11/03/2025 - The 27th edition of the international human rights festival will present 84 documentaries, 11 fiction films and nine immersive experiences across four competition and seven thematic sections

The One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival returns for its 27th edition in Prague from 12-20 March, with screenings and discussions extending across 57 cities in the Czech Republic until 27 April. This year’s festival expands its geographical reach and presents a programme comprising 84 documentaries, 11 fiction films, nine immersive experiences and six short films for family audiences.

The gathering’s film programme is organised into four competitive sections: the International Competition, the Czech Competition, Right to Know and the Immersive Film Competition. The International Competition includes Christopher Petit and Emma Matthews’ D Is for Distance (Finland), an intimate essay on motherhood and the fragility of healthcare systems; Mr. Nobody Against Putin [+see also:
film review
film profile] by David Borenstein (Denmark/Czech Republic), which follows a Russian school teacher’s quiet defiance against rising propagandistic militarisation in his school; and Khartoum [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmad, Tim…
film profile] by Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed and Philip Cox (Sudan/UK/Germany/Qatar). The Czech Competition features a diverse selection, including The Impossibility [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Tomáš Hlaváček (Czech Republic), which portrays tenants resisting a profit-driven landlord; Marie-Magdalena Kochová’s The Other One [+see also:
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film profile] (Czech Republic/Slovakia), an intimate coming-of-age study of “glass children”; and Doctor on a Trip by David Čálek (Czech Republic), which traces a journey from a university in Brno to the Amazon in search of psychedelic treatments for mental illness. The Immersive Film Competition uses virtual reality to transport audiences into personal, historical and sociopolitical experiences, ranging from the haunting reconstruction of lost homes in Alisa Berger’s RAPTURE II – Portal (France) to the surreal exploration of memory, activism and identity in Marion Burger and Ilan J Cohen’s Emperor (France/Germany).

Beyond the competitive sections, the festival presents seven non-competitive thematic categories: Slovak Journey, Family Webs, Female Gaze, Male Beings, Ecosystems, Searching for Freedom and Community Boundaries. Slovak Journey examines the nation’s shifting political and social landscape with Róbert Mihály’s short documentaries The Most Beautiful Corner in the World (Slovakia) and Long Live Death (Slovakia), which explore the rise of nationalism and radicalisation driven by disinformation, while Rebeka Bizubová’s short doc Confession (Slovakia) offers a formally inventive yet personal reflection on the director’s experience of sexual harassment within the Church. Female Gaze presents ten films that examine women navigating oppression, male-dominated spaces and struggles for fundamental rights. The Last Expedition [+see also:
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film profile] by Eliza Kubarska (Poland/Switzerland/Nepal/India/Italy/Austria) revisits the challenges faced by legendary mountaineer Wanda Rutkiewicz, while Leonardo Van Dijl’s Julie Keeps Quiet [+see also:
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interview: Leonardo van Dijl
film profile] (Belgium/Sweden) delves into power dynamics in sports through the story of a young tennis player caught in the fallout of a coach’s abuse scandal.

One World 2025 will host over 100 international guests, including filmmakers, activists and human rights experts. Among them is British director and BAFTA winner Victoria Mapplebeck, who will present Motherboard [+see also:
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film profile] (UK), her observational documentary exploring single parenthood. The festival runs parallel to the 14th edition of the East Doc Platform (see the news), the largest industry event for documentary filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe, offering film professionals plenty of opportunities for networking and collaboration.

The full line-up is available here.