FilmAid’s 20th Anniversary Power of Film Benefit
FilmAid International is an NGO founded by independent filmmakers that provides displaced people with actionable information about their rights, safety, health and future. Through video, radio, print, SMS, and digital media campaigns created and distributed in collaboration with refugee communities, FilmAid is able to reach over 400,000 people in refugee camps and urban areas every year.
FilmAid’s 20th Anniversary Power of Film celebration took place early November at the Standard Hotel above New York’s Highline. The evening highlighted the initiatives and powerful impact made by the organization and its new partner, Internews.
The cocktail event and program included moving remarks by FilmAid Founder Caroline Baron and Jeanne Bourgault, President and CEO of Internews, introduced by Internews board member Cristiana Falcone Sorrell. Kati Marton and Tim Blake Nelson spoke as well as More Raça, who travelled from Kosovo to share her personal journey from refugee to filmmaker. Her path was inspired by watching cartoons and Charlie Chaplin movies screened by FilmAid’s Mobile Cinemas as a 6-year-old refugee in Macedonia.
Actress, Producer and Director, Katie Holmes presented this year’s Richard C. Holbrooke Memorial Award for Dedication to Humanitarian Service to Participant CEO David Linde in honor of his work, films and activism.
The retro-modern setting with wooden panels allowed photography by National Geographic Photographer, Karen Kasmauski, to stand out. These photos captured the journey of FilmAid’s Mobile Cinema screenings of the film “He Named Me Malala,” in partnership with Participant, at various refugee camps in Kenya and Jordan, reaching over 35,000 female refugees in 2016.
The Power of Film underscores the influence and potential of film to effect positive change in the world. FilmAid and Internews continue to support vulnerable populations and have already expanded into the southern Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo, where political persecution and economic collapse have displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
Empire is honored to support the power of storytelling by producing galas and festivals such as FilmAid’s Power of Film celebration.
To learn more please visit https://www.filmaid.org
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
