Unspooling between 8 and 17 March, the 22nd edition of the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) will be benefit from a new three-headed directorial team composed of the dynamic Leila Alonso Huarte and Laura Longobardi (editorial co-directors) in addition to Guillaume Noyé who’ll be taking over the role of operational and administrative director. As enthused by the three co-directors themselves, it’s a structural change which is perfectly in step with a socially engaged festival which is always looking to improve on itself.

Despite the highly troubling times we’re currently living through, the two editorial co-directors stress that the FIFDH doesn’t want to slide into unproductive gloom. On the contrary, it wants to try to find, in all this upheaval, an opportunity to reinvent itself and "to allow for the emergence of new perspectives". In this process, "the FIFDH is examining the role of images and of the representation of these changes, by gathering together all those who are thinking about collective solutions and who remind us of the need to act". Among these voices is that of Angela Davis, a leading figure in the fight for civil rights who will take part in a discussion in relation to a French film which has been selected in the Focus Competition, The Flag by Joseph Paris. Other guests at the Forum include Aminata Dramane Traoré, George Monbiot, Philippe Poutou, Claire Nouvian and Bernard Harcourt.

Numerous European productions and co-productions have been selected in the various competitions gracing the festival this year. These include world premières of An Unfinished Journey by Amie Williams and Aeyliya Husain, and Of Caravan and the Dogs by Askold Kurov and anonyme 1, both of which will feature in the Focus Competition. It’s impossible, in the current context, not to lend a voice to filmmakers who happen to be direct witnesses of the war in the Near East, including Anglo-Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi with her movie The Teacher [+leggi anche:
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On the subject of documentaries, the Competition is also set to showcase A Day, 365 Hours [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Andrés Peyrot
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intervista: Mehran Tamadon
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scheda film] by Edward Lovelace and The Walk [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ivan Ostrochovský, Pavol P…
scheda film] by Ivan Ostrochovsky and Pavol Pekarčik, and 1489 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Shoghakat Vardanyan
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The Fiction Competition, meanwhile, will offer up Italy’s There Is Still Tomorrow [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Agnieszka Holland, The Cage is Looking for a Bird [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Malika Musaeva
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intervista: Mohamed Kordofani
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intervista: Felipe Gálvez
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intervista: Baloji
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Last but not least, the Focus Competition will boast international premières of Tax Wars by Hege Dehli and Xavier Harel, and Who If Not Us? The Fight for Democracy in Belarus by Juliane Tutein, as well as screening Another Body by Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn, Limits of Europe [+leggi anche:
intervista: Apolena Rychlíková
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scheda film] by Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu.