Director-General of WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) is inviting independent film-makers, production companies, public health institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), communities, students, and film schools from around the world to submit original short film entries on health for the third edition of the Health for All Film Festival.
Launched in 2019/2020, the festival aims to recruit a new generation of film and video innovators to champion global health issues. Films are a powerful way to raise awareness, improve understanding, and encourage action.
The inaugural Health for All Film Festival accepted 1,300 short film submissions from more than 110 countries. Incredible contents were curated and the winners got a platform to showcase their work.
to submit a short film entry, the copyright owner of the film has to choose one category of competition among the three described below, which relates to WHO’s global health goals set out in the Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW13). These are:
- Universal health coverage (UHC) – films about mental health, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and other UHC stories linked to communicable diseases not part of emergencies;
- Health emergencies – films about health emergencies, such as COVID-19, Ebola, disaster relief and health in conflict-settings;
- Better health and well-being – films about environmental and social determinants of health, such as nutrition, sanitation, pollution, gender, and/or about health promotion or health education.
Each of the three categories will have a jury made up of external advisers drawn from the arts as well as WHO technical experts. The jury will watch a maximum of 15 selected videos for each category. These shortlisted videos will be announced in March 2022 and screened online for public viewing, likely in the spring and/or early summer.
For each of these three GRAND PRIX categories, candidates can submit short documentaries, fiction films or animation films of three to eight minutes in length.
Additionally, three special prizes are attributed to some short-listed videos not receiving a GRAND PRIX. In 2022, the three special prizes will include:
- Special Prize on Health Innovation – films presenting one or more innovative solutions with a proven positive impact in the health and wellbeing of people. These can include social innovations (e.g. new or improved approaches or ways of working); digital solutions; and new technological solutions – or a combination thereof – that promote health and wellbeing. The organizers are interested in stories that capture how health innovations have the potential to address people’s health needs and positively change lives anywhere in the world, including in the most vulnerable settings.
- Special Prize on Rehabilitation – films telling stories about the life changing impact that rehabilitation has on people’s lives. Rehabilitation addresses the impact of a health condition on a person’s everyday life and ensures that people remain as independent as possible, while continuing to participate in education, work and meaningful life roles. Most people will require rehabilitation at some point in their lives, whether they have experienced an injury, disease, illness, or decline in function with age. COVID-19 highlights that rehabilitation is also required in the continuum of care for people with infectious diseases.
- Student film prize – films produced by students who can justify that the films were made during their university studies.
- Very short film prize – films between one to two minutes and 30 seconds (1’00” to 2’30”) about any health-related topic previously described in the three main competition categories including topics like health innovation and rehabilitation.
Each winner of the prizes will receive a trophy from WHO, a certificate and a grant of US$10,000 for each category and US$5,000 for each special prize.
A new series of over 60 short films will be presented to the public in April 2022 via the WHO YouTube channel and WHO film festival homepage.
Only short films completed between January 1, 2019 and January 30, 2022 are eligible for the Film Festival 3rd edition, any production made by United Nations staff members or exclusively done with UN funding is not eligible. A submission can be in any language but if the film is not in English, English subtitles must be included.
Please visit here https://bit.ly/3dYIWXv to download the completion rules and how to apply. Any candidate whose film is selected will be required to return these rules to WHO with their signature for their endorsement. This will be a condition for confirming the selection of their film.
Submission of entries closes on January 30, 2022.
