The United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF) is an international documentary film festival that seeks to educate the public about issues related to UN through the medium of film, video, arts and open forum discussions. Each year we highlight a particular event or theme while focussing on a broad range of issues, such as press freedom, war and disarmament, race relations, poverty and economic transitions, women's issues, environmental survival and more. UNAFF is a project of the Stanford Film Society and Midpeninsula Chapter of the UNA-USA a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to increasing community involvement in global issues. The UNAFF's diverse programming educates our citizens about international issues they can get involved with, as well as human rights problems here in the United States. Documentaries selected for the festival are particularly suited to helping the public get to know individuals in other cultures and humanizing other racial and national groups. Documentaries often elicit a very personal or emotional response and encourage dialogue and action. Unfortunately, there are too few venues for accomplished documentarians to present their work and to engage in these conversations. The first UNAFF took place in October 1998, at Stanford University, reaching an audience of close to five hundred throughout the weekend. We celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and our relationship with the United Nations Association. To acknowledge the tradition of community support for international human rights issues, we emphasized the San Francisco Bay Area's role in the historic signing event. UNAFF 98 featured documentarian, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Trent and brought together eight filmmakers to introduce and/or conclude the screening of his or her work. We also held a panel discussion about using film as a medium for encouraging action on human rights issues. This year, the festival will take place October 21-24, 1999, at Cubberley Auditorium, School of Education, and Annenberg Auditorium, Cummings Art Building, at Stanford University. UNAFF will feature twenty-six outstanding documentaries by international filmmakers dealing with human rights and other topics related to UN issues. The films range from Russia, China, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam to South Africa, Uganda, Eritrea, Colombia, Italy, Yugoslavia, Canada and the United States. The second UNAFF celebrates the efforts of documentary filmmakers to fight for international peace, justice and dignity for all people around the world. The theme for UNAFF'99 is BUILDING A SOCIETY FOR ALL AGES. mission | films | festivities | program | people | sponsors  | press | past festivals All material copyright 1999 UNAFF.