radiofree.asia

Category: FIFDH

  • Geneva Human Rights Film Festival: winners announced

    On 14 March 2024, the FIFDH published the film awards for its 2024 Festival. They include:

    Gilda Vieira de Mello Prize

    provides a moving account of the daily life of Mohamed Jabaly, who is stranded in Norway after the closure of Gaza’s borders. A call for freedom of movement, but above all freedom to pursue your dreams. “Gaza as depicted in Life is Beautiful no longer exists. Its streets, squares and the faces that populate filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly’s memories have been eradicated in the ongoing genocide in Palestine. What we are left with are the images that tell of the past, already under Israeli occupation. The violence of the borders, but also the solidarity and determination of an individual to lead a dignified existence. Cinema becomes the compass of an odyssey that takes us all to Gaza.”

    Prize of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

    Total Trust follows the daily lives of activists who are watched and oppressed by the Chinese government through the use of technology, artificial intelligence and human rights. “Unveiling what appears to be a real-life Orwellian 1984 scenario, the documentary vividly portrays the persecution of Chinese human rights defenders and exposes the use of cutting-edge state surveillance technology tools to tightly control the lives of millions of people. This disconcerting image of rising authoritarianism prompts an important question: “Is a future controlled by technology, where we are no longer free to exercise our rights, a real risk for us all?” The prohibition of torture is what allows individuals to shape their personality and views, and establish their dignity, which is the very essence of being human.”

    In March 2024, also noteworthy is that at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival the top prize in the International Amnesty Award competition went to Maciek Hamela’s Oscar-shortlisted In the Rearview. Hamela shot his film almost entirely within the confines of a van evacuating Ukrainian civilians fleeing the Russian invasion of their country. [https://deadline.com/2024/03/thessaloniki-internationa-documentary-festival-2024-awards-my-stolen-planet-stray-bodies-1235860706/]

    For the full table of FIFDH winners, see:

    https://www.euronews.com/culture/2024/03/18/human-rights-film-festival-winners-hone-in-on-russia-and-gaza

    Awards 2024

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Winners of the 2022 Geneva international film festival

    Women's rights, ecology and torture scoop top FIFDH 2022 awards

    Over ten days, the 20th International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights brought together artists, activists, journalists, and the public in Geneva for film and debate. After two pandemic-enforced digital editions, this year was also a chance for the festival to finally get back to some form of normality by meeting in person and welcoming back live audiences. The Grand Prize for Fiction was awarded to two films – Freda, by Haitian director Gessica Généus, and Vera Dreams of the Sea by Kosovan filmmaker Kaltrina Krasniqi.

    “Freda” Devastated by earthquakes, Haiti is a country buried under corruption, violence and colonial legacy. Freda lives with her mother and sister in Port-au-Prince and, at the age of 20, she refuses to give up and wants to believe in the future. But how can she stay when everything compels her to leave? Spotted in 2017 with The Sun Will Rise, Gessica Généus directs her debut feature film, shot in Creole and carried by extraordinary actresses. She tells the story of her country with love, sings its courage and celebrates the deep joy that persists despite the heartbreaking reality.

    “Vera Dreams of the Sea” tells the tale of a widow, forced to take on a ruthless rural patriarchy to claim an inheritance, for her, and her daughter and granddaughter. The film also won the Festival’s Youth Prize, an award Krasniqi told Euronews has particular significance. “You know, when you make a movie you think about audiences, of course, and then you think that people of a certain generation who resonate with issues but then getting a prize from youth meant quite a lot to me because that means the story resonates with other generations as well.”

    See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/02/15/fifdh-dedicates-its-20th-edition-to-pham-doan-trang-and-ida-leblanc/

    White Torture directed by Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi won the festival’s Grand Reportages category. It focuses on psychological torture and its destructive effect on victims. Mohammadi is currently imprisoned in Iran. Her friend, Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, is the film’s ambassador. Sitting down with Euronews, she said: “In my opinion, this film represents the state’s repression of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Iran. But at the same time, it represents resistance, because the repression continues, but the resistance of the people also continues.“

    https://fifdh.org/en/2022/film/157-freda

    https://www.euronews.com/culture/2022/03/15/women-s-rights-ecology-and-torture-scoop-top-fifdh-2022-awards

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • FIFDH dedicates its 20th edition to Pham Doan Trang and Ida Leblanc

    The Geneva Human Rights Film Festival of 2020 (FIFDH – The Festival) dedicates its 20th edition to human rights defenders Pham Doan Trang and Ida Leblanc

