Press photo for “Women Are the Answer.” Credit UNAFF 2016

Submitted by WILPF Peninsula/Palo Alto Branch

The 19th United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF) of the Bay Area (including Palo Alto and Stanford University) took place October 20-30, 2016. One of the oldest film festivals in the US devoted solely to documentaries, it “was originally conceived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” For more about the festival, visit the website, UNAFF 2016: Compass for a Better World.

The Peninsula/Palo Alto WILPF Branch sponsored three films shown at the festival on the topic of human trafficking, since this is one of the issues WILPF branches are working on. The three films the branch sponsored were:

• “Women Are the Answer”
• “Petals in the Dust: The Endangered Indian Girls”
• “Surviving International Boulevard: Domestic Child Sex Trafficking”

As posted on the Palo Alto WILPF Facebook page: “The sponsorship is at no cost to our branch, but gives us a chance to indicate our support for the many years we’ve had venues here on the peninsula for the festival’s documentary films and speakers. Sponsorship gives us the opportunity of having our membership brochures out at the community information table at the festival, and information on WILPF’s work to end human trafficking.”

Palo Alto Branch members distributed nearly 100 WILPF brochures and information from the WILPF website about human trafficking during the film festival.