Please join us for this film screening and discussion hosted by
the United Nations Association of New York in association with BYkids
Holly Carter
Founder and Executive Director, BYkids
Tymur Tsapliienko
BYkids Filmmaker
Rom Barnea
BYkids Mentor
Susan Bissell
Senior Fellow/Visiting Scholar
Harvard FXB Center for Human Rights
Pablo Espiniella
Senior Special Assistant / Chief of Staff
UN Office of the Special Representative on Violence against Children
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Thursday | 15 June 2023
6:00 - 6:30 p.m. | Reception
6:30 - 7:30 p.m. | Screening and Q+A
7:30 - 8:00 p.m. | Wine and cheese reception
Screening begins promptly at 6:30 p.m.
Dolby 88 Screening Room
1350 Avenue of the Americas (at West 55th Street)
Lobby Level
New York, NY 10019
General Admission
All tickets: $25
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Registration for this event is now closed
RETURN DATE: UNKNOWN is a film made by 17-year-old filmmaker, Tymur Tsapliienko, as part of the BYkids climate change series, airing on PBS this fall. It shares his life as a Ukrainian refugee and personalizes the high price of the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.
War’s trauma — families separated, homes and friends left behind — shadows a generation of young Ukrainian refugees. More than two million children have crossed into neighboring countries, according to UNICEF.
In his film Return Date: Unknown, 17-year-old refugee Tymur Tsapliienko helps us begin to understand the impact of the Russian invasion on Ukraine’s exiles as well as what has led to this crisis. Tymur makes a connection between the war and Europe’s dependence on Russia’s fossil fuels.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, Tymur’s parents took him to the closest NATO member country, Poland. As war correspondents, they both knew what war meant. Tymur and his mother crossed the border to safety, while his father and brother remained in Ukraine. (Army-age male citizens are not allowed to leave without a special permit.)
Tymur and his mother now live in the German state of Bavaria, guests along with fellow refugees in a centuries-old monastery. He is completing high school and making decisions about his uncertain future. He longs for family, school friends and a home. He grapples with anger and a sense of powerlessness.
Tymur’s film travels a reverse journey, from Germany back through Poland to meet his father, who was injured in a Russian bombardment while reporting for a Ukrainian news channel and whom he hasn’t seen in months. Along the way, he interviews other teenage refugees. Each conversation helps him understand the conflict and his feelings toward it.
Through Tymur’s eyes, we see the good in people even in the worst of times, and glimpse displays of human solidarity and even hope.
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Join us for this special screening of RETURN DATE: UNKNOWN in advance of the PBS broadcast this fall. Our guests this evening to discuss the film after the screening will be Holly Carter (BYkids founder and executive director), Tymur Tsapliienko (BYkids filmmaker), Rom Barnea (BYkids mentor), Susan Bissell, a Senior Fellow and Visiting Scholar from the Harvard FXB Center for Human Rights, and Pablo Espiniella, the Senior Special Assistant / Chief of Staff in the United Nations Office of the Special Representative on Violence against Children.
HOLLY CARTER
Holly Carter is the Founder and Executive Director of BYkids. Holly began her career as a writer and editor at The New York Times and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Since then she has lived in Korea as a Henry Luce scholar and print and television journalist; produced an award-winning documentary on Margaret Sanger; co-founded North Carolina's Full Frame Festival; served as a consultant for The After-School Corporation; produced the PBS series Media Matters; and most recently was the Executive Director of The Global Film Initiative.
TYMUR TSAPLIIENKO
Tymur Tsapliienko is currently 18 years old. He is looking at colleges and lives in Germany. "The process of making this movie was one of the most remarkable experiences of my life," he says. "The chance to tell my own story as well as the story of my nation, Ukraine, proved itself incredible. Working alongside my mentor, Rom Barnea, broadened my vision on filmmaking and storytelling, creating amazing emotions and days to remember."
ROM BARNEA
Rom Barnea is a Tel Aviv-based multidisciplinary cultural entrepreneur, filmmaker, photographer, social activist, actor and curator.
He is the co-founder and Creative Director of Pendulum, a creative agency aimed at social causes. He is also founder of Fish out of Sea – a global refugee photography initiative. Rom graduated from the Sam Spiegel Film & Television School in Jerusalem and the Hasifa School for Video-therapy.
Rom has vast experience in creating impact-driven content. His unique work method consists of working for and with vulnerable communities. He specializes in creating with refugees, people with special needs, youth-at-risk and NGO workers.
His work is directed at creating storyteller ambassadors from within the community, fostering a network of changemakers who are able to tell their own stories in a captivating, thought and emotion stirring manner.
SUSAN BISSELL
Susan Bissell (Canadian) is a Senior Fellow/Visiting Scholar, Harvard FXB Center for Human Rights. She is a Doctor of public health and medical anthropology, and dedicated her UNICEF career (1987-2018) to the rights and protection of the world’s children. Her long-term postings spanned Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and the Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy. Appointed NY-based global lead for UNICEF’s Child Protection work in 2009, she then founded, in 2016, the Global Partnership and Fund to End Violence Against Children, as its Director.
A passionate believer in the power of documentary film, Susan co-produced A Kind of Childhood, which screened widely on television and in film festivals. Susan was also heavily involved in the documentary film Not My Life, and most recently Executive Producer of documentary short Heart of the Matter.
Awarded an honorary Professorship at Barnard/Columbia University, she also received the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, Tufts University, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the Palm D’or, from Panathlon International.
Susan is currently active on the Board of Cure Violence Global, and an advisor to FIFA on its child safeguarding efforts. She also served on FIFA’s first Human Rights Advisory Board, Susan is currently an independent advisor to public and private sector entities, concentrating on child safeguarding and protection.
Her current book project The Safety and Protection of the World’s Children (forthcoming OUP) occupies much of her current time.
Susan recently returned from a one-month writing residency in Bellagio, Italy, as a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow.
PABLO ESPINIELLA
Pablo Espiniella has over 20 years of experience as Human Rights Officer including leading team positions as Deputy Regional Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) for South-East Asia in Bangkok and for Europe in Brussels and assisting UN teams on the ground in the practical implementation of the Human Rights Based Approach to Development programming.
Pablo is currently the Senior Special Assistant / Chief of Staff in the United Nations Office of the Special Representative on Violence against Children. He has extensive practical experience in supporting UN teams in country and at the regional levels to integrate human rights into UN programmatic tools, including the developments regarding the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and human rights mainstreaming for social inclusion. Pablo holds a PhD in International Law and Human Rights by the University of Zaragoza in Spain, with highest honours, and has made visiting professor contributions in various International Masters and Courses
ABOUT BYkids
Real-world films for kids, by kids. Talented young storytellers from around the world are paired with seasoned filmmakers to create powerful documentaries about their lives.
Our films and support material reach over 200 million people through public television broadcasts, educational partnerships (Discovery Education and PBS Learning), social media outreach, and in-person and virtual events. By sharing unique stories from different parts of the world, we create the space for American youth to contextualize issues from the experiences of their global peers.
Our work serves as a catalyst for change—igniting important conversations and inspiring a new generation of social activists.
In October 2011, Edmond Mulet, Assistant Secretary-General for U.N. Peacekeeping Operations, became a core advisor for developing BYkids partnerships with United Nations agencies, extending the story sourcing, on-site logistics and strategic outreach for BYkids films. "Each BYkids youth storyteller mobilizes our conscience towards a larger sense of global solidarity. BYkids reminds us that we are one Humanity," said Mulet.
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