    Journalist and blogger Pham Doan Trang has been in detention since October 2020 and was recently sentenced to 9 years in prison for “propaganda against the state”. The 43-year-old was accused by the Hanoi regime of “defaming the Vietnamese government and inventing fake news“. In one of the world’s most repressive countries towards civil society, where freedom of the press is non-existent, Pham Doan Trang – RSF 2019 Prize – has founded numerous independent media and publishing houses – including Nha Xuat Ban Tu Do or Law Magazine – and the NGO Green Trees, making her the target of a government that does not tolerate dissent. Despite intimidation, torture and repeated arrests, Pham Doan Trang is fighting to end systematic abuse of both human rights and freedom of the press in Vietnam. She won several awards including recently the Martin Ennals Award 2022. See: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/fe8bf320-1d78-11e8-aacf-35c4dd34b7ba

    Trinidad and Tobago is home to more than 10,000 domestic workers, most of them without any social protection. Ida Leblanc fights daily for them to obtain rights similar to those of all workers, notably as General Secretary of the National Union of Domestic Employees (NUDE), which she founded. In 2011, the International Labour Organisation adopted the Convention on Domestic Workers thanks to Ida Leblanc’s active campaigning. Though the government of Trinidad and Tobago has never implemented the Convention, tireless Ida Leblanc remains undeterred.

    She successfully campaigned for the decriminalisation of the Minimum Wage Act, giving unions the right to hear cases of non-compliance with the Act in the Labour Court. She has spearheaded many victories on behalf of low-income workers in cases of unfair dismissal, lay-offs and breaches of the Maternity Protection and Minimum Wage Acts.

    She is the winner of this year’s Martine Anstett 2022 Prize, [see https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/696be661-30ac-4c6a-84d1-989aab323b65]

    https://fifdh.org/en/the-festival/news/article/the-fifdh-dedicates-its-20th-edition-to-pham-doan-trang-and-ida-leblanc
     

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Isabelle Gattiker to leave Geneva Human Rights Film Festival

    ©Miguel Bueno / FIFDH

    The soon coming 20th edition of the FIFDH will be the last one of General and Artistic Director, Isabelle Gattiker. After eight years at the head of the Festival she will leave her position at the end of April, to take up her new responsibilities as General Director of the Cantonal Office for Culture and Sport (OCCS) on 1 May 2022.
     

    « I am leaving to take up an exciting professional challenge, but these years with the FIFDH will always hold a special place in my heart. It is an honour to have contributed to such an important Festival, and I did so with tremendous enthusiasm and passion. The Festival is in good hands, and I would like to thank the Board, my co-directors, our partners and the outstanding teams who have accompanied me every day along the way and made this adventure possible. The future of this unique event in the world can only be exceptional.» – Isabelle Gattiker


    Isabelle Gattiker joined the FIFDH in 2013 as deputy director before taking over as director in 2015. Under her leadership, the Festival has grown considerably and developed a vast network of 170 partners in Switzerland and abroad. In eight years, the FIFDH has seen its attendance double; it has organised events in 85 venues in the Geneva region and has toured the world in 60 countries.


    Isabelle Gattiker and the Festival team are currently working on the 20th edition of the FIFDH, which will take place from 4 to 13 March 2022, an anniversary edition that will celebrate the commitment of human rights activists and filmmakers. The full programme will be revealed on 15 February, 2022.

    «We are proud and grateful for the tremendous work accomplished by Isabelle Gattiker as head of the Festival team. She was able to develop the Festival not only in size and presence but also in depth and legitimacy, transforming it into an international platform for the defence of human rights, yet firmly rooted in Geneva. We regret her departure but look forward to working with her in the interest of Geneva’s culture and its influence.» – Bruno Giussani, President of the FIFDH Foundation Board.

    The FIFDH unveils the poster for its 20th edition!

    https://fifdh.org/en/the-festival/news/article/isabelle-gattiker-directrice-generale-quittera-le-fifdh-apres-la-20e-edition

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Geneva Film Festival: Grand Prize of Geneva to “Shadow Game”

    KRO-NCRV Shadow Game Documentary Won Awards at Geneva Film Festival | Currently

    The 19th Geneva’s International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) has wrapped its first digital edition with the announcement of its winners. Running from 5 to 14 March, the event gathered nearly 45,000 people who watched the films, debates and various content available online. “While we regret not having been able to open this Festival to a physical audience, some of the experiments carried out this year will be perpetuated. We must pay tribute to the FIFDH team, which has been able to adapt to many challenges with increased energy,” mentioned general director Isabelle Gattiker.

