A Blue Cloud instead of A Red Carpet!

The first round of Blink! Film Festival is coming online from Thursday 11 to Sunday 14, 2021 November. This unique festival of young cinematic talents in Global South countries will include 24 fiction and documentary films spread over the 4-day festival.

Blink! aims to recognize and shed light on talented young filmmakers who come from the Global South, and who are not necessarily academically qualified nor are working professionally in film industries, especially those who live in places where there are no movie houses or film production facilities, those who watch and make films on tablets, laptops and mobile phones. Blink! also seeks to be a springboard for sharing good film stories with wide audiences everywhere, and a platform for expressing alternative voices that have something to say about the status of our world today.

Action for Hope received 147 film entries that went through two tiers of selection. Finally, two international selection committees of 3 members each selected the 24 films that are included in the festival. All films are translated into English and Arabic and a digital festival catalogue will be published online on 2 November.   The festival program with dates and times will be published on 4 November.

The second edition of Blink Film Festival will take place from 9 to 12 February 2023 on Action for hope and Landscapes of Hope Facebook pages. Call for submission was announced on 27 May 2022, we received 123 submissions from Egypt, Bangladesh, Nepal, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Jamaica, Chile, The Philippines, Congo, Palestine and Zambia.

Blink! Sections:

• Long Take:

24 documentary and fiction films will be screened online on 11 and 12 November at 4PM GMT on Action for Hope’s various social media channels. You will have a 10-minute break between the films to think, drink, talk, or even playback the films! The 24 films come from Kenya, Iraq, Egypt, Paraguay, Sudan, Palestine, Mexico, Syria, India, Lebanon, Pakistan, Nepal and Philippines.

• Foreground:

This is the festival’s competition: 12 documentary and fiction films are selected from the Long Take section to compete for the best long and short films awards. The awards are decided by two international juries of 3 members each, and consist of a monetary prize of 2000 euro and the festival’s trophy: The Eye. The Awards: Best Long Documentary, Best Short Documentary, and Best Short Fiction Film, will be announced on Sunday 14 November, the last day of the festival, at 4 PM GMT.

Audience Prize:
Social media audiences will have the opportunity of selecting their favorite film from among all 24 films by clicking on “like” or “love” on Action for Hope’s Facebook page before 10AM GMT on Sunday 14 November. The film that will get the highest number of “likes” + “loves” will be awarded a monetary prize of 500 euro.

Can You Catch It Later?
Yes, all films will stay online on AFH’s social media channels until 30 November 2021. After this date, we will remove all the films, to give them the opportunity to go to other festivals.