Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to be at the Sarathchandra Open Air Theater for the screening of Fambul Tok. I was really looking forward to seeing it, but had to stay at the Kandy City Center to assist with the Sri Lankan premiere of Nino Live.

I have heard a lot of good things about Fambul Tok and was particularly interested in it because of the similarities between their reconciliation work and the work that Eric Kabera is doing with the Rwanda Cinema Center in Kigali, Rwanda.

If you get a chance to see Fambul Tok, don’t pass it up. You can find out where it will be screening at their website.

We had a great time at last night’s screening of ‘The City Dark’, the perfect documentary for an open air screening.

Since we have a full slate of films today, I don’t have the time to do a proper write up of the event. So I’ll have to leave it to IMDB to provide the synopses of the film:

The City Dark is a feature length film about the loss of night. After moving to NYC from rural Maine, filmmaker Ian Cheney asks a simple question – do we need the stars? – taking him from Brooklyn to Mauna Kea, Paris, and beyond. Exploring the threat of killer asteroids in Hawaii, tracking hatching turtles along the Florida coast, and rescuing injured birds on Chicago streets, Cheney unravels the myriad implications of a globe glittering with lights – including increased breast cancer rates from exposure to light at night, and a generation of kids without a glimpse of the universe above. Featuring stunning astrophotography and a cast of eclectic scientists, The City Dark is the definitive story of light pollution and the disappearing stars.

We’d like to thank the volunteers at KIFF for learning the ropes (quite literally) so that we can repeat this process each night over the next five days. We have appointed them all as honorary Open Air Cinema technicians!

Here is a slideshow of the event as it unfolded at Sarathchandra Open Air Theater in Kandy, Sri Lanka, easily the most beautiful venue we have ever inflated our screen in. Thanks to Dougal Wallace for the fantastic photos, and to legendary Bevis Manathunge for the soundtrack.

Speaking at the press conference, Ananda said it was an honor to continue his involvement with such an important campaign and he hopes the documentary will stir meaningful conversations among youth about how we are all affected by this tragic form of modern day slavery.

Enslaved: An MTV EXIT Special is the first in a series of twelve different documentaries to launch across Asia throughout this year.

Each program will feature locally specific human trafficking stories highlighting current and emerging trafficking trends, and what’s being done to combat the exploitation of human beings.

Enslaved tells the stories of real people affected by the human trafficking trade in Thailand: Gai, a Thai woman trafficked to Japan as a forced sex worker; Vannak a young man from Cambodia trafficked for labour onto a Thai fishing vessel; and Vatsana, a Laotian woman trafficked to Thailand and forced to work as a domestic slave for 16 years in a Bangkok home.

Enslaved will premiere on Thailand’s MCOT Ch. 9 in three parts starting from Saturday 18th June, then Sunday 19th June and Monday 20th June at 11am.

Full program will broadcast on MCOT Ch. 9, Tuesday 5th July, 11:00pm. (Full program will also be featured on our website on the same day)

MTV EXIT will also host a free outdoor concert on Saturday 25th June at Chiang Mai’s 700th Anniversary Stadium. Headlining international artists include Asian megastars Super Junior M and Australian pop star Kate Miller-Heidke, who will also be supported by Thailand’s top artists.

Find out about the MTV Exit campaign supporters: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Australian Government’s Agency for International Development (AusAID)

In the lead up to the Youth Forum in Chiang Mai, the MTV EXIT team went on a journey to the far reaches of Thailand to give participants a glimpse of the training they will be receiving come June 22nd.

The Open Air Cinema Foundation was able to join with the team for the Sangklaburi series of workshops in Three Pagodas Pass. We will be staging an open air screening of Traffic, a documentary produced by MTV EXIT to help raise awareness about human trafficking and exploitation in the Southeast Asia region.

DO Productions has joined forces with NGO’s such as Gold Peer Education, National Welfare Social Service & Development Forum, GCAP SA (Global Call to Action Against Poverty), and Score, who already work intensively in the communities where Themba will be screened. Themba will be integrated into their existing NGO programs and also toured throughout South Africa.

