Event

Join us at Public Trust for Stories from Kakuma, an event about the power of collaborative filmmaking with current and former residents from the Kakuma Refugee camp in Kenya on Thursday, April 24, 2025 from 5:30-7:30pm. The event will feature public conversation with FilmAid graduates Okello Maurice, Noel Bol Deng, and Nyaboul Biel, a series of short film screenings, and a reception. Presented with FilmAid Kenya and the Penn Global Documentary Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, with sponsorship from the Department of Cinema and Media Studies and the Sachs Program in Arts Innovation.

Curated by FilmAid Kenya students in Kakuma, this event will showcase short films produced by FilmAid and Penn students in Summer 2023, as well as other works of photography and film. The event will include remarks by Caroline Baron, founder of FilmAid International, and Peter Decherney, Director of the Penn Global Documentary Institute, as well as public conversation with FilmAid graduates including Okello Maurice, Noel Bol Deng, and Nyaboul Biel.

About the Speakers:

Okello Maurice currently resides in Germany. He is the Lead of Media and Communication at Refugee Teens Talk, a member of Migration Impact Network (MIN), PLACE, and a part of the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders team. Maurice is an alumnus of the African Digital Media Institute and FilmAid Media Training in Kenya. He has collaborated on projects with leading organizations like the World Economic Forum, UNHCR, UN Foundations, Videos for Change, FilmAid International, and Aljazeera. Maurice is the co-founder of Vinia Productions, and has produced several short films about human rights and personal experiences such as Sarah’s Story, I want to be a Dad, Sacrifices, and documentaries like Welcome to Kakuma, Young Global Leaders Expedition to Kakuma, The Future of Us, and Spring is Coming, among others.

Noel Bol Deng currently resides in the United States. He is a South Sudanese refugee with a deep passion for film and storytelling. He joined FilmAid Kenya in 2020 after participating as an actor in many student films. After graduating from the media training program, he worked with FilmAid in the Radio Content department before transitioning to the Creative Department. There, he collaborated closely with Penn students on several projects during 2022 and 2023. Noel served as Assistant Director for Is It Because I’m A Girl?, directed by Peter Decherney, where he played a pivotal role in scouting the story and shaping its narrative. Currently, Noel is writing a personal account of his journey to resettlement, alongside a project highlighting a common issue faced by many refugees of being assigned January 1st as their birthdate due to the lack of official birth records.

Nyabuol Biel currently resides in Canada. She is a Global International Studies student at Carleton University with a deep passion for storytelling. She utilizes these skills to raise awareness about refugee issues, and her work has received global acclaim. Her film The Plight was showcased in Human Rights Watch's campaign in Nairobi in 2019. Additionally, her inspiring story was featured on CNN Inside Africa as part of a series highlighting young individuals from Kakuma Refugee Camp making impactful contributions to the refugee crisis. A documentary she co-produced and co-directed for the Refugee Education Council of Canada, focusing on refugee mental health, won an award from the University of Toronto Human Rights Film Festival and has been screened at multiple refugee and migrant advocacy events, including the Global Refugee Forum. Nyabuol also served on Canada’s Refugee Education Council, an advisory group to the Canadian Minister of International Development. She also leads refugee initiatives and collaborates with various organizations. As a member of the Generation Unlimited Young People’s Action Team, Nyabuol represented refugee voices at the launch of UNICEF’s Solutions Book for Youth on the Move, in partnership with Gen U and the Dutch government. She was honored with the 2024 Roberto Miranda Award for outstanding efforts in social justice and refugee support in Ottawa and beyond.

Caroline Baron is an award-winning film and television producer. She is an Executive  Producer on the soon to be released limited Netflix series, The Beast in Me, starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys. She is also an Executive Producer of Season 2 of Severance on Apple. Her many credits include Producing the Oscar nominated film Capote and cross-cultural hit Monsoon Wedding, winner of the Golden Lion at the  Venice Film Festival. In 1999, motivated by reports of individuals fleeing their homes in Kosovo to seek  refuge in crowded camps in Macedonia, Baron founded the non-profit organization FilmAid International. FilmAid, now a project of Internews, harnesses the power of film to support vulnerable communities worldwide. 

Peter Decherney is an award-winning fine art photographer, filmmaker, and author. He holds the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Chair in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is Professor of Cinema & Media Studies and Director of the Penn Global Documentary Institute. Peter is the author or editor of seven books including Hollywood's Copyright wars: From Edison to the Internet and Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction. His most recent films are two short documentaries about the Abayudaya Jewish communities in Uganda.