The European Union hopes the cinema arthouse will contribute through its activities to preserving cultural heritage for the next generations
MONROVIA, Liberia, May 22, 2018,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- The 2018 EUROLIBERIAN Film Festival closes today but new horizons open up for the promotion of culture and creativity in Liberia as the European Union launches a new project for a social enterprise cinema arthouse in Monrovia.
On 18th May 2018 during the closing event of the 2018 EUROLIBERIAN Film Festival the European Union will launch a new initiative for the promotion of culture and creative industries in Liberia. In 2018 the European Union celebrates the year of “Cultural Heritage” globally and the European Union Delegation to Liberia is pleased to announce that through a partnership with SPARK, Kriterion Monrovia and the Young Urban Achievers Foundation, by the end of 2018 the doors of a cinema arthouse will be open to the public in Monrovia. This unique initiative is the first of its kind supported by the European Union in Africa.
The European Union is strongly committed to promoting cultural heritage, creativity and the creative industries. Cultural heritage contributes to wellbeing, social cohesion and intercultural dialogue. The new cinema arthouse will be an independent cultural venue and hub for creativity, arts and innovation in the form of a social enterprise run entirely by Liberian university students. The European Union chose to partner with a local student organization Kriterion Monrovia to bring to life the dream of many young people of having a space available where the creativity of young Liberians could be encouraged to generate new cultural and artistic products through various forms including film making, visual arts, photography and much more.
Cultural heritage is the expression of our roots and can be a powerful tool to build bridges between people, communities and countries. The European Union hopes the cinema arthouse will contribute through its activities to preserving cultural heritage for the next generations. Based on Kriterion Monrovia’s first-hand experience of film screenings in communities and building on the dozens of public discussions held during the EUROLIBERIAN Film Festival, the cinema arthouse space is also expected to become a reference hub for the promotion of human rights in Liberia generating public dialogue on social issues from a global to a local context.
The project also benefits from the support of the Dutch organization Engineers Without Borders that will help in the development of the design of the cinema arthouse.
The launch of the social enterprise cinema arthouse project will take place on 18th May at 3:00 pm at William V.S. Tubman High School, 12th Street, Sinkor. The event will include live entertainment and more film screenings, as well as the final award of the Film Festival video competition. This event is open to the public and free of charge.
The 2018 EUROLIBERIAN Film Festival took place in Monrovia, Paynesville and Kakata from 7th to 18th May 2018. In the capital city, events took place in New Kru Town, Sinkor and West Point. The eighteen free film screening events and workshops on storytelling and video production attracted a wide and diverse audience with a high turnout especially of young people. It is estimated that at least 3000 people took part in the festival activities which this year had a particular focus on cultural heritage and human rights showcasing Liberian, African and European movies and documentaries.
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Delegation of the European Union to Liberia.
