Macedonia
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
See also under 'Kenya'
Caroline Baron is an American movie producer (her latest is Monsoon Wedding, which is currently out in the UK). She organises 'Film Aid' which takes movies to refugee camps to entertain people who live there. She raised $80,000 in the US to fund the first two-month event, in 1999, which entertained hundreds of thousands of refugees before they were able to return to Kosovo.
Film Aid has the support of Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Ormond and Liv Ullmann.
They show movies which bridge the language gap - including silent movies, Toma and Jerry and films such as ET and include educational films on AIDS, sexual violence and land mines. They also train some of the refugees to man the equipment.
Some people say this is a 'let them eat cake' approach - refugees are dying so why spend money on films?
However, Gerry Martone, Director of emergency response for the International Rescue Committee which has adopted Film Aid as an official project, says collecting donations for food and shelter is fairly easy - what is more difficult is finding money for 'soft interventions' such as education, therapy or entertainment...things that address the emotional needs of refugees.
He says refugees need distraction and good things to think about otherwise their lives are just unbearable tedium with nothing to think about but despair.
He says that the movies are 'a tonic for the soul' particualarly as they mix stories and laughter with films about genuinely useful things.
Film Aid's next project is in Kenya, where 70,000 refugees live in Kakuma, a camp in the north west. It is not unusual for refugees here to stay in the camp for ten years with little hope.
There is still $500,000 to raise before that project can become a reality but Caroline Baron will do it... She says the work is addictive and it is a wonderful thing to see the smiles on the people's faces when they are lifted out of their difficult life even for just a few hours.
Caroline Baron is an American movie producer (her latest is Monsoon Wedding, which is currently out in the UK). She organises 'Film Aid' which takes movies to refugee camps to entertain people who live there. She raised $80,000 in the US to fund the first two-month event, in 1999, which entertained hundreds of thousands of refugees before they were able to return to Kosovo.
Film Aid has the support of Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Ormond and Liv Ullmann.
They show movies which bridge the language gap - including silent movies, Toma and Jerry and films such as ET and include educational films on AIDS, sexual violence and land mines. They also train some of the refugees to man the equipment.
Some people say this is a 'let them eat cake' approach - refugees are dying so why spend money on films?
However, Gerry Martone, Director of emergency response for the International Rescue Committee which has adopted Film Aid as an official project, says collecting donations for food and shelter is fairly easy - what is more difficult is finding money for 'soft interventions' such as education, therapy or entertainment...things that address the emotional needs of refugees.
He says refugees need distraction and good things to think about otherwise their lives are just unbearable tedium with nothing to think about but despair.
He says that the movies are 'a tonic for the soul' particualarly as they mix stories and laughter with films about genuinely useful things.
Film Aid's next project is in Kenya, where 70,000 refugees live in Kakuma, a camp in the north west. It is not unusual for refugees here to stay in the camp for ten years with little hope.
There is still $500,000 to raise before that project can become a reality but Caroline Baron will do it... She says the work is addictive and it is a wonderful thing to see the smiles on the people's faces when they are lifted out of their difficult life even for just a few hours.