Cinema for Peace who recently awarded Themba the Honorary Award 2011 (which is bestowed on a film or a person for outstanding commitment and dedication to peace building and human rights) is supporting this initiative by raising funds abroad in the hope that Themba reaches as many people in as many communities as is possible.

To find out more about Millennium Goals click here.

To find out more about our Themba Community Screening Talk Group Guide click here.

Tonight we returned to Camp Accra in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, this time to screen election media in advance of the elections on Sunday. The presidential candidates canceled their second debate session, and so lieu of screening the second debate, we showed programming where local Haitians voiced their opinions about the election and the candidates. In addition to screening the coverage, we periodically paused the programming to allow the audience to respond to the issues at hand. Many audience members were excited to share their stories and opinions, and we found that the issues were relevant to their everyday lives. The audience members seemed to be most concerned about rebuilding their country, their homes, and their lives in the wake of the earthquake that changed Haiti forever more than a year ago.

Tonight’s second screening at camp Accra proved to be one of our largest events during the project, as camp residents remembered our screening last week, and were excited to be involved in additional dialogue surrounding the elections. We also screened another episode of the Haitian comedian Jessifra, and the audience erupted in laughter as they were entertained by one of their favorite comedians. Ironically, the Jessifra video was a skit centered around Jessifra running for president of Haiti! The video fit perfectly with the theme of the evening’s programming, and provided a moment of laughter and joy for camp residents who are struggling to rebuild their lives. We have one more day of screenings tomorrow evening, and so we’ll keep you posted on how things go. Below are some images from tonight’s events.

One example is the MAP Foundation serving the Burmese migrant community along the Thai-Burma border. MAP has created a series of cartoons to inform Burmese migrant workers how to avoid accidents and sickness in the workplace. These videos can be easily found on the MAP Foundation website and YouTube.

The Open Air Cinema Foundation aims to take vital media similar to this video series into Burmese migrant communities along the border. In partnership with local NGOs such as the MAP Foundation we use our outdoor projection technology to reach communities that normally would not be able to connect with these messages.

Last night we continued our outdoor movie screening of the Haitian Presidential Debates, this time in Camp Champs de Mars, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Camp Champs de Mars lies right in the middle of Port-au-Prince, and we were right next to the presidential palace that toppled in the earthquake more than a year ago. We set up the Open Air Cinema inflatable screen right in the middle of the street. We received permission from the mayor of Port-au-Prince to block of the entire street for the duration of the screening. The event was a huge success, with thousands of camp residents and passers by in attendance. We estimate the event to be one of our largest yet. Camp Champs de Mars is different from many of the refugee camps we have screened at so far, in that it lies right within downtown, in the middle of Port-au-Prince. The camp is situated among many street vendors and businesses, and surrounds the national and city government buildings. We are grateful that we had the ability to bring the presidential debates to a community who otherwise would not have the opportunity to be aware of the intricacies of the dialog surrounding the elections.

We noticed that the residents of camp Champ de Mars were particularly interested in the debates, as they erupted with cheer when the candidates responded to each other’s questions. It is very clear that this election is a significant point for the people of Haiti, as they struggle to rebuild their lives and communities in the aftermath of a disaster that has left them in such a dire situation. We can feel the excitement in the city as everyone looks forward to the elections this upcoming Sunday. We are reminded again of the power of outdoor cinema and its ability to educate and inspire, especially in such troubling circumstances. FilmAid international has been a pleasure to work with, and we have developed a significant partnership with them and the local Haitians we have been training to utilize the outdoor movie equipment for future endeavors.

We have a couple days off to prepare for our triple screening on Thursday, and our double screening on Friday. We will be using two Open Air Cinema Cinebox systems, and a third outdoor movie system that is owned by FilmAid International. The teams of local technicians have been trained in advance of the multiple screenings, and we anticipate it to be a busy couple nights as we screen the second round of presidential debates.

Keep checking back here at the blog, as we’ll continue to update with images and reports of how things are going. If you have any questions about Open Air Cinema’s humanitarian efforts in Haiti or our other international endeavors, please contact us today! We would love to share how we are striving to change the world through the power of outdoor cinema. Below are some images from last night’s outdoor movie screening in Camp Champ de Mars.