The 28th edition of the One World International Human Rights Film Festival presented a broad programme of 82 documentaries, 16 fiction films and eight VR works from 11-19 March (see the news). As in previous years, the Prague segment was followed by an extensive nationwide rollout, reaching a record 60 Czech cities and reinforcing the festival’s strong domestic footprint.

Against this backdrop, the gathering’s international expansion continues to gain momentum, with the Brussels edition emerging as a central node in its transnational strategy. Running from 20-24 April in Brussels, the 2026 edition of One World in the Belgian capital offers a meticulously curated programme drawn from the Prague selection.

The Brussels line-up involves a strand centring on war, geopolitical conflict and its human consequences, represented by Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, which addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a deeply personal lens, and Traces by Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk, a harrowing account of survivors of sexualised violence during Russia’s war in Ukraine. The selection further includes 2000 Meters to Andriivka by Mstyslav Chernov, which follows a Ukrainian unit tasked with reclaiming a strategically vital village destroyed by Russian aggression, placing the viewer directly on the front line through immersive, first-person camerawork that underscores the immediacy and brutality of the conflict. These works extend One World’s long-standing engagement with frontline testimonies and the documentation of contemporary conflict.

Another thematic strand focuses on resistance and civic courage under authoritarian or restrictive regimes. For instance, the Swiss documentary A Free Daughter of Free Kyrgyzstan by Leigh Iacobucci follows young activist Zere Asylbek as she navigates increasing state pressure, while the Belgian-French effort Politzek: The Voices That Defy the Kremlin by directorial duo Manon Loizeau and Ekaterina Mamontova foregrounds dissent within contemporary Russia. Similarly, the Swedish documentary Surviving the Death Committee by Nima Sarvestani follows Iranian exiles who trace and lure a former regime official implicated in the 1988 mass executions to Sweden in an attempt to bring him to justice.

Another thematic axis explores identity, ideology and the mechanisms of radicalisation. Matthias Lintner’s Italian documentary My Boyfriend the Fascist unfolds as an intimate, self-reflexive essay, documenting the ideological rupture between the filmmaker and his partner as the latter drifts towards far-right beliefs, while the Italian-French title She by Parsifal Reparato offers a stark, formally stylised portrait of Vietnamese women working in electronics factories, exposing the intersection of exploitative labour conditions and entrenched patriarchal structures through anonymised testimonies and reconstructed scenes.

Across all of the screenings, the Brussels edition maintains One World’s characteristic format of pairing films with debates and expert discussions, hosted in venues including Cinema Galeries and Cinéma Aventure. The Brussels showcase follows a series of earlier international outings that took place in March, signalling a sustained effort to circulate the programme globally. Selected titles were presented in Washington, DC (in collaboration with the DC Environmental Film Festival), as well as in New York City, through partnerships with the Czech Center New York and the Václav Havel Center, where screenings were likewise accompanied by post-film discussions. In parallel, films from the Prague programme got an airing at the Movies that Matter Festival in The Hague, benefiting from integration into an established international human rights festival framework.

The full line-up of One World in Brussels is available to peruse here.