United States - With over 150 videos from 54 countries from around the world, youth filmmakers from Australia, Cameroon,  France, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Canada and other countries will be honoured at this year’s PLURAL+ awards ceremony on December 6th at the Paley Media Centre in New York City.
 
PLURAL+ is a Youth Video Festival on migration, diversity and social inclusion, emphasizing intercultural dialogue and youth expression and the desire for peace and better understanding world-wide.  It is a joint initiative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and IOM, with the support of partner organizations from around the world.

The top three PLURAL + International Jury Awards for the age groups of 9-12, 13-17 and 18-25 will be presented to the Telekids Workshop from Spain, the students of Class 3D Laura Conti Secondary School in Italy, and Ms. Tania Safi of Australia.   

Nicolas Chaves, an 11-year-old video-maker with the Telekids Workshop and a winner of the PLURAL+ International Jury Award for age category 9-12, directed “Do You Really Think That About Me?”

It portrays two children, one Spanish and one American, who want to be friends. However, both have older brothers who are against the friendship because they believe that contact with foreigners is a bad influence. The video challenges this opinion.
 
Tania Safi, winner of the PLURAL+ International Jury Award for age category 18-25, will also attend the ceremony. She directed “Trab Laus”, which uses mixed media to chronicle the journey of a young Australian-Lebanese woman as she visits her grandmother in Lebanon. The main character explores the identity crisis that emerges in many second generation migrants.

Students from the Laura Conti Secondary School in Buccinasco, Italy, winners of the PLURAL+ International Jury Award for age category 13-17, will also attend the event to receive their award. Their video, “All Changes”, documents an innovative educational activity to develop awareness of social injustices.
 
PLURAL+ partner organizations will also present awards to PLURAL+ videos of their choice. Some of PLURAL+ Partner awards include invitations to the winners to present their work at international film and video festivals and conferences.
 
The 2012 PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival Awards Ceremony at the Paley Center for Media (25 West 52nd Street, NY, NY) will take place from 6.00 pm – 8.00 pm on December 6, 2012.

The event is free of charge and open to the public. Seating is limited. RSVP is mandatory, so please contact plural@unaoc.org to reserve seats.

For more information on PLURAL + please visit www.unaoc.org/pluralplus