The United Nations Association Film Festival is hosting its 27th annual event with opportunities for student volunteers who are interested in film and human rights throughout this week.
The screenings will primarily take place at Mitchell Park, but other locations such as Stanford’s Medical Center and Stanford’s Green Library will also have screenings until Saturday.
Being the oldest documentary film festival in the US, this year’s UNAFF, called ‘Shared Humanity,’ will last for 11 days. According to Jasmina Bojic, Stanford professor for international documentaries and founder of UNAFF, 40 filmmakers from over 40 countries will have their work showcased during the event.
“Each year we have a lot of filmmakers coming from all over the world to Palo Alto,” Bojic said. “It’s really a treasure, particularly for young people, to meet the filmmakers who are going to dangerous places. You see and hear some of the news, but you rarely see the stories behind the scenes and what’s actually happening.”
The festival features strictly documentaries that are meant to educate and inspire audiences about global events. Bojic said that the program would welcome more volunteers to help spread the films throughout the community.
“Young people can become volunteers for the festival or the program,” Bojic said. “We have year-round screenings in libraries and in senior centers in the veterans’ homes. Now we have almost 200 volunteers, 20 being younger people, and I’m really amazed to see their energy.”
Bojic said that she founded UNAFF in Palo Alto in 1998 and her prior understanding of the importance of spreading stories motivated the festival’s growth.
“My background is in journalism, international relations and film,” Bojic said. “As a journalist working in different places, I always thought that short films, particularly documentaries, are very important for people to understand in order to spark their minds about a particular issue. It’s now one of the largest cultural events for Palo Alto.”
Film director Stephen Talbot showcased a film at last year’s UNAFF called “The Movement and the Madman.” Talbot said the aim was to shed light on the lesser known details of the Vietnam War.
“Few Americans had known that Richard Nixon and his foreign policy advisor Henry Kissinger were secretly planning a major escalation of the war in Vietnam in 1969, including threats to use nuclear weapons,” Talbot said. “I always like coming across and then researching a story that most people have never heard of. It’s like recovering lost history.”
According to Bojic, the experience is meant to get younger people questioning things they didn’t know about by expanding their knowledge on worldly events.
“It’s to bring awareness to what you can do,”Bojic said. “It’s not just sitting in the chair listening to the filmmakers, it brings you to a moment. It’s important for the younger generation because it’s the world that you are going to live in.”
