ANPUD Short Films Competition 2018 - #ChangePerspectives

The Asian Network of People who Use Drugs (ANPUD) launches a regional level short films competition to celebrate 10 years of it’s journey. The year 2018 marks the 10th anniversary of ANPUD. The film competition is first of its kind in the history of ANPUD.

The aim of the film competition is to advocate for and humanize the issues of people who use and inject drugs in the region through collaboration with innovative filmmakers, thereby creating enabling environment for them to enjoy equal rights, opportunities and access to life saving HIV prevention and harm reduction services.

This competition will create a platform for innovative filmmakers who wish to tell the stories of ground realities of systematically marginalized populations and serve the wider audience with truth and evidence.

The competition will accept applications from the filmmakers (including ANPUD members) around the world until 31 August 2018. However, the story of the short films has to reflect the realities of one of the Asian countries eligible for the event. The eligible countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The competition has attractive awards and cash prizes. The best short film will receive US $2500 as cash prize. The competition is expected to end in December 2018

Asian countries have been experiencing a major regress with regards to the human rights of people who use and inject drugs. Since the declaration of a nation-wide war on drugs in the Philippines that has already resulted in over 20,000 killings of people suspected of using or selling drugs, other countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and more recently Sri Lanka have commenced similar strategies. Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, China and other Southeast Asian continue to practice arrest and compulsory detention leading to ill treatment of people who use drugs.

“ANPUD believes that there is no way forward in the HIV and harm reduction movement without speaking up about the root of the problems – drug laws and policies that are unscientific, unjust and that contradict with human rights principles.” said Anand, the Regional Coordinator of ANPUD.

Therefore, in order to address the dire situation inflicted upon the lives of people who use drugs in the Asian region, ANPUD is calling filmmakers to submit their concept note focusing on one of the following three themes:

1. Negative impacts of war on drugs in your country.

1. Different forms of Human rights violations faced by people who use drugs.

1. Harm Reduction programs and policies save lives.