On 18 December, in celebration of International Migrants Day (IMD), and as part of the Global Migration Film Festival, IOM is organizing a special event in partnership with Cinema Vendôme and the UN Human Rights Office, and with the support of Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles, Centre du cinema et de l’audiovisuel and Europa Cinemas.

In light of the IMD 2018 theme “Migration with Dignity’, the focus of the event will be put on children and migration, as a continuation to the awareness-raising event IOM organizes on the 12th of December at the Children’s Museum.

The event on 18 December will start at 7 pm with a presentation of Cinemaximiliaan, a film platform with and by newcomers in Belgium. Starting with daily film screenings at the Maximiliaan Park in Brussels, Cinemaximiliaan quickly became an itinerant ‘living room’ bringing films in various remote asylum centers around Belgium on a regular basis. Through a vast network of volunteers, amongst them many newcomers, they organize many events, film screenings in cinemas and at people's homes, music performances, debates, lectures, workshops, encounters… welcoming newcomers to take part and to shape cultural life in Brussels and Belgium. Cinemaximiliaan is also an open project house where people stay over after events, eat, meet, work and think together.

At 7.10, the movie Abu Adnan – Adnan’s father will be screened. The movie is about Sayid, a refugee doctor from Syria who has just received a Danish residence permit. He starts a new life in rural Denmark together with his son Adnan. He faces the challenge of maintaining his boy's respect, while trying to assimilate to a new country and learning a new language. This is complicated by the younger family member finding the process of adaptation significantly less challenging in many ways.

The movie will be followed by a debate from 8 to 8.45 pm, moderated by Dima Yared - Human Rights Expert, UN Human Rights Office. The panel will comprise Mrs. Irina Todorova - IOM’s Regional Thematic Specialist ‘Migrant Assistance’; Mrs. Katja Fournier - Coordinator Plateforme Mineurs en Exil; and an unaccompanied minor living in a foster family in Belgium.

The Nawaris Trio band group will join us in closing the debate and opening the doors to a networking cocktail (9 – 10 pm). Nawaris is a musical band, led by Hussein Rassim, an Iraqi refugee now settled in Belgium, which interprets traditional Iraqi music, together with compositions made by the team members.

The reception which will be enriched with Syrian flavours, thanks to Take Home Chef.

We hope you can join us on this celebration, in honour of all migrants world-wide!

Please register here.

Location: Cinema Vendôme, 18 Chaussée de Wavre, 1050 Ixelles.