Bangkok International Film Festival on Ending Violence against Women and Girls

In preparation for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign 2015, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific celebrated the first Bangkok International Film Festival on Ending Violence against Women and Girls, which took place from 26th to 29th November 2015, at the SF Cinema in Central World, in Bangkok, Thailand.

The film festival aimed to raise public awareness of the multiple forms of violence women and girls continue to face around the world, and to mobilize broad support for preventing such violence before it starts. The films were selected to reflect diversity in terms of ethnicity, age and gender, based on their empowering messages, and promotion of gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights. Nine award-winning feature films and documentaries from Argentina, France, Germany, Israel, Pakistan, Singapore, Spain and the United States were screened for free during this four-day film festival. The event focus on issues that millions of women and girls across the world endure, including: domestic violence, child marriage, “honour” killings, sexual harassment, and rape, but also on broader issues of discrimination such as limited access to education and unsafe labour migration.

UN Women launched the powerful multi-media campaign Faces of Prevention, in partnership with the United States Embassy in Thailand and USAID. Faces of Prevention sought to reframe the conversation surrounding gender-based violence in a way that inspires everyone to see it as his or her responsibility to do something, big or small, to prevent and end violence, and to support victims and survivors.

A new Public Service Announcement “Active bystander” was screened before each film during the Film Festival, in order to reinforce the prevention and awareness-raising component of the event. In support of the UNiTE Campaign and HeForShe, the video has the objective to encourage young people especially young men, to take action on ending violence.

See more about #EVAWGFILMFEST: http://bit.do/evawgfilmfest