Rome – The latest edition of CinemArena—the mobile cinema initiative launched in 2002 by MAECI (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) and AICS (Italian Agency for Development Cooperation) — was launched this week (09/10) in Rome at the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The project, now in its sixteenth year, involves a caravan travelling through the most remote African routes in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, The Gambia, Nigeria and Sudan bringing outdoor cinema events to more than 200 villages. The aim is to promote an information campaign that demonstrates the risks of irregular migration.

The 2018 edition of this project, financed by the Africa Fund, will address migration by focusing on the main countries of origin of migrants arriving by sea to Europe. Events will include the screening of movies and awareness-raising videos on irregular migration, followed by workshops, theatre performances and other activities.

The 2018/2019 edition is an initiative is being implemented in partnership with Italy’s Ministry of the Interior and IOM, the UN Migration Agency.

This year, new synergies with the IOM’s Aware Migrants Information Campaign (already disseminated on social media, radios and TVs) were also made possible.

“Migrants arriving in Italy often tell us to have left their countries without being fully aware of the difficulties of the journey and of the violence they would have been subjected to,” explained Federico Soda, Director of IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean. “The Aware Migrants Information Campaign – financed by the Italian Ministry of Interior – was launched two years ago for these migrants (not refugees) with the aim of informing them by using video testimonies on the risks of the journey, and of enabling them to take free and informed decisions.”

The caravan began its tour on 1 October in Senegal, in the village of Pekin. Its itinerary in coming weeks includes Nioro du Rip, Guinguineo, Kaolack, Goudiri, Tamba, Vélingara, Medina Yero Foula and Sédhiou.  The caravan moved from Kaolack to the Tambacounda region, where new events began on 10 October in Dogué.

CinemArena will then move to Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire in November and December; to Guinea and Sudan in January and February, and then the Gambia in March and April.

Watch a short presentation video here (Italian): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5FYweoIMCI&t=51s

For more information, please contact:
Flavio Di Giacomo, IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean, Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int