The premiere of the video documentary "Macaenses - An Odyssey (part one)" was held at the University of Macau (UM) on 24 January.

As a result of this work, the International Institute of Macau began to prepare a series of videos about the Macanese Diaspora in North America, with the support of the Macao Foundation (FM), presenting in the first part, the personal testimonies of those who lived the troubled times of the invasion of northern China by the Japanese, the withdrawal of Macanese families from Shanghai, the subsequent Pacific War, and the occupation of Hong Kong, a period of extraordinary numbers of refugees.

The documentary had been presented, in a preview, to the participants of the recent "Encontro" of the Macanese Youth, and received favorable comments. This time, it was aimed to the general public and presented in English, with Portuguese subtitles, with the collaboration of CIELA - Research Center for Luso-Asian Studies at the UM.

Fifty people attended the session, among the public, students and professors of the University of Macau, and the session was presented by IIM Secretary-General Rufino Ramos and UM professor Mário Nunes. Among the guests at the event were Vong Iat Hang, representative of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), the vice-president of the Portuguese Department of UM, Dora Maria Nunes Gago and Jorge Valente, president of the Macanese Youth Association (AJM).

Trailer

On 2 December, a ceremony was held in Australia. Around 50 participants assisted the Award Ceremony, with the 2017´s IIM Identity Award to Dr. Henrique D´Assumpção, for the achievement and dedication to documenting the heritage of the Macanese families online in English and Portuguese.

And on 9 December, during the annual Christmas Party in Sydney at the Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, an photo exhibition was made during the event, for the 130 guests, showing a selection of the best works of this year´s IIM photography contest. The mentioned events were a collaboration with the Casa de Macau in Australia.

The award ceremony will be held on 31 January at the International Institute of Macao (IIM). The IIM´s Young Researcher Award aims to incentive young students, teachers, graduates and creatives to research and further study for the sake of the development of the Macau´s Special Administrative Region´s developments – in the strategic sectors of economy and diversification, heritage and identity, applied sciences and the History of Macao. Supported by the Macau Foundation, this award consists of a diploma and a monetary prize of twenty five thousand patacas and has been awarded since 2001 and aims to stimulate greater participation of new generations, aimed at diversifying social intervention, creating opportunities and expanding the scope of knowledge.

For the current year, through last year´s contest, the awards were given in ex aequo to Cheong Iok Kei with a paper on "Parenting stress, parental self-efficacy, social support and the quality of life with Macao SEN's parent"; and Lai Chi Ian, with another paper entitled "The Impacts of Colonial Transition on the Development of Higher Education in Macao, with reference to Hong Kong", both in the area of ​​Social Sciences.

However, after the evaluation carried out by the panel nominated for this contest, for the area of ​​Applied Sciences, papers of the participants were not considered, and therefore the respective Award was not attributed.

The contest has received a total of twenty-seven papers that were analyzed by two university professors, teachers Mok Kai Meng and Chan Ka Wai.

The ceremony will be held at 6:30pm, on 31 January 2019, at the IIM.

On 2 December, a ceremony was held in California at the Macau Cultural Center, organized by the Lusitano Club of California, in collaboration with the International Institute of Macau (IIM) and with the support of the Macao Foundation.

The event, which involved a short video presentation about the Macanese diaspora ("Macaenses - An Odyssey"), the IIM Identity Award ceremony and a tribute of Stanford professor Ming Chan, has attracted more than 80 participants, with attendees from the Casas de Macau in the US.

The IIM Identity Award 2018, which was announced before this year, was granted to Frederico Alberto Silva, better known by Jim Silva, and António Manuel Pacheco Jorge da Silva, for the contributions to the Macanese community. The award ceremony was held with big success in the above mentioned cultural center.