Bangkok – Today, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will host a film screening and photo exhibition at Alliance Française Bangkok in celebration of the International Migrants Day and the organization’s 70th anniversary. 

The International Migrants Day, which is celebrated on 18 December, aims to raise awareness about the challenges and difficulties faced by people on the move as well as their contributions to their communities. This year also marks IOM’s 70 years of action in supporting migrants and States around the world. 

Over the years, films and photographs have been used to inform, entertain, educate, and encourage conversations about migration. They brought the stories of migrants to different audiences and convey universal messages of hope, the desire for acceptance and the search for a better life. 

“IOM aspires to use this film screening and photo exhibition to encourage conversations about the complexities and nuances in stories of migration and to create safe and inclusive spaces for dialogue and opportunities for future action,” said Ms. Geraldine Ansart, Chief of Mission at IOM Thailand. 

The event will feature two films that capture the promise and challenges of migration and the unique contributions that migrants make to their new communities: Overseas and Heartbound. 

Overseas is a short film set in Mahachai, a town in Thailand where many Myanmar workers are employed in the seafood processing industry. It follows the life of Wawa Kai from Myanmar, who had to take the afternoon after feeling sick. 

Meanwhile, Heartbound follows the lives of four Thai-Danish couples over ten years in an intimate chronicle that explores universal questions of love and romance, dreams and everyday hardship, life and death, and the nature of family. 

Prior to the film screening, there will be a panel discussion where experts from the Ministry of Public Health, World Health Organization Thailand, World Vision Foundation of Thailand and Thomson Reuters Foundation will come together to discuss about the most pressing issue of our era – migration in times of COVID-19. 

As part of the event, IOM and partners from the UN Network on Migration in Thailand is also organizing a photo exhibition depicting the everyday life of migrants, the contributions they make in their home and host communities, as well as the challenges they face. 

This event was possible with support from the Alliance Française Bangkok, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Laudes Foundation and the World Health Organization. 

For more information, please contact our Media and Communications team at mediathailand@iom.int.