Diasporas, or the dispersion of nations across the planet, have existed since recorded history and continue to be an important factor in today’s world. For those that experience this often difficult process in person, it involves a blend between building a new life abroad and maintaining links with one’s homeland and preserving your culture and identity.
Naturally, this movement of people also affects host nations, and in order to avoid conflict and intolerance, both assimilation and mutual understanding are of vital importance. The best way to foster this is through interaction, cultural exchange and learning about one another, and this is the primary objective of the organiser and founder of the EuroGeorgia Cultural Center in Andalucía, Natalie Mikava Stuart Fox.
“Our aim is to promote interaction and cultural exchange, and in so doing show that the often painful displacement of people from their homelands can also act to bring people together and enrich our respective cultures.”
The festival she has created is therefore a celebration of engagement in that it brings together diasporas and host nations from around the world, starting with her own Georgian cultural exchange that reaches out to others around the world. The film festival forms a bridge that brings cultures together through the shared medium of film – and cosmopolitan Marbella and the Costa del Sol form the ultimate setting for such an undertaking.