The impact of Italian and Greek migrants arriving in Melbourne in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s is well known but until now the contribution that Latin American migration has made to multicultural Victoria has gone untold.

Ms Paez, who is originally from Colombia but has been living in Ballarat for two years, filmed Nuestras Voces (Our Voices) during the pandemic and it will screen free, for the first time in Ballarat, on Friday night at Barkly Square as part of Refugee Week 2022.

Since finishing post-production last year, Nuestras Voces has picked up awards at the Toronto Women's Film Festival and Los Angeles Feedback Latino Film Festival for best feature film, and screened as part of Melbourne's Spanish Film Festival.

"It's just crazy because I used to go to that festival (in Melbourne) and now my film is in it," she said.

Filmed in conjunction with producers Latin Story, Ms Paez interviewed 35 migrants from Spanish-speaking Latin America who migrated to Melbourne between the 1960s and 1980s.

Ms Paez herself migrated to Australia eight years ago to study film and was surprised how multicultural Melbourne is.

"Coming from Latin America, which is a fairly monocultural society, to arriving in Melbourne it was very multicultural," she said..

"Since I came through that journey of study and then started working, it's kind of organically been with social enterprises and not-for-profits," she said. "I'm interested in the social side of film making because I believe film making can be used as a tool to help give voice to things and help people change their mind-set."

Nuestras Voces received funding from the Victorian government to help highlight the contribution of Latin Americans to the state's multicultural society.

"This was about my own community and their journey," she said.

Ms Paez began planning for the filming just before the COVID pandemic arrived to interrupt the schedule so instead of following people through their normal days, she had to conduct interviews online.

She ended up with hundreds of stories that were tough to edit down to an 80 minute feature film that explores the challenges of settling into a different society, the fight against racism, the search for a foundation of their own cultural identity in Australia, and more.

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"I really wanted to do something that shows what they have done in Australia, something relatable to anyone and not only Latin Americans or migrants and I think the stories are something many people can relate to."

Soon after arriving in Ballarat with her partner two years ago Ms Paez became involved with A Pot of Courage which is providing catering before the screening. Although preferring to focus on her film making, she has helped out in the cafe calling on her skills as a barista, bar tender and photographer.

Cafs Ballarat has supported the screening of Nuestras Voces as part of Refugee Week.

Ms Paez has also been involved in the Centre for Multicultural Youth, also housed at Barkly Square, taking part in its Mental Health 'Creative Life' project. Nuestras Voces screens free at Barkly Square at 7pm. To register click here.

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