On 28 June 2017 Corallina Lopez-wrote “From Making a Murderer to To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Top Human Rights Lawyers on Our Screens”, listing her pick of the most interesting cases where human rights lawyers plays a crucial and even heroic role in seeking and finding justice, She says: The struggle for human rights is very real deal – and a tough one, as shown by the worldwide attack on human rights defenders. As well as making their cases in the courts of law, some have even made it as far as the big – and small – screens.” ….
The International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) is an international event dedicated to film and human rights. For the past 15 years, the festival has taken place in the heart of Geneva, the human rights capital, parallel to the main session of the UN Human Rights Council in March. Each evening, the FIFDH provides high-level debates in which human rights violations are denounced and debated, wherever they occur, including those overlooked by the United Nations and not attract international attention. Diplomats, NGOs, victims, artists, philanthropists, activists, journalists, decision makers, and the general public are invited to debate their views in this unique setting. All the discussions are transmitted live online and have their own dedicated hashtags : you can submit questions and engage with the debate directly, wherever you are.
Prominent personalities who have participated in these debates include : Nobel Prize laureates Shirin Ebadi and Joseph Stiglitz, High Commissioners Navi Pillay and Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Jesselyn Radack, doctor Denis Mukwege, activists Pussy Riot and the Yes Men, artists JR and Ai Weiwei, lawyers Fatou Bensouda, Carla del Ponte and Baltasar Garzon, diplomats Leila Shahid and Samantha Power, journalist Anna Politkovskaïa, as well as leading human rights thinkers Edgar Morin and Stéphane Hessel.
The FILM FESTIVAL runs two international competitions – fiction and documentary – offering a world class selection of films that challenge the ways in which we see the world, in the presence of filmmakers and artists turned protagonists. Two prestigious Juries award Le Grand Prix de Genève (10’000 €), Le Grand Prix Fiction (10’000 €) and the Prix Sergio Vieira de Mello (5000€).
The FIFDH reaches out to young people: more than half of its audience is younger than 35! We offer an ambitious and exciting programme of films and debates for school students. The Festival also schedules special screenings for students of the University of Geneva, the Graduate Institute and film schools, complete with workshops and dedicated Masterclasses.
Source: International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, Geneva
Movies that Matter supports human rights film screenings in developing countries and countries where press freedom is at stake. Applications are welcome for mobile cinema projects, human rights film festivals, film outreach projects or other innovative cinema projects to stimulate the discussion on human rights, social justice and freedom of expression?
Starting this year, Movies that Matter offers two types of grants to stage human rights film festivals and screenings in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East: a) start-up grants (max. EUR 7,500); and b)impact grants (max. EUR 10,000). Please note that Movies that Matter does not support film production! The application deadline is 17 April 2016.
From 9 – 18 March there will be the 2016 human rights film festival of Human Rights Watchin London, and from there it will travel to Toronto (30 March – 7 April), New York (10 – 19 June) and Nairobi (14-18 November). Read the rest of this entry »
The Raoul Wallenberg Institute(RWI) in Lund, Sweden, has now started a human rights film festival. The four-day festival runs from 4 to 7 March 2016 at Kino/Folkets Bio in Lund. Through the Lund Human Rights Film Festival, RWI hopes to garner the captivating power of film to spread knowledge of and promote respect for the most challenging human rights issues of our time. Each film will be followed by a Q&A session or a panel discussion. Subtitles in English. The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law has chosen nine films taking into consideration the artistic quality and treatment of the human rights issue by the filmmaker with the following themes:
Friday, March 4: People in Exile
Saturday, March 5: Racial intolerance
Sunday, March 6: Women’s Rights
Monday, March 7: Dealing with the past
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the network the Human Rights Film Network (HRFN) has published the 2nd edition ofSetting up a Human Rights Film Festival, an “a to z” guide on the how-to’s of organizing a human rights film festival. Written by festival organizers from around the world, itfocuses on the needs and challenges of festivals that are sprouting all over the developing world and those in countries where democratic systems are still emergent or non-existent.
While drawing on some common experiences to all human rights film festivals, such as programming screenings and thematic discussions or dealing with technical production and team building, the handbook does not have a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, it offers a varied tapestry of stories about festivals that face vastly different realities around the world: from rural communities in Sierra Leone and Bolivia to urban settings in Jordan and Guatemala; from prisons and the Maidan in Ukraine to a refugee camp in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
The book’s authors offer first-hand experiences and lessons learned on the many tasks needed for a successful festival including fundraising, stretching resources to the maximum, overcoming seemingly insurmountable logistical problems, approaching new audiences unfamiliar with film, involving the human rights community, dealing with censorship and security threats and evaluating results. There is a chapter on how human rights films strengthen educational systems and help raise awareness among youngsters, as well as case studies featuring festivals that take place in contexts such as political violence, the quest for truth and justice, occupation and political exile, censorship, poverty and marginalization.
The aim of the manual is to provide the necessary know-how to festival organizers so that the events they organize can serve as effective tools for social change — whether by raising awareness among key influencers and general audiences, or through the empowerment of local communities engaged in struggles for social justice.
Human rights-themed films aim for maximum impact, and human rights film festivals play a crucial role in ensuring that the films reach their target audiences, which include key influencers, social movements, activists and everyday citizens. This manual seeks to strengthen the collaboration between these communities by providing existing and emerging film festivals with the tools necessary to create an effective human rights eco-system that can lead to social transformation.
The handbook is edited by One World in Prague, Movies that Matter in Amsterdam and FiSahara in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Algeria.
Follow the links below to read or download the free full version of the handbook, or browse through the individual chapters and case studies.
For those who missed this impressive ceremony of the 2015 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders last night, here is the link to the full 1h40 event, including the surprise appearance by Laureate Ahmed Mansoor via the internet. The films and streaming were provided by True Heroes Films.
BREAKING NEWS: Ahmed Mansoor was just announced during the ceremony in Geneva as the 2015 MEA Laureate [6 October 2015]. Since 2006, Ahmed Mansoor (United Arab Emirates) has focussed on initiatives concerning freedom of expression, civil and political rights. He successfully campaigned in 2006-2007 to support two people jailed for critical social comments, who were released and the charges dropped. Shortly after, the Prime Minister of UAE issued an order not to jail journalists in relation to their work. Mr Mansoor is one of the few voices within the United Arab Emirates who provides a credible independent assessment of human rights developments. He regularly raises concerns on arbitrary detention, torture, international standards for fair trials, non-independence of the judiciary, and domestic laws that violate international law.
He has faced repeated intimidation and harassment, including imprisonment in 2011 after being convicted of “insulting officials” and sentenced to three years’ in prison, although he was released after eight months. Since being jailed in 2011, he has been denied a passport and banned from travelling. The Martin Ennals Jury has in vain urged the government of the UAE to lift this travel ban and allow him to travel. Martin Ennals Foundation Chair Micheline Calmy-Rey stated “ Ahmed Mansoor continues to pay the price for speaking out on human rights issues in his country, we urge his government to lift the travel ban.” [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/fly-emirates-if-the-emirs-let-you/]
Ahmed Mansoor’s message (recorded on video before the ceremony):
The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) is a unique collaboration among ten of the world’s leading human rights organizations to give protection to human rights defenders worldwide. The Jury is composed of the following NGOs:
Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
– Amnesty International,
– FIDH,
– Human Rights First,
– HURIDOCS,
– International Service for Human Rights,
– EWDE Germany,
– Front Line Defenders,
– Human Rights Watch,
– International Commission of Jurists,
– World Organisation Against Torture.
The two other finalists received Martin Ennals Prizes:
Robert Sann Aung (Myanmar)
Since 1974, Robert Sann Aung has courageously fought against human rights abuses. He has been repeatedly imprisoned in harsh conditions, physically attacked as well as regularly threatened. He was disbarred from 1993 – 2012. Currently, he represents students detained for peaceful protests.
Asmaou Diallo (Guinea)
Her human rights work started following the events of 28 September 2009 when the Guinean military attacked peaceful demonstrators. She founded l’Association des Parents et Amis des Victimes du 28 septembre 2009 (APIVA), which assists those affected, and supports them to testify in court proceedings.
It may not be news to the readers of this blog but it is good to heart the Office of the Un High Commissioner for G+Human Rights say it: “Movies are powerful” said Elena Ippoliti, Human Rights Officer for the UN Human Rights Office. “Sometimes, young people can open their eyes more through an eight-minute film, than through a two-hour lecture.”
For a decade the Office has partnered with the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) in carrying out an educational programme, which takes place during the annual film festival. It provides screenings and discussions of a selection of human rights films for students mainly attending the secondary schools in Geneva. The festival was getting good audiences, but films were being seen by people who were already familiar with the issues. He said reaching out to schools seemed a natural fit.
Ippoliti said the education programme is also a chance for the Office to work at a local level in the headquarters host city of Geneva: “We, OHCHR Geneva, work at the global level. But by working with schools here, we also reach out to the local level,”.
True Heroes Films (THF), is a non-profit organisation working to ensure audiences outside the usual human rights community are reached and engaged by human rights stories. THF is looking for a coordinator to keep the team running smoothly and to ensure the organisation’s further development.
Reporting directly to the Committee of the THF Association, the coordinator is charged with managing the administration and functioning of the organisation. The coordinator is responsible for overall organisational coherence and THF’s reputation, as well as maintaining the organisation’s relations with stakeholders and coordinating the projects and work that our team is doing.
In close collaboration with the Institutional Developer, the Coordinator contributes to the development of the organisation’s strategy, to raising core funds and specific project funding, and to maintaining relationships with the organisations core stakeholders.
RESPONSIBILITIES
– Maintaining relations with partners, among THF associates and with the Committee.
– Planning day-to-day activities and overseeing to strategic planning
– Overseeing organisational accounting
– Logistics (office, transport, etc)
– Fundraising
– Role of Producer on films (Organisational view on deadlines, quality, resources and relations with client; troubleshooting when needed)
CORE COMPETENCIES
– Excellent organisational and project management skills
– Good interpersonal skills and experience coordinating teams
– Previous experience with fundraising (project drafting, discussions with donors, reporting) – A dedication to highlighting human rights issues
– Speaking English and French fluently, German a valuable addition
– Having a valid work permit for Switzerland
ADDITIONAL COMPETENCIES
– Experience in communications and audio-visual work
– An existing network or knowledge of human rights organisations, actors and donors
DETAILS
Salary: CHF 3200.- (brut) per month for a 50% position (21hrs/ week), with possibility of increasing both percentage worked and remuneration depending on projects received. Location: based in Geneva, but work times and location of work (office, home, etc) are flexible and to be agreed with associates; limited travel
Starting date: 1 June 2015
APPLICATION
Send CV and email explaining why you feel you fit the description and what you would bring to the team to info@trueheroesfilms.org.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 