Nearly 500 students from Monaco gathered at the Théâtre des Variétés on Thursday, January 30, to take part in the jury for the Children’s Prize at the Cinema for Change Festival, an initiative supported by the Monaco Government. Later that evening, university students from Sciences Po Paris’ Menton campus engaged in discussions before casting their votes for the Student Prize.
The Cinema for Change Festival showcases short films from around the world, each highlighting one or more of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations in 2015. Now in its 14th edition, the festival aims to raise awareness of global development and international solidarity, with the Monaco Government supporting the three youth-focused awards: Children’s, High School, and Student Prizes.
Festival founder Marc Obéron introduced six competing short films to 22 classes from six Monaco schools. Their votes will be combined with those from thousands of other young jurors across France and seven partner countries of Monaco’s international cooperation programme—Burkina Faso, Burundi, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, and Tunisia—forming a jury of more than 30,000 students.
The evening session saw students from Sciences Po Paris’ Mediterranean-Middle East campus in Menton take part in the festival by watching and debating the four shortlisted films for the Student Prize. This initiative is part of an ongoing partnership between Monaco’s International Cooperation Directorate and the university, aiming to educate students on global development, human rights, and the fight against poverty.
The winners of the Cinema for Change Festival will be announced on Saturday, April 12, at the GoodPlanet Foundation in Paris.