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| Home | Programme | Themes | Films | Guests | Tickets | 2008 | Minifestivals |
The festival's films range from some of the most cinematically outstanding films that capture the world's issues with a filmic quality equal to anything in the cinemas, to short films encompassing new approaches to reporting issues including stunningly beautiful shots, and more traditional television reports that have had particular effect in telling the stories that need to be told. We do not have the ambition of being a film festival that only screens only the newest and most heralded films around, but rather to show amazing, dramatic and wonderful films that can really tell us about human rights issues, and that stimulate debate. Form your opinions, join the debate and be part of the solution |
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Burma VJ Denmark 2009 Film website Screening time: NOMINATED FOR OSCAR 2nd Feb. Congratulations! |
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Armed with video-cameras a tenacious band of Burmese reporters face down death to expose the repressive regime controlling their country. The film offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching. "For truthseekers everywhere, 'Burma VJ is simply unmissable" Time Out |
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Getting Justice - Kenya's Deadly Game of Wait and See Interview with Maina Kiai by Danish Institute of Human Rights - FIlm can heal divided communities Screening times: |
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Early in 2008 a wave of violence spread across Kenya. The election results from December 27, 2007, were questioned and lead to riots. More than 1 000 people were killed and nearly half a million were banished from their homes. This film is about the search for accountability and reconciliation in Kenya. It gives voice to survivors; it looks at what they desire and discusses some of the issues that they would like to see resolved. It also looks at Rwanda as a contemporary example of how another country has dealt with issues of justice and reconciliation after their major crisis in 1994. | |||
Dreamland Screening time: |
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Dreamland is a disturbing picture of corporate power taking over small communities. It is about a nation standing at cross-roads. Leading up to the country’s greatest economic crisis, the government started the largest mega project in the history of Iceland, to build the biggest dam in Europe to provide Alcoa cheap electricity for an aluminum smelter in the rugged east fjords of Iceland. Today Iceland is left holding a huge dept and an uncertain future. Who is looking out for the rights of the people on Iceland? Can they be exploited as much as any developing country in the global South? Bad governance combined with preying international powers (corporations and military bases) are a problem for any local population, wherever it might be. |
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Intended Consquences 2008 Screening time:
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An estimated 20,000 children were born from rapes committed during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Intended Consequences chronicles the lives of these women. Their narratives are embodied in portrait photographs, interviews and oral reflections about the daily challenges they face today. An incredibly powerful and beautiful film, nominee for an Emmy for 'New Approaches to News and Documentary Programming'. Webby 1st and winner of many other awards. |
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Weapon of War Screening time: |
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Wherever war breaks out, men with guns rape. During the decades of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo possibly hundreds of thousands of women and girls were brutally raped.The film unveils military perpetrators explaining what lies behind this brutal behavior and the strategies of rape as a war crime. Strong scenes include hearing an ex-rebel explain how he raped and, in an attempt to reconcile with his past, watching him meet one of his victims in an attempt to obtain forgiveness. Then there is Captain Basima who works as a priest in the Congo's army and spends much of his time confronting perpetrators of rape. He urges them to change. Just like he did. | |||
Long Distance Love Screening time: |
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Long Distance Love is a love story, but also a film about the gigantic migration wave into Russia. Alisher, from the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan, is a young man looking for love in his life, but who also longs to survive in a country where people are living under severe pressure ever since the breakdown of the Soviet Union. Alisher marries Dildora on a sweltering summer's day, but soon – as almost every other young man in this region – he has to go to Russia and try to find a job. The distance between Osh and Moscow is 3,500 kilometres. A film about love, hope, migration and global injustice. |
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The Fortress Screening time:
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In 2007, 10,387 people filed requests for asylum in Switzerland, but only 1,561 were granted refugee status. Recently the process for seeking asylum in the country has become even stricter. Director Fernand Melgar wanted to understand “What was driving us to lock the gates and transform this land of asylum into an impregnable fortress?” Only two interviews decide the validity of requests for asylum. This film sheds light on a reality where cultural differences and differences in status – on one side the decision makers on the other the asylum seekers – is the daily routine. Can the staff tell the difference between lies and authenticity to select who wins a second chance at life in Switzerland? Inevitably this film asks the question of how we treat others as citizens but also as human beings. |
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Europe or Die Trying Screening time: |
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Paul Kenyon travels three thousand miles along the most dangerous illegal immigration route out of Africa. Many die crossing the Sahara, or at sea on the way to a better life in Europe, but can the survivors convince those who follow that Europe in recession is no longer worth the risk? | |||
Kingsley's Crossing Screening time: |
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"Most families in my country want their children to go to Europe," Kingsley says. It is in Europe - the new El Dorado - that African immigrants can vastly increase their incomes while also providing for their families back home. So, in May of 2004, Kingsley left Cameroon on what he calls "his mission." What followed was an excruciating six-month journey across half of Africa. Kingsley's Crossing is the story of one man's willingness to abandon everything - his family, his country, and his friends - in the hopes of finding a better life abroad. Award-winning French photojournalist Olivier Jobard documents the passage. | |||
Malta Radio Screening time: |
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A Spanish fishing boat, with a crew of nine, meets an open top boat under half its size, with a crew of 50. The migrants are trying to reach Europe from Libya, but have lost their way and are close to death. Malta is the nearest mainland, but will not send help, so the fishermen know the only decent option is to take the refugees on board. When they all approach the harbour in Malta the ship is stopped, and made to wait for nine days while the authorities work out what they want, and what they are obliged, to do. A film full of human dilemmas and struggles of consciousness, told in a narrative as compelling as any fictional drama.
