IOM is providing support to the organizers of the International
Film Festival CineMigrante which begins next Monday 7 March in the
Colombian capital, Bogota.

CineMigrante, featuring 32 films from five continents
(Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, México, Morocco, Mozambique,
Paraguay, Spain, and the United States), was created in 2010 to
promote intercultural dialogue between Latin America and the world
through films that focus on the lives of migrants. The first
edition of CineMigrante was held in Buenos Aires and Quito
simultaneously.

IOM is providing financial support for the organizers' travel in
addition to organizing the distribution of leaflets, invitations,
press releases and other visibility for the festival.

IOM migration experts will take part in 12 workshops being
organized on the margins of the festival where Colombian government
institutions, NGOs, academia and the general public will discuss
migration-related topics including gender, women and children,
displacement, and the human rights of migrants. IOM will also
present thematic papers on forced internal displacement,
recruitment of minors by illegal armed groups and human
trafficking.

Some of the poignant stories highlighted at this year’s
CineMigrante include that of Karim and Aziz, two young men hoping
to cross a border hanging on to the underside of a lorry; Said is a
Moroccan boy trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar to reach the
land of opportunities; Norma is the Latin America migrant living in
Barcelona who is tortured by loneliness and the many obstacles she
must overcome in order to help her family back home and Elvira, an
irregular migrant working at a Chicago airport.

Vanessa Vivas, Coordinator of CineMigrante in Colombia explains,
"This year we have come to Colombia hand in hand with IOM.
CineMigrante is an opportunity for all of us to come together in
recognition of the many cultures and people around the world. This
festival brings all these experiences together and it also provides
a space for debate and reflection."

Marcelo Pisani, IOM Chief of Mission in Colombia adds, "Colombia
is a country full of vibrant and creative people where art plays a
central role in describing and reflecting on the world in which we
live. As part of IOM’s 60th anniversary, we decided to
support CineMigrante because it is providing an important space
where artists can show the stories that reflect the good, the bad,
the beautiful, but also the ugly side of migration."

The ongoing violence in Colombia has prompted the internal
forced displacement of 3.6 million persons. More than 327,000
persons have reported being victims of war crimes and thousands of
minors have been affected by the forced recruitment into illegal
armed groups. To date, 4,529 of these children and teenagers are in
the process of reintegrating into civilian life.

More than 3.3 million Colombians live and work in countries
around the world. In 2009, the remittances sent by these migrants
to families left behind amounted to more than USD 4.1 billion.

For more information about the festival please visit: "paragraph-link-no-underline" href="http://www.cinemigrante.org/"
target="_blank" title="">http://www.cinemigrante.org/

For more information, please contact:

Jorge Gallo

IOM Bogota

Tel: +57 1 639 7777

E-mail: "mailto:jgallo@iom.int">jgallo@iom.int