2020 Big Syn International Film Festival champions UN sustainability goals
Category: Press release | Date: November 24, 2020 | By: Big Syn Institute, London. UK.
A Grand Jury comprised of BAFTA and EMMY award-winners and global leaders from sustainability and film studies have chosen the winners of the 2020 Big Syn International Film Festival. Register on bigsyn.org to view these films from 26 – 30 November 2020, for free.
This is the World’s biggest not for profit, online film festival that celebrates entertaining and relatable feature films, shorts, animations and documentaries to educate viewers about the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), and inspires them to act on those. The UN SDGs offer actionable plans for individuals, organisations and governments to address global challenges such as climate change, pollution, gender inequality, poverty, and, poor health and sanitation, to name a few.
Although the festival has reached millions, more than 85% of people were made aware of UN SDGs and their significance for the very first time, through the festival. This is consistent with statistics from the World Economic Forum, which shows that, as of September 2019, only 13% of UK residents were classified as being “familiar” with the SDGs.
The festival will screen a diverse array of films, animations and documentaries chosen from close to 500 entries from over 45 countries. The winners include films such as Nobody Dies in Longyearbyen (USA), showing the catastrophic impact of climate change on permafrost leading to global pandemics; Riptide (UK), a schizophrenia love story; Tipping Point (France), a dystopian London without any civil liberties (directed by Emmy Award winner Alberto Mielgo, produced by Ubisoft); Scarred (India), showing the devastating impact of acid attacks on women; and, Aretha (Ireland), portraying the abilities of people with disabilities such as Down Syndrome, to name a few. Other films include The Girls are not Brides (Bangladesh), Youth on Strike! (Australia), and, The Iraqi belly dancer (UK), a LGBTQ belly dancer’s plight and struggle for existence. There will be many more equally brilliant films as Holestepper (Peru), La Travesía (Venezuela), Beyond My Steps (Angola) and Guise (Iran), to watch, enjoy and learn from, during the festival.
The organiser of the festival, Big Syn Institute, is a part of the Centre for Big Synergy, a not-for-profit, global consortium of cross-disciplinary ‘synergists’ tasked to create a thriving, capable and responsible future for us and generations to come.
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