A screening of the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Days in Mariupol [+lire aussi :
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interview : Mstyslav Chernov
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Svitlana Lishchynska
fiche film] by Svitlana Lishchynska (Sweden/Ukraine/Germany), A New Kind of Wilderness [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen (Norway), Agent of Happiness [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Dorottya Zurbó and Arun Bhattarai (Bhutan/Hungary), Flickering Lights by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan (India), Hollywoodgate [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Ibrahim Nash'at (Germany/USA), KIX [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Bálint Révész and Dávid Mikulán (Hungary/Croatia/France), Life Is Beautiful [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Mohamed Jabaly (Norway/Palestine), Silence of Reason [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
interview : Estíbaliz Urresola
fiche film], Ladj Ly’s Les Indésirables [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ladj Ly et Giordano Gederl…
fiche film], Elene Naveriani’s Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
interview : Elene Naveriani
fiche film] and Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]. 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.”