Image from The Mall, a film about migrant workers living in an abandoned mall in Tel Aviv
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival will be taking place in Geneva 16 June but this is not just yet another film festival. What sets this one apart from numerous others in the City of Calvin is that 11 of the 14 short films that will be shown during the three-hour programme were produced by unions or worker organizations.
Kristyne Peter, communications officer for the International Metalworkers’ Federation based in Geneva, which sponsors the festival, told GenevaLunch that the screening of these films gives voice to stories that are too often ignored by mainstream media in their respective countries.
Keynote speaker,World YWCA General Secretary Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda
The University of Geneva, together with five co-sponsors, kicked off the inaugural programme of the Geneva Forum on Social Change (GFSC) Friday 5 June. Keynote speakers include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Prize Laureate and Honorary Doctor 2009 of the University of Geneva, World YWCA General Secretary Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, and Speak-it.org Director, Nick Francis.
The Forum combines documentary film screenings, workshops and panel discussions of the complex social, political and economic challenges presented in the films. The event is organized by the University of Geneva International Organizations MBA (IOMBA) Programme. Geneva Lunch spoke with Forum on Social Change Chair and IOMBA degree candidate, Patrick Huber.
GL: Can you provide some background information on how the Forum was imagined and over what time period?
Maverick Architect Michael Reynolds in Oliver Hodge's "Garbage Warrior." Photo courtesy GFSC and Oliver Hodge
Patrick Huber (PH): This came out of an event last year in Monterrey, California hosted by Independent Television Service (ITVS) out of San Francisco. The Forum was conceived in November of 2008 when ITVS approached the University of Geneva about co-sponsoring a film screening and dialogue.
I was approached as president of the Geneva University chapter of the NetImpact network, an industry network of MBA professionals and students interested in promoting corporate social responsibility. Last year the chapter sponsored a forum on sustainable development which created momentum to discuss what other advocacy efforts the network might promote.
