Opening of the ASEAN Film Festival 2017

Mr. Garcia,
Distinguished Ambassadors of ASEAN countries,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am very pleased to welcome you to the ASEAN Film Festival 2017, brought to us by the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN. After the great success of the first ASEAN Film Festival at the Palais des Nations in 2015, we are very happy to have a second edition, once more featuring outstanding films that have received awards in their countries and abroad.

I thank the Permanent Mission of the Philippines, the current Chair of ASEAN, who took the lead on coordinating the 2017 festival. I would also like to warmly thank the Permanent Missions of the other nine ASEAN Member Countries¹ for their contributions to this event.

During the coming two weeks, the films from the different ASEAN Member States will take us to the tough realities on the busy streets of Pnom Penh as well as to the fantastic world of fairy tales set in the vast grass fields of Vietnam. It will confront us with stories from the Philippines and Myanmar about overcoming childhood trauma and family feuds. It will introduce us to a Singaporean father, desperate to win his son’s love, and to a Malaysian couple coping with their son’s autism. Youth, first love and its obstacles are the common themes of the contributions from Brunei Darussalam and the Laos People’s Democratic Republic. The Thai screening will remind us that it’s never too late to be in love. Finally, a film from Indonesia shows us the complications that may arise when children from different religious backgrounds are put together into the same football team.

The festival does not only appeal to our eyes and ears but also to our stomachs. I wish to thank all organizers for the food from different countries.

As ASEAN is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, we, at the United Nations, are proud to count the association as an indispensable partner. The past five decades have witnessed an ever deepening UN-ASEAN collaboration on issues of common concern, such as peace and security, prevention of violent extremism, human rights promotion, economic cooperation and development as well as education and culture. Our relationship has entered a new phase as complementarities between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and ASEAN’s Community Vision 2025 have been more thoroughly explored, notably in the framework of the new five-year Plan of Action for the period from 2016 to 2020 which will help to translate the Global Goals into regional and national action.

Now, let us begin our journey through the rich ASEAN region with the screening of the first film from the Philippines, “Boses”, a story about music and friendship.

Thank you very much and enjoy the film.





¹ ASEAN Member States: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.