Focus: On the Fringes of Society + Debate
DEBATE: Saturday 12 November, 14:00 hours, Zaal 5, Filmhuis Den Haag, free admission
The streets of Amsterdam are more and more populated with East European Roma, many of them play music on the streets, at metro stations and on big squares. Who are these people? What do we know about them? What kind of opportunities do they get in the countries of their origin? The statistics show that there is a big number of Roma children in South East Europe that cannot access their basic right to education. Only a few of them reach university level but most of them do not follow any kind of education. We want to focus on films that deal with Roma children and what kind of possibilities they have – or lack – to go to school. We provide several excellent documentaries that bring us positive examples and depict stories of children who are still eagerly following their education and choosing for the path of hope, in spite of hardship.
In this program, ENFF also brings several films that deal with the notion of crossing (state) borders. Like Roma people, who often change places, many people are crossing borders as refugees. They are pushed out of their countries due to war at home. What chances do refugee children have to follow a normal education in today’s Europe? What do we know about these people? How keen are we to find out? In our DEBATE, done in collaboration with EUNIC, we will try to assess what the opportunities are for education among communities on the fringes of European society today. Speakers are the filmmakers of the films from our program, as well as Dutch experts and lecturers. One of the key speakers is Josip Kesic, PhD researcher and lecturer European Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Moderated by prof. Nenad Fiser.
FOCUS: ON THE FRINGES OF SOCIETY
In between 4 and 8 million Roma people live in the EU. Most of them are isolated from the society within their countries. Are there opportunities for Roma children to go to school and get a job? Children of refugees that are coming to Europe might soon face the same problem. Do all our children get the same chances for education? Our FOCUS PROGRAM zooms in on the problems of those who are somehow on the fringes of society. Six exciting, engaging and memorable documentary films will tell you powerful stories about Roma children fighting for their right to an education:
