From July 18-26, the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) will sponsor the 2nd International Refugee Film Festival in Japan. The program of 30 movies over nine days at four theaters includes feature and documentary films that focus on the lives, trials and triumphs of people forced to leave their homes as a result of persecution and war.
The RFF is a creative part of UNHCR's efforts to raise awareness about the plight of the world's nearly 33 million refugees.
Featured films include one by Sudanese refugees in Kenya, a retrospective tribute to Cambodian filmmaker and former refugee Rithy Panh, and a spotlight on Chiune Sugihara, Japan's consul to Lithuania who helped save the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust.