun way to allow this integration. I learned from the young guys that the immigration facilitates cultural exchanges necessary to create a human identity of the future based on mutual solidarity.”
Watch the video here
After visiting ‘The Jungle’ in Calais, Katherine was determined to write 'In Their Shoes' to try and inspire people to think differently and consider, even if just for a moment, what it would be like to: “The situation that has driven these innocent people away from their countries is no different to one we could have to live through if the shoe were on the other foot - I hope my piece speaks to the hearts of all those who haven't had to experience the crisis first hand and makes them see the situation through a different pair of eyes.”
Watch the video here
Monzer is a Syrian filmmaker and heavy metal guitarist as well as being very passionate about cooking, especially sweets and pastry- his family’s business. He decided to take part in this contest to share his personal experience and give people a glimpse into his background. Monzer believes the most important thing people should know about refugees is: "Behind each individual there is a chain of disappointments that led to them eventually leaving everything behind."
Watch the video here
Riffy made this short film after meeting Mariam Yusuf who fled gender-based violence in Somalia and settled in the UK in 2008 but is still destitute of legal status here. Stories like these are becoming more and more common but also misunderstood- Mariam had not only embarked on a very dangerous journey to survive, but to also lead and support other women along the way. For Riffy, her film presents “a heartwarming portrait of a woman at a time where the narrative of migration and displacement is often misunderstood or dehumanised and it's important to remember each and every story is unique and more human that we could imagine.”
Watch the video here