If you want to catch a flick next weekend, the 12th annual Refugee Film Festival is showing a slate of award-winning movies, produced by the likes of Netflix and HBO, at EmQuartier’s CineArt from Jun 16-20—and all for free. 

 

The long-running festival is part of the UNHCR’s annual campaign to raise awareness for refugees in Thailand and across the globe, culminating with the final film showing on World Refugee Day. Each of the films, five in total, are either documentaries or biopics inspired by real events. 

 

Among the festival’s showpiece films is “The Swimmers”, a Netflix-backed biopic about two sisters' escape from the Syrian civil war and harrowing journey across the Aegean Sea. The film was nominated for “Outstanding British Film of the Year” at the 2023 British Academy Film Awards, and you can catch it on the first and last days of the festival (Jun 16 and 20). 

 

As you would expect, many of the other films follow similar themes of displacement, escape, protest, and follow characters as they try to build new lives in strange, but safe, new lands. 

 

Entrance to the festival is free, but you will need to book a seat for each film in advance. You can do that, and check out the full list of movies, on the event’s official website (scroll to the bottom of the page).