20/03/2024 - The international gathering kicks off in Prague today with 96 full-length films and 10 VR projects, plus the first-ever addition of narrative titles to the selection

A screening of the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Days in Mariupol [+see also:
film review
interview: Mstyslav Chernov
film profile] by Mstyslav Chernov will open the 26th edition of the Czech-based One World International Human Rights Film Festival, which unspools from 20-28 March in Prague, Boskovice, Jeseník, Šumperk and Vsetín. In the following days and weeks, the event will expand to 43 other cities in the country and will run until 21 April.

This year’s selection encompasses ten VR projects and 96 full-length films, including narrative forms for the first time ever. The programme is organised into competitive and non-competitive thematic sections, which cover much-discussed and relevant issues: Identities, Structures of Power, The Middle East, Ecosystems, Searching for Freedom, On the Edge of Maturity, and Communities.

The International Competition rounds up 11 documentaries that – apart from A Shaman’s Tale by Beata Bashkirova and Bashkirov Mikhail (Czech Republic/France/USA), which is enjoying its world premiere – have already passed through other festivals, garnering recognition and accolades along the way. They are A Bit of a Stranger [+see also:
film review
interview: Svitlana Lishchynska
film profile] by Svitlana Lishchynska (Sweden/Ukraine/Germany), A New Kind of Wilderness [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen (Norway), Agent of Happiness [+see also:
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film profile] by Dorottya Zurbó and Arun Bhattarai (Bhutan/Hungary), Flickering Lights by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan (India), Hollywoodgate [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] by Ibrahim Nash'at (Germany/USA), KIX [+see also:
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film profile] by Bálint Révész and Dávid Mikulán (Hungary/Croatia/France), Life Is Beautiful [+see also:
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film profile] by Mohamed Jabaly (Norway/Palestine), Silence of Reason [+see also:
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film profile] by Kumjana Novakova (Bosnia and Herzegovina/North Macedonia), The Monk by Mira Jargil and Christian Sønderby Jepsen (Denmark/Netherlands) and, last but not least, Venezuela: Country of Lost Children by Marc Wiese and Juan Camilo Cruz Orrego (Germany).

On top of that, the audience can watch films gathered within the Immersive Films Competition, Right to Know Competition and Czech Film Competition. The festival also offers in-depth conversations with the filmmakers and experts that will enhance the reception of the films and provide additional context to the conversation about them.

The narrative film selection includes festival darlings like Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species of Bees [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Estíbaliz Urresola
film profile], Ladj Ly’s Les Indésirables [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ladj Ly and Giordano Gederl…
film profile], Elene Naveriani’s Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elene Naveriani
film profile] and Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. In actual fact, the Polish director, who graduated from FAMU and works regularly in the Czech Republic, is set to give a master class and, on the eve of the One World festival, presented a special Homo Homini Award to the editor-in-chief of Azerbaijan-based Abzas Media, Leyla Mustafayeva.

Referring to the global state of human rights, Holland said: “On the one hand, there is the cradle of freedom and solidarity, democracy and human rights. On the other hand, the worst imaginable crimes against humanity. Festivals like One World play a tremendous role in raising awareness. They serve as vital platforms for spreading both knowledge and empathy.”