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| Honorary President: Nick Broomfield |
Patron: Paul Field |
Patron: Ken Loach |
Patron: Chantelle Tagoe |
| "I am honoured to be working with people who have the energy to put their caring into effect" | "I'm very happy to stand alongside 'Unchosen' in their work to raise awareness of Human Trafficking through film and the arts" | "I am very pleased to support a humane response to and understanding of the causes of immigration" | "I am delighted to have been invited to be a patron for Unchosen, a commendable charity delivering invaluable work" |
History of the Unchosen festival
Unchosen is the only film campaign in the UK that concentrates solely on human trafficking, and incorporates discussion and Q&As with the directors. The initiative aims to make people aware that slavery still exists in the 21st century, and to show them how they can get involved in stamping it out. To that end, Unchosen also looks at the issues that surround human trafficking, including fair trade, poverty and immigration. Some of the organisations we work in partnership with are Amnesty, Anti-Slavery, Blue Blindfold, Barnardo’s, ECPAT, Fairtrade, Greenpeace, IOM, The Pierian Centre, The Poppy Project, Stop The Traffik and UWE.
2008
Founded in 2008 and based in Bristol, the first Unchosen film festival saw seven films being shown in five venues in Bristol over a period of six nights. This attracted around 600 people. The films shown were Ghosts, Sex Traffic, Amazing Grace, Our Big Fairtrade Adventure, Holly and It’s a Free World... Renowned film director Nick Broomfield, who made the film Ghosts about the deaths of the Chinese cockle-pickers in Morecambe Bay, is the Honorary President of the event.
2009
Encouraged by the initial response, it was decided to introduce a film season in 2009. Attendance doubled, with many more young people coming along. At this event, the film Victoria Terminus received its UK premiere, and other films included La Forteresse, Lilj 4-ever, Rough Aunties, plus a Greenpeace short film, edited by Nick Broomfield. Various partners were exhibiting and 100 volunteers signed up at the film nights. There were nearly 10,000 hits on the Unchosen website.
Other events in 2009 included a 12-hour Action Day, working in conjunction with four churches, Stop The Traffik, Amnesty and the Fawcett Society. On this occasion, 3,000 Blue Blindfold postcards were handed out. Unchosen has held two ‘awareness evenings’ to help people to know what to look for in uncovering trafficking. The organisation was involved, too, in showing the film Dirty Pretty Things during Refugee Week at The Pierian Centre. Unchosen also took Our Big Fairtrade Adventure into seven schools within Bristol, partnering with the Bristol Fairtrade Network, who held Q&As sessions aimed at nine to 13-year-olds.
2010
In 2010, in addition to the Bristol Campaign, Unchosen launched into Bath and Keele University. We also introduced, for the first time a “How To Respond Pack” aimed at new campaigners and housing information from 20+ organisations. The Packs were a huge success; we have given away over 1,000 packs so far. During the 2010 campaigns, we also produced a Programme (A4 booklet) for the first time, which not only provides information about the films, but also “What is Trafficking” and “The Signs” for the audience to take home and read.