True Heroes Films (THF) has published a timely portrait of Ales Bialiatski, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2022, drawn from an in-depth interview with him at the Paris Summit for Human Rights Defenders in Paris, October 2018.
Archive for the 'THF' Category
Meet Ales Bialiatski, Nobel Peace Prize 2022
October 8, 2022New “Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award” to Ukrainian and Hungarian press cartoonists
May 10, 2022Geneva Solutions of 3 May 2022 reported on the first issue of the Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award. This is in fact a merger of two pre-existing awards for cartoonists [for more info, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/f60cb3d4-c79a-43aa-9b5c-351c56c02ae1]
The conflict in Ukraine with all these absurd symbols (Vladimir Kazanevsky for Nebelspalter)
Ukrainian Vladimir Kazanevsky and Hungarian Gabor Papai were announced as the winners of the Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award at a ceremony at the Maison de la Paix in Geneva and presented by the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation. Jury : Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch (president), Sami Kanaan, City of Geneva and cartoonists Ann Telnaes (USA), Kak (France) and Chappatte (Switzerland). The portraits below were done by True Heroes Films (THF)
Vladimir Kazanevsky
Vladimir Kazanevsky, Ukraine’s leading cartoonist, was working in his studio early in the morning of 24 February when he heard loud explosions near the airport in Kyiv. He and his wife fled to western Ukraine, along with a huge wave of families fleeing the bombings. From there they went to Presov, a town in Slovakia with a community of artists.
Deprived of his drawing materials, catalogues and books, which he had to leave behind in Kyiv, Kazanevsky continues to draw relentlessly: Putin in action, on a tank or on the bow of the Titanic. “Autocrats and dictators are afraid of our cartoons, and they are right, because our drawings are powerful weapons,” he says.
Fiercely determined to continue the fight against Russian aggression, the 71-year-old sees his work as an act of resistance. An act of defence of freedom of expression against war propaganda.
Gábor Pápai
For several years, Hungarian cartoonist Gàbor Pàpai and his newspaper Népszava – the only opposition daily still alive in Budapest – have been the subject of attacks and legal proceedings by the authorities – even though Hungary is part of the European Union.
This cartoon, “The Chronicle” by Gábor Pápai, published in Hungary’s daily newspaper Népszava on 28 April shows the Hungarian National Public Health Centre’s chief doctor looking at Jesus on the cross and suggesting that many people who had deceased from the coronavirus had already been likely to die because they had suffered from pre-existing conditions.
It was intended to ridicule Hungary’s chief health figure for having tried to minimise the number of deaths solely attributable to the coronavirus in Hungary and, by extension, to mock the government’s handling of the crisis.
“Its depiction and use of Jesus on a cross sparked an outcry from the representatives of the Christian Democrat Party, an ally of the ruling Fidesz, to the point that the Secretary of State for persecuted Christian communities, Tristan Azbej, accused Gábor Pápai of blasphemy and threatened to sue him or Népszava,” as Reporters Without Borders, who came to the defense of Papai, explains.
The Catholic religion, the fight against Covid or simply Hungarian history are all pretexts for prosecution in a country ranked 92nd in the world press freedom index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). This shameful ranking has been deteriorating ever since Viktor Orbán became Prime Minister, putting all independent media in great difficulty. Some, like Népszava, are directly threatened with extinction. Gàbor Pàpai, far from being intimidated, continues to critically observe and draw all political actors in Hungary.
Read more about the 2022 laureates
https://www.kofiannanfoundation.org/articles/world-press-freedom-day-2022/
Women human rights defenders in conflict and post-conflict situations; side event 8 March
March 2, 2022 |
Women human rights defenders are crucial agents and leaders of change. However, due to their gender, they face particular obstacles and security risks. What are these gendered obstacles and risks? How can women human rights defenders best be supported and protected by States and other actors?
ISHR, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Permanent Mission of Norway invite you to join a virtual event on the side of the Human Rights Council’s 49th session:
“Supporting women human rights defenders in conflict and post-conflict situations” takes place on Tuesday 8 March 2022 11:30am – 12:30pm (CET)
See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/08/03/roadmap-to-women-peace-and-security-wps-agenda-2020/
Opening statement: Pekka Haavisto, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Finland
Panellists:
Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders
Ilwad Elman, Director of Program & Development, Elman Peace & Human Rights Centre [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/09/17/fartuun-adan-and-ilwad-elman-from-somalia-named-2020-aurora-prize-winners/]
Horia Mosadiq, Human rights activist and Executive Director, Conflict Analysis Network (CAN)
Pooja Patel, Programme Director, International Service for Human Rights
Moderation: Heidi Hautala, Vice-President, Member of Parliament, European Parliament.
Download the flyer here and click here to join the event.
More about the contributions of women human rights defenders to peace and security: ISHR report.
See also: https://www.trueheroesfilms.com/themes/
Berlin’s Human Rights Film Festival: storytelling can combat human rights violations
October 5, 2021Davide Abbatescianni in Cineurope of 1 October 2021 describes the panel “Storytelling and Activism” in which the speakers explored how powerful storytelling can help activists in their struggles, and how this can become a catalyst for social change
A moment during the panel discussion
On 23 September, the Human Rights Film Festival hosted a panel entitled “Storytelling and Activism”. The gathering, which ran in Berlin from 16-25 September, aims to inspire and educate its attendees, opening their eyes to several humanitarian issues, as seen from new perspectives.
The panellists at this session explored how storytelling can help activists in their fights against injustice and human rights violations, and how this can become a catalyst for social change. The talk saw the participation of actress-director Katja Riermann (whose film …and here we are! was part of this year’s festival programme), Amnesty International Germany secretary general Markus Beeko, Save the Children communication director Martina Dase, co-host of feminist podcast Mothers of Invention Thimali Kodikara, campaigner Uma Mishra and Nigerian-American director Adesua Okosun. The conversation was moderated by Anna Ramsklogler-Witt.
Riermann spoke about her approach to storytelling, saying that she always tries to find the story “behind the news, behind what we know from the humanitarian organisations. […] I try to close the gap between what we know generally – and in many cases, such information is false – and the very specific, exclusive information provided by the people who are within this bubble. My approach is to tell the story to people who are not part of this bubble, who have never heard about it,” she explained.
Okosun said, “Luckily, a lot of directors and creators have the freedom to express themselves through storytelling and to not be afraid to seek questionable stories.” They don’t fear telling the stories of communities that everyone is ignoring or the experiences in Africa that many try to sugar-coat.
Dase noted a lack of meaningful stories: “I think storytelling is the art of telling something that gets under your skin. We still need to be more courageous, and we need to stop telling similar stories over and over again. People are tired of this.” She then mentioned that the most successful piece of storytelling ever produced by Save the Children was a viral video (watch it here) made in collaboration with an advertising agency. It was not a case study, but it basically transposed the Syrian War to London, showing a nine-year-old girl celebrating her birthday when, all of a sudden, a civil war breaks out in the UK. “We need to work more with suspense, surprise, shock and mystery – all of those skills that advertising agencies and blockbuster directors possess,” she added.
Speaking about how humour can be a powerful storytelling tool for just causes, Kodikara said that it allows us “to bring new audiences towards subjects that they are usually terrified of or know nothing about”.
Mishra discussed how emotions can have an impact on her campaigning work: “Working with human rights defenders is always incredibly tricky because of how you are portraying their stories.” She said that it is important to remember that the voices of these people – women, minorities, political prisoners and so on – have been silenced, so activists and campaigners need to make sure not to co-opt their voices and handle their portrayals, as far as possible, with the utmost care.
Beeko highlighted the shift from “telling stories about human rights violations and those affected by them” to a focus on the “activists and the changes that are possible”, which gives hope but is also stimulating more active modes of participation on the part of the audience.
2021 Arthur Svensson Prize to Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions
April 11, 2021
Belsat.eu of 9 April 2021 reports that the 2021 Arthur Svensson International Prize for Trade Union Rights has been awarded to the independent trade union movement in Belarus, represented by the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) and its affiliates. for ‘their fearless struggle for democracy and fundamental trade union rights in Europe’s last dictatorship’.
For more on this prize see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/5c06a870-6053-11e9-aa6c-87381bf77969
“Belarus is considered one of the worst countries in the world for violating workers’ rights. Human rights organizations have for many years expressed deep concern about the human rights violations in the country; «disappearances», police violence and lack of freedom of expression and association. Despite the Lukashenka regime’s attempts to take control of the independent unions and complicate recruitment, organizing and regular trade union activity, they have never given up and have continued to work for its members,” the awarding committee says.
According to them,the independent trade union movement became central early in the fight against the falsification of the election result and the fight for democracy when the situation in the country significantly deteriorated in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.
A new gateway to human rights information being launched: awards and their laureates
January 25, 2021
As this blog has abundantly shown, Human Rights Awards have become an increasingly important tool in the protection of Human Rights Defenders. They give HRDs visibility and provide support and protection for those at risk. [see e.g. https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/human-rights-awards/].
On February 2nd 2021 a new one-stop resource will allow to find and search human rights awards and their laureates.
The Digest of International Human Rights Awards and their Laureates, a unique centralised resource for the human rights community, gives visibility, strengthens legitimacy of human rights defenders’ work, and could influence authorities to better apply human rights. There are now 200 awards and over 2400 HRDs/laureates in the digests.
It will give researchers, students, activists, the media and the public a searchable overview on who has won which awards and their short profiles. The digest will allow people to filter (re)searches on laureates by, e.g. theme, prize, profession, country or region, gender, etc.
On February 2nd, 2021 True Heroes Films will be launching the new platform to the public. See the clip below:
Please forward this post to whom you think might be interested. Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrueHeroesFilms
https://mailchi.mp/7176a72bfc91/digest-of-international-human-rights-awards-and-their-laureates
Tuesday 18 December: first time a human rights defender addresses UN General Assembly
December 17, 2018
On Tuesday 18 December, on behalf of the @HRDWorldSummit delegates, @mogwe_alice will become the first civil-society representative ever to address the @UN General Assembly. She will present the final action plan of the 2nd Human Rights Defenders World Summit which took place in Paris at the end of October 2018. [https://hrdworldsummit.org/action-plan/]. The film above – produced by True Heroes Films – gives an impression of the variety of HRDs and issues at that event, in just 2:30 minutes.
More short films on each article of the UDHR
November 27, 2018Further to my post on the series of short films – one for each article in the 70-year old Universal Declaration of human rights [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/11/15/each-article-in-the-universal-declaration-on-human-rights-has-its-human-story/], there now more out to watch: see e.g. https://www.facebook.com/unitednationshumanrights/videos/380180556054710/.
Human Rights Films: call for action or entertainment?
March 20, 2018Daniel Warner, who until recently was the Chair of the True Heroes Films (THF) in Geneva, runs a weekly blog in English for the Tribune de Geneve, He often touches on human rights issues and this time (20 March 2018) addresses an important question: to what extent are human rights films a (effective) call for action?
Under the title “Geneva Human Rights Film Festival: Is the Medium Really the Message?” he poses serious questions about the way images carry messages and their ultimate effect. The Geneva Film Festival just finished and gave its awards [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/03/19/awards-given-at-the-16th-human-rights-film-festival-in-geneva/] so the reflection is timely:
The 1972 photo of a young girl running naked in Trang Bang screaming in pain from the effects of napalm had a profound influence on the public’s perception of the horrors of the Vietnam War. The 2015 photo of a three-year-old refugee boy drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in Turkey also had a profound influence of the public’s perception, this time on the desperate plight of millions of refugees. The images of Phan Thi Kim Phuc and Aylan Kurdi are iconic representations. Both capture larger stories; both images express powerful narratives.
Visualization is story telling in another form. ……Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s introduced the notion that the medium of communication – movies for instance – change how a message is perceived. Directors can alter time sequences; background music can play directly to our emotions. We have entered new forms of communication that are just beginning to be understood.
The recent Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights was a significant event; 61 films shown in 57 venues in the Swiss Romand and Grand Genève, 28 debates and discussions with important figures such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Catalonian leader Carles Puidgemont as well as a human rights film tour organized by Swiss embassies in 45 countries.
…The images were shocking, almost numbing. We in the theatre became more than viewers, we became indirect witnesses through the lens of the film.
Several directors participated in debates following the presentations. They all expressed hope that the revelations shown on the screen would encourage reaction from the audience beyond the theatre. The purpose of the film, many argued, was to move the attendees and future viewers from watchers – i.e., indirect witnesses – to activists. The films, according to their creators, were calls to action.
McLuhan is most pertinent here. Watching a movie, any movie, is passive/emotional. The director leads us through what he or she wants us to see and feel. We are being literally directed. At a human rights film festival, we are directed, made aware, and called to action. The message of the medium is more than just perception; it is a motivation to do something. But the screen is just a screen, and a silver screen at that. The films were expertly produced. Most were technologically impressive. The cruelty and crudeness of human suffering were presented with all that modernity could offer.
It is the contrast between the rawness of grave breaches of human dignity and the sophistication of the current cinema that somehow reduced the power of the message. If, according to McLuhan, the medium is the message, then the films themselves – with all their slick professionalism – somehow played against a call to action. The excellence of the films was in contradiction to the cruelty and chaos of what they were showing.
.. Human rights activists are turning to visualization to appeal to larger and larger audiences. Visualization is today’s most powerful means of communication and it is becoming more and more sophisticated. The object of human rights’ film makers is to get the message out to the largest audience in an appealing way. The written era of Gutenberg is no longer hot. It is easier to teach students World War II by viewing Saving Private Ryan than to have them read weighty tomes of historical documentation.
If the message of human rights’ films is to witness human rights violations and call to action, professional presentations may be counter-productive. Movies are fundamentally entertainment; however instructive they may be. But when it comes to human rights and their violations, there should be as little entertainment as possible.
The recent Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights was a significant event; 61 films shown in 57 venues in the Swiss Romand and Grand Genève, 28 debates and discussions with important figures such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Catalonian leader Carles Puidgemont as well as a human rights film tour organized by Swiss embassies in 45 countries.
…The images were shocking, almost numbing. We in the theatre became more than viewers, we became indirect witnesses through the lens of the film.
Several directors participated in debates following the presentations. They all expressed hope that the revelations shown on the screen would encourage reaction from the audience beyond the theatre. The purpose of the film, many argued, was to move the attendees and future viewers from watchers – i.e., indirect witnesses – to activists. The films, according to their creators, were calls to action.
McLuhan is most pertinent here. Watching a movie, any movie, is passive/emotional. The director leads us through what he or she wants us to see and feel. We are being literally directed. At a human rights film festival, we are directed, made aware, and called to action. The message of the medium is more than just perception; it is a motivation to do something. But the screen is just a screen, and a silver screen at that. The films were expertly produced. Most were technologically impressive. The cruelty and crudeness of human suffering were presented with all that modernity could offer.
It is the contrast between the rawness of grave breaches of human dignity and the sophistication of the current cinema that somehow reduced the power of the message. If, according to McLuhan, the medium is the message, then the films themselves – with all their slick professionalism – somehow played against a call to action. The excellence of the films was in contradiction to the cruelty and chaos of what they were showing.
.. Human rights activists are turning to visualization to appeal to larger and larger audiences. Visualization is today’s most powerful means of communication and it is becoming more and more sophisticated. The object of human rights’ film makers is to get the message out to the largest audience in an appealing way. The written era of Gutenberg is no longer hot. It is easier to teach students World War II by viewing Saving Private Ryan than to have them read weighty tomes of historical documentation.
If the message of human rights’ films is to witness human rights violations and call to action, professional presentations may be counter-productive. Movies are fundamentally entertainment; however instructive they may be. But when it comes to human rights and their violations, there should be as little entertainment as possible.
Philippines senator De Lima gets liberal human rights award
November 1, 2017 Liberal International (LI) – the global federation of liberal parties – is giving its Prize for Freedom to Senator Leila de Lima, whom the organization described as a “political prisoner” and a critic of authoritarian President Rodrigo Duterte. In its news release of Tuesday, 30 October 2017, the LI said “Politicians from around the world voted to award Liberal International’s highest human rights honor – the Prize for Freedom – to imprisoned Philippines political prisoner, Senator Leila de Lima,” it said. “Senator De Lima, a vocal and ardent critic [of] the Philippines authoritarian president Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called ‘war of drugs’, has been held in pre-trial detention on politically motivated charges since February 2017” .
De Lima is presently detained at the Philippine National Police’s (PNP), Quezon City over allegations that she was involved in the illegal drug trade inside that national penitentiary during her stint as Justice secretary. De Lima has repeatedly denied the charges against her, saying she is a victim of political persecution.
For more info on this award and another 18 awards with ‘freedom’ in their name: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/
Source: De Lima gets human rights award | News | GMA News Online
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 