A celebration of refugees in Scotland
The Refugee Week Scotland Launch at Tron theatre on Monday 20 June 2011 was a celebration of music, dance, theatre and the official launch of Courage, a film made by six Refugees and Scottish Refugee Council.
We were warmly welcomed by organiser and Arts and Culture Officer at Scottish Refugee Council, Belinda McElhinney, who outlined some of the highlights of the programme and introduced the diverse and interesting performances on the night.
Speaker John Wilkes, Chief Executive of Scottish Refugee Council, was joined virtually by Nicola Sturgeon, the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, who offered a video message of support.
Mr Wilkes spoke the importance of Refugee Weeks and its ability to help raise awareness about refugees.
Courage – a film reminding us of the importance of the Refugee Convention
The short film Courage was a highlight of the night and was well received by the audiance – and was a special moment for the group who made the film who were also in the audience.
This short film commemorates the 60th anniversary of the UN Refugee convention and reminds us of the significance of this life-saving document. Christian Kasubandi, who feautured in the film, was next speaker and his experiences as a young refugee forced to flee his country at the age of 12. he also provided insight into the making of the film.
An exciting memorable event
I though the opening was a great experience and memorable night for me. It was really exciting and the build up of anticipation before the film was shown and the seeing the audiences’ reaction to the film first-hand was amazing.
It was reassurig to hear the amazing feedbacks from audiences; it showed those involved considered the main points of the project to raise awareness about refugees and highlight the importance of the UN Refugee Convention to the public.
Importantly, all of this positive feedback and support encourages and supports to the group to keep going on.