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Chechnya's Missing Women Screening time: |
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The war in Chechnya is officially over, but the after-effects are still very much evident, especially for women. Men in uniform are everywhere, but no one is protecting the young women who are abducted and forced in to marriage, who simply disappear, and who are murdered and dumped by the road side. Natalia Estimerova was one of the few who the affected families trusted and who spoke out. She was murdered in July 09, three weeks after appearing in this film. |
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City of the Roma Screening time: |
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The Roma community suffers massive discrimination throughout Europe. Denied their rights to housing, employment, healthcare and education, Roma are often victims of forced evictions, racist attacks and police ill-treatment. Living predominantly on the margins of society, Roma are among the most deprived communities in Europe. In some countries, they are prevented from obtaining citizenship and personal documents required for social insurance, health care and other benefits. Romani children are frequently unjustifiably placed in "special schools" where curtailed curricula limit their possibilities for fulfilling their potential. In this film we observe the life of Elena, a schoolgirl, and the obstinate efforts of Angel to integrate the Roma community into the majority society. This comprises bending the current system in such a way as to make it also friendly to groups hitherto regarded as 'unable to adapt'.
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To Shoot an Elephant Screening time: |
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An eye witness account from The Gaza Strip. December 27th, 2008. Urgent, shuddering images from some of the few foreigners who decided and managed to stay embedded inside Gaza with the ambulances and Palestinian civilians. Awarded best director at Dei Popoli Festival, for: "allowing us to share an emotional, physical and stressful experience and for being there to witness the horror and destruction implied by the besieging of Gaza". |
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The Problem - Testimony of the Saharawi People Screening time: |
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The occupied territories of Western Sahara - separated from the rest of Africa by a nearly 3000km wall - is where the Saharawi people live under constant threat, unable to utter the names 'Western Sahara, Polisario Front, or referendum' so the situation is known as 'The Problem'. This is the last colony in Africa - the film is from the places Morocco does not want the world to see. It reflects nearly five years of collecting evidence and testimonies from the victims of rape, torture and imprisonment. The UN has recognised the rights of the people to have a referendum, but the priorities of the international community seem to be far away form this corner of the world. Will they pay attention only if the inhabitants commit acts of terrorism? |
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The Reckoning - Screening time: |
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Late in the 20th century, in response to repeated mass atrocities around the world, more than 120 countries united to form the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Reckoning follows dynamic ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo and his team for three years as he issues arrest warrants for Lord’s Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, puts Congolese warlords on trial, shakes up the Colombian justice system, and charges Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir with genocide in Darfur. At every turn, he must pressure the international community to muster political will for the cause. While this tiny court in The Hague struggles to change the world and forge a new paradigm for justice, innocent victims suffer and wait. Will the ICC succeed? Will the world ensure that justice prevails? |
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Outside the Law - Stories from Guantanamo Screening time: |
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A new Guantanamo film, with a particular focus on how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international laws. The film is based around interviews with former prisoners (Moazzam Begg and, in his first major interview, Omar Deghayes, who was released in December 2007), lawyers for the prisoners, and journalist and author Andy Worthington. Focusing on the stories of three particular prisoners — Shaker Aamer (who is still held), Binyam Mohamed (who was released in February 2009) and Omar Deghayes —the film provides new insight into the holding of men neither as prisoners of war, protected by the Geneva Conventions, nor as criminal suspects with habeas corpus rights, but as “illegal enemy combatants” with no rights whatsoever. |
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My Neighbor, My Killer Screening time: |
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Gacaca, which literally means "justice on the grass", is a form of citizen-based justice with which Rwandans are addressing the crimes of the 1994 genocide. Filming for over a decade in a tiny rural hamlet award-winning documentary filmmaker Anne Aghion has charted the impact of the Gacaca on survivors and perpetrators alike. "Brilliant" One of the Best Documentaries of 2009 Jennifer Merin, About.com: Documentaries. “Deeply Moving” Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post. “Excellent” Peter Brunette, Hollywood Reporter. “Quietly devastating” Kenneth Turan, LA Times. “An historic document of incalculable value, but also a superbly shot work of cinema” Agence France Presse |
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Enemies of the People Cambodia/UK 2009 Screening time: |
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The Killing Fields of Cambodia have remained unexplained. Until now. In this film the men and women who perpetrated the massacres break a 30-year silence to give testimony never before heard or seen. The access from top to bottom of the Khmer Rouge has been achieved through a decade of work by one of Cambodia’s best investigative journalists, Thet Sambath. The film is his journey to discover not how but why so many died. After years of visits and trust-building, he finally persuades Brother Number Two to admit (for the first time) in detail how he and Pol Pot decided to kill party members whom they considered ‘Enemies of the People’. For the first time, we see how orders created on an abstract political level translate into murder in the rice fields and forests of the Cambodian plain. The United Nations and the Cambodian government have set up a tribunal to try the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge for international crimes. Brother Number Two’s trial is expected to start in 2010. The trials are widely expected to deliver a form of justice but fewer expect the truth finally to come out through this process. Sambath says: “... I say these people have sacrificed a lot to tell the truth. In daring to confess they have done good, perhaps the only good thing left. They and all the killers like them must be part of the process of reconciliation if my country is to move forward.” |
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Delta - Oil's Dirty Business Greece, 2006 Screening time: |
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At the Delta of Niger River in Nigeria, where a vast proportion of planet's oil is excavated, bomb attacks, abductions and murders form part of daily routine. The documentary portrays the image of "development", the way giant multinational petroleum companies would define it. Petroleum leaks in the River