India
healthysoch
New Delhi, May 13. 2020 :
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.
As you know, WHO is a science-based organization. But sometimes stories and films have the power to inspire and to change things in a way that science and evidence don’t. To fulfill WHO’s mission, it’s clear to me that we need to use every tool at our disposal, including the arts.
I’m delighted to be here today to announce the winners of WHO’s inaugural Health for All Film Festival. I would like to thank my colleagues Gilles Reboux and Lorena Bernal for their initiative, and for the incredible amount of work they have done to make the film festival a success.
I encourage my colleagues, especially in the open house meeting every Thursday to bring crazy ideas and to bring new ideas to change WHO. One of the crazy ideas was from Gilles and when he told me about the idea of a film festival, I said go for it. And that’s why we’re here together today.
Telling our story through art is very important, please accept my thanks Gilles. The quality and quantity of films submitted surpassed all our expectations. We hoped for 500 submissions. In the end, almost 1300 films were submitted, from 110 countries.
Like all good films, the submissions we received are both heart-warming and heart-breaking; uplifting and sobering. Before I announce the prize winners, I first want to give three special mentions from the jury.
First, special mention in the video reports category is for a film called “Kassandra, a 13-year-old mum”, which was produced by NTN24. It was directed by Gustau Alegret from Spain with cinematography direction by Martin Cerviño of Uruguay. Muchos gracious.
Second, special mention in the nurses and midwives category is for “Nursing In The Community”. A film produced by Health Education England and The Queen’s Nursing Institute, directed by Charlie Inman from the United Kingdom. Thank you.
And the third special mention in the NCDs category goes to: “Cancer Divided” by Matthew Corolis and Carter Smith from About That Media, a production company based in Canada. Thanks again.
And now onto the winners.
In the NCDs category; the winner is “Living without limits”, a film about living with diabetes type-1 in Mexico, made by BBC Story Works for the Helmsley Charitable Trust. Congratulations.
In the student category, huge congratulations to the winner Nitai Steinberg, a biologist from Israel who made the film “Antibiotic resistance” about the rising threat of antimicrobial resistance. Shalom.
In the Grand Prix prize category, there was an amazing response and three winners.
In the nurses and midwives group, the winner is “War & Grace” by Sonia Lowman from International Medical Corps.
In the video reports category, congratulations to “A doctor’s dream”, which was produced by The Drugs for the Neglected Diseases initiative with Scholars and Gentlemen, a production company from South Africa. Congratulations
In the animation films group, the victor is “Limbo” by Saw Eh Doh Poe, Nann Win May Aye and Nwaye Zar Che Soe, from Myanmar.
Congratulations to the winners, and to everyone who submitted a film. Thank you for your enthusiasm, creativity and hard work. And thank you for your commitment to drawing attention to these pressing issues in global health.
Thank you.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
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