Films from the US, China and Slovenia were among the winners at the 2017 Global Road Safety Film Festival.
Held in Geneva on 20-21 February, the annual festival aims to provide educational tools for key road safety issues, such as drink and distracted drivers – the themes covered by this year’s winners.
Organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the festival featured 232 films submitted from countries across the globe including Iran, the Dominican Republic and Malaysia.
The winner of the 2017 Grand Prix Prize was ‘Reflections from Inside Dawn’, produced by ‘We save lives’, a campaign group from the United States.
The film (featured), which addresses drink-driving, shows a prison inmate who was convicted of drink driving after killing a police officer, reaching out to club-goers via a video link and encouraging them to take responsibility for their behaviour before getting behind the wheel.
The two runner-up films both focussed on distracted driving – more specifically mobile phones – with the judging panel saying both ‘powerfully displayed the consequences of paying more attention to a smartphone then the road’.
In second place was ‘Distracted Driving’, produced by the Road Traffic Safety Research Center, Ministry of Public Security, People’s Republic of China, while in third place came ‘Distracted driving kills, Don’t use your phone’, produced by the Slovenian Traffic Safety Agency.
Jean Todt, UN secretary general’s special envoy for road safety, said: “I and many others are passionate about protecting lives on our roads, but we need that passion to transform into political will.
“This is where films like the ones showcased in this festival are important. They become critical tools in helping us create emotion and to move people from being our audience to being a fellow advocate.”
A full list of award winners is available on the UNECE website, while a majority of the videos are available to watch on the festival’s Facebook page.
Comment on this story