United States - The PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival and Awards Ceremony will take place in New York City at Paley Center for Media at 25 West 52nd Street on December 3rd from 2.00 pm – 8.30 pm.

Featuring workshops, roundtables, panels, screenings and awards, the event celebrates youth voices on migration, diversity and social inclusion expressed worldwide from behind the lens. It will bring together young media-makers and professionals from more than 18 countries for a day of exploring social change through media making.

A joint initiative between the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and IOM, PLURAL+ aims to foster dialogue, partnership and action on critical issues and opportunities faced by youth worldwide, and recognizes young people as powerful agents of social change.

The PLURAL+ 2015 Festival and Awards Ceremony offer youth up to age 25 a platform on which to discuss, advocate for and explore the issues most important to them and their communities relating to migration, diversity and social inclusion.

The 2015 edition kicks off with a morning of workshops for the winning youth filmmakers led by UNICEF Voices of Youth and hitRECord TV series.

A special roundtable discussing youth-produced media in migrant and refugee communities, produced in partnership with Show of Force, will feature youth filmmakers and media experts from Jordan, Lebanon and the US.

An expert panel hosted in partnership with Tribeca Film Institute on the role of media in creating and rebuilding perceptions of incarcerated youth communities will take place following the roundtable.

PLURAL+ will also present special screenings of the videos receiving awards from partner organizations around the world, with prizes including professional opportunities, cash awards, and scholarships. The screenings will be followed by Q & As with PLURAL +’s partners and winning filmmakers.

Throughout the day, the United Nations Millennium Campaign will feature the UN Virtual Reality series’ film Clouds Over Sidra, the story of Sidra, a 12-year-old girl living in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan.

The PLURAL+ 2015 International Jury Awards will be hosted by Elizabeth Plank and Drew Baldwin, featuring a special performance by NYC Youth Poet, Laureate Crystal Valentine.

The three International Jury Award winning videos will be screened, and the filmmakers – Breech Asher Harani of the Philippines, Haylee Nottaway of Canada and Camera-etc of Belgium – will be honoured on stage.

Special remarks will be delivered by UNAOC High Representative for the United Nations Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and IOM Permanent Observer to the United Nations Ashraf El Nour.

Several PLURAL+ winners from the Philippines, Belgium, Canada, Afghanistan, Austria, Kenya, United Kingdom, Pakistan, Colombia, and the US, among other countries, will attend the festival.

To attend the PLURAL+ Festival and Awards Ceremony on 3 December, please click here.

Please direct further media requests and questions to the PLURAL+ team at plural@unaoc.org or Tel. +1-212-681-7000. Please visit PLURAL+ at www.pluralplus.unaoc.org