The ‘6th International Drugs and Harm Reduction Film Festival’ took place in Bangkok from April 20th to 22nd as a parallel track in the conference programme. The Festival continues to grow in strength and popularity among the conference delegates and over 75 films were submitted for 2009 – of which 35 were selected to be screened. Overall, 21 countries were represented including – for the first time – films from Guinea Bissau, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands, Italy, Macau, Mexico and Georgia. Another first for 2009 was a special session dedicated to animation and claymation films, which was enthusiastically received by the delegates. There were also two full feature-length documentary films which were shown in the evenings for conference delegates.
Highlights from the 6th Film Festival included ‘Facing the Dragon’ (from the UK and Thailand), ‘A Cleaner Fix’ (from Indonesia), ‘The US Verses Tommy Chong’ (from the USA), ‘Mum Loves Drugs Not Me’ (from the UK), and ‘Africa’s Cocaine Coast’ (from Guinea Bissau). The 2009 Film Festival Award was presented to ‘A Cleaner Fix’, an IRIN film which focussed on Indonesian outreach workers – former drug users whose work includes serving the various needs of people who use drugs to minimise risk behaviours and prevent the transmission of HIV.
The Film Festival is developed, managed and delivered by the Burnet Institute in Australia. The 2009 event was delivered with the assistance of Gary Reid from UNESCO in India.
