Afghanistan Refugees See Movies for First Time - Thanks to BARCO, Nocturne Productions and FilmAid International

Kennesaw, GA – February 21, 2003 - Nocturne Productions graciously provided BARCO high-performance projectors to FilmAid International for the organization’s mission in Afghanistan. FilmAid International is a non-profit organization that addresses the problems of refugee despair and psychological trauma. FAI raises awareness of the refugee crisis in Afghanistan, Africa, the Balkans, and other war-ravaged and poverty-stricken countries by enlisting the help of the film community to obtain the rights to show movies to refugees in these countries. FAI screens educational films on topics central to the refugee experience, including: HIV/AIDS awareness, hygiene for improved health, reproductive health, sexual and gender based violence, sexually transmitted diseases, human rights, conflict resolution and landmine awareness. In addition, FAI shows non-violent, family-oriented movies that relieve refugees from the stresses of everyday life.

Bob Brigham, a tireless supporter of FilmAid International, and Partner of Nocturne Productions, enlisted the help of BARCO when FilmAid approached him about the use of a high-end projector to show movies in refugee camps. Brigham’s production company, Nocturne Productions provides high-brightness projection and LED displays for high-profile concert tours and events around the world. Nocturne has been a leading rental partner with BARCO for the past three years.

“All of us at FilmAid International are truly grateful to BARCO for the loan of their high-end projector. With their donation, FilmAid was able to provide some extraordinary experiences for Afghan orphans and street children during our pilot screenings in Kabul this past year,” stated Deborah DeWinter, Executive Director, FilmAid International, “As a result of that pilot and our videotaped recordings of these events, FilmAid has been able to share the story of our work all across the country at events to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis, and of the good work that FilmAid creates to try and reconnect refugees with the rest of the world. BARCO’s projector helped us bring joy, meaning, and inspiration to hundreds of children, in addition to delivering FilmAid’s message of goodwill in refugee camps to thousands of supporters. Simply put, without Nocturne Productions’ and BARCO’s extraordinary generosity, FilmAid could not have succeeded to the extent that we have.”

FilmAid will hold an inaugural charity auction on eBay to raise money for its programs on February 24 through March 6, 2003. The auction will go live at 12:00 p.m. EST on Monday, February 24. Highlights of the charity-auction items, donated by the FilmAid International Advisory Committee and other supporters, include: concert tickets and pre-concert back-stage tours to Avril Lavigne, Bon Jovi, Elton John/Billy Joel, The Eagles, Christina Aguilera/Justin Timberlake and Paul McCartney will be provided by Nocturne Productions; a dress worn at the Cannes Film Festival, donated by Julia Ormond and Christian Dior; and the hat worn by Daniel Day-Lewis in the hit movie “Gangs of New York”, will be donated by Harvey Weinstein, Chairman, Miramax Film Corp.

Nocturne Productions Background

High-profile entertainers in the music industry consistently rely on Nocturne for superior live event production including: Paul McCartney, Christina Aguilera, U2, Madonna, Aerosmith, The Who, Elton John, Billy Joel, The Eagles, Tina Turner, Gloria Estefan, KISS, Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, Barenaked Ladies, and many others.

FilmAid International (FAI) Background

In 1999, when Kosovo was just coming into our daily consciousness with reports of impending NATO strikes, a group of concerned film professionals formed FilmAid International. FAI quickly mobilized and was soon entertaining children and their families in the Macedonian refugee camps within weeks. FAI was supported and encouraged by several International Organizations including: Doctors of the World, UNICEF, The International Rescue Committee (IRC) and The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Following the success in the Balkans, the IRC and UNHCR asked FilmAid International to go to Africa. On-going violent conflict and persecution of individuals in central and eastern Africa had forced millions of civilians to flee their homes. In the Fall of 2001 FAI arrived in East Africa to help meet the psychosocial needs of thousands of refugees from Sudan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Rwanda, some of whom had been in camps for as long as ten years. The project in East Africa continues through 2003 and served as a model for FilmAid's program in Afghanistan in 2002.

About Barco Events

Barco Events, a part of BarcoProjection, specializes in developing and producing large area visualization solutions such as LCD and DLP™- projectors as well as LED displays for the rental, staging and events markets. Barco Events has supplied visualization equipment to the concert tours of Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Madonna, Bryan Adams, U2, Tim McGraw, in addition to several other bands. Recognized for its dedication to product R & D and strict quality standards, BARCO continues to drive today’s technological advances in the daylight display market with the development of the ILite range. One of its most promising products to date, the I6, has already won “Pick of the Show” at NAB 2001 (National Association of Broadcasters) in Las Vegas and was also voted one of the top 50 “Hot Products” at INFOCOMM USA 2001.

BARCO Background

Barco, international company with US sales headquarters in Kennesaw, GA, is active in three key areas of imaging technology. Barco designs and develops solutions for large screen visualization, display solutions for life-critical applications, and systems for visual inspection. Barco has a network of subsidiaries, distributors and agents in almost 100 countries. Barco is quoted on Brussels/Euronext, is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company, and is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.



For more information please visit:

www.events.barco.com
www.nocturneprods.com
www.filmaidinternational.org

For more information, please contact

Bob Brigham
Partner
Nocturne Productions

Telephone 415-554-8100
bobbrigham@earthlink.net

Deborah DeWinter
Executive Director
FilmAid International

Telephone 212 –253-1122
deborahd@theirc.org

Inge Govaerts
Public Relations Manager
Barco - Media & Entertainment

Telephone +32 56 36 8052
inge.govaerts@barco.com