    Starting with the Creative Documentary Competition, the jury headed by Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, and featuring Lamia Maria Abillama, Yulia Mahr, and Arnaud Robert, bestowed the Grand Prize of Geneva valued at CHF 10,000 – offered by the city and state of Geneva – upon Shadow Game by Eefje Blankevoort and Els Van Driel. The jury’s statement mentions that the film “deals with a crucial issue in modern time: young migrants alone on their road, trying to cross boundaries and as they say: ‘playing their game’. With the use of videos and social media material produced by the teenagers themselves, it has innovative filmmaking, and it is pushing cinematic boundaries in many ways.”

    Shadow Game also picked the Youth Jury Prize, as it “brings to our attention the fact that we need not look far to find human rights’ violations. This confrontation makes it necessary to take greater responsibility at the sight of this injustice and to abandon the often-stereotypical image of migrants,” the jury stated.

    The CHF 5,000 Gilda Vieira de Mello Prize in tribute to her son Sergio Vieira de Mello, went to Downstream to Kinshasa [+] by Dieudo Hamadi for its “powerful and brave character-orientated filmmaking, about reparations for forgotten communities who endured atrocities (the Six-Day War in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2000). This film is haunting and shows such a rage of the protagonists seeking justice and reparations.” Once Upon a Time in Venezuela [+] by Anabel Rodríguez Ríos received a Special Mention by the jury as the director “approaches the protagonists in a very crude and yet subtle way, showing brilliantly the inextricable relation between industrial pollution, political and electoral constraints as well as citizens’ welfare.”

    In the Fiction Competition, the Grand Prize Fiction and Human Rights, valued at CHF 10,000 and offered by the Hélène and Victor Barbour Foundation, went to Veins of the World [+] by Byambasuren Davaa as it “points beyond itself, towards a formless totality, a shared human experience often forgotten and instantly remembered where the beauty and pain of a profoundly essential human longing is unearthed and laid bare,” according to the jury presided by American filmmaker Danielle Lessovitz, with Santiago Amigorena, Laïla Marrakchi and Philippe Cottier. The film also won the Youth Jury Prize.

    The Special Mention went to Should the Wind Drop [+] by Nora Martirosyan, “an important film, especially in the current context where borders are moving and closing and where it is difficult to travel.”

    Finally, in the Grand Reportage Competition, the CHF 5,000 Prize of OMCT (World Organisation Against Torture), went to Coded Bias by Shalini Kantayya which, according to the jury, “powerfully depicts the threats that artificial intelligence poses to our liberties, including by hardwiring into algorithms racist and sexist biases.” The Public Award went to Dear Future Children [+] by Franz Böhm, which received CHF 5,000 from the FIFDH.

    https://www.baltimoregaylife.com/kro-ncrv-shadow-game-documentary-won-awards-at-geneva-film-festival-currently/

    https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/film-festival-in-geneva-showcases-youth-migrant-struggles-in-top-honours/46447346

    https://www.cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/398837

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • 2021 edition of Geneva film festival kicks off in virtual format

    The FIFDH kicks off in virtual format for its 19th edition
    • Wolfgang Spindler  reported on 0 March 2021 that the 19th edition of the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva has gone virtual. Usually every year some 40 000 visitors attend to watch and discuss films that focus on human rights violations. Around 300 filmmakers, human rights defenders and politicians from 25 countries across the globe used to be invited. But, this year, the festival has been forced to change and adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants are now encouraged to click on ‘likes‘ instead of applauding, as physical presence is not possible.

    Isabelle Gattiker is the FIFDH Festival Director. She said that the festival had to reinvent itself. They are proposing videos on demand, that she describes as not being able to replace real cinema theatres. But they have tried “to work on public participation despite the digital format”. Online audiences can comment and ask questions during the showings every evening from 8 pm (CET) from anywhere on the planet.

    For the first time ever there will also be a public award, where the viewers can give a mark to the films they’ve watched. At the end of the festival, the film with the highest rating from the official selection will be awarded this prize.

    Soltan Achilova This 19th edition is dedicated to Turkmenistan Photojournalist, Soltan Achilova. The 71-year-old was amongst this year’s finalists for the “Martin Ennals Award“, an annual prize known as “the Nobel prize for human rights defenders. See: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/02/23/soltan-achilova-has-issued-a-rare-rebuke-of-the-turkmen-president-on-youtube/

    https://www.euronews.com/2021/03/05/the-fifdh-kicks-off-in-virtual-format-for-its-19th-edition

    https://fifdh.org/en/program-2021

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.