The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Union (EU) presented this Thursday a 360-degree interactive film that tells the story of a young Venezuelan woman who fled the Caribbean country to Ecuador.
Specifically, the virtual reality film, titled 'From the other side', tells the story of Arianna, who had to leave Venezuela and, after crossing Colombia on foot, tries to reunite with her older sister in Ecuador, where she hopes to resume her studies and achieve her dream of becoming a doctor.
The feature film portrays some of the “innumerable risks” faced by refugees and migrants, who, like Arianna, face difficulties while on the move, defying the cold and exposing themselves to dangers such as exploitation and abuse.
The film, in which viewers will make three key decisions with Arianna that will mark their future, is fiction, but it is based on real stories. It has been developed with dozens of refugees and migrants in Ecuador and will allow the public to “put themselves in their shoes and face the difficult decisions that these people have to make on a daily basis.”
According to a statement, the film seeks to create “empathy” among European and global audiences about the situation of Venezuelans who have had to leave their country due to insecurity, persecution and the widespread shortage of basic inputs and services. With more than six million Venezuelans who are refugees and migrants, the Venezuelan exodus is one of the biggest crises of external displacement in the world. Of these, more than half a million have found a home in Ecuador.
“We hope that this project will help the public to better understand the courage and resilience that refugees and migrants must show during the dangerous journeys they undertake,” said UNHCR Director for the Americas, José Samaniego.
At the same time, he stressed that the feature film “highlights the need to continue providing emergency assistance to Venezuelans leaving their country”, while “investing in solutions to ensure that they can contribute to their host communities”.
Meanwhile, the head of the Regional Office of the European Commission's Directorate General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) for Latin America and the Caribbean, Álvaro De Vicente, has focused on the fact that “after several years of a crisis that continues to force Venezuelans to leave their country, it is necessary recall that humanitarian needs persist and even worsen”.
“I hope that this project will help us not to forget the critical situation suffered by all Venezuelans who move,” he added, regretting that “the time that has elapsed since the beginning of the crisis has not helped to find a solution, but rather the opposite.” “And that must be shown”, he said.
(with information from EP)
KEEP READING:
Últimas Noticias
Debanhi Escobar: they secured the motel where she was found lifeless in a cistern
Members of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in Nuevo León secured the Nueva Castilla Motel as part of the investigations into the case
The oldest person in the world died at the age of 119
Kane Tanaka lived in Japan. She was born six months earlier than George Orwell, the same year that the Wright brothers first flew, and Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
Macabre find in CDMX: they left a body bagged and tied in a taxi
The body was left in the back seats of the car. It was covered with black bags and tied with industrial tape
The eagles of America will face Manchester City in a duel of legends. Here are the details
The top Mexican football champion will play a match with Pep Guardiola's squad in the Lone Star Cup
Why is it good to bring dogs out to know the world when they are puppies
A so-called protection against the spread of diseases threatens the integral development of dogs
