INTERNATIONAL RECEPTION 2022
The International Reception of the ABLOOM film festival took place in the
historical Old Munch Museum, on 21st November 2022, in cooperation with the
Embassy of Canada. Guests enjoyed delicious finger food at the same time they met
each other. Guests were diverse: Ambassadors from different countries (from North,
Central, and South America, Europe, and Africa), filmmakers, students, and workers
from governmental and private institutions.
Faridah Nabbagala, the founder of ABLOOM made an emotional and meaningful
welcome speech about the history and goals of ABLOOM and the Ambassador of
Canada Deirdre Kent made a speech that pointed out the relevance of diversity in
our society.
After that, there was projected the short film “Private eyes” made by Nicola Lemay from Canada. The movie is about a young boy, expecting his birthday present. He tries to figure out what it is, asking his parents for clues and using his special abilities. During the movie, we learn that the boy is visually impaired. We also learn that this disability has no impact on his personality or the way his surroundings interact with him. It turns out his birthday present is a puppy, which he gets to pick himself and
bring back home.
Later, it started a panel discussion about “diversity in the film” with Faridah, Eszter Vuojala (festival coordinator), Henrik Syse (philosopher, researcher, and professor), Hilde Kjos (Media fabrikken og Viken filmsenter), Ammal Ahmed Haj Mohamed (moderator) and Pentalist Panteloglou (Olympia Festival), who attended online from Greece.
Eszter Vuojala talked about the relevance of “being exposed to the idea of having a disability at a young age, through films like “private eyes” and through playing games where certain abilities are disabled”. Henrik Syse said that “we should recognize each other as fellow human beings, with differences that we should embrace” and pointed out the “importance of mainstreaming of siblings to be proud of their brothers and sisters” and Pentalis Panteloglou talked about “how movies are a medium in movies creators get to communicate”.
The public also had the chance to make comments and questions, the Ambassador of Portugal expressed his commitment to diversity and shared relevant experiences about this topic and a politician teenager 14 years old expressed his concern about the promotion of human rights and diversity in schools. Finally, Faridah pointed out that “diversity enriched the world and that ABLOOM festival first and foremost is intended for the youth”, closing the panel discussion.
Finally the movie “Handsome”, made by Luke White in the United Kingdom was played for 1 hour and a half. The movie is about a young adult and his brother with down syndrome. For one year they travel together, meeting other siblings with down syndrome in the family. Along their journey, they get to live with each other, learn from each other and learn how people with disabilities are treated at a few selected locations around the world, in Canada, the United States, India, and Vietnam.
In short, the International Reception of the ABLOOM Film Festival was a historical event where people from different backgrounds met at the historical Munch Museum to make history in the promotion of the human rights of people with disabilities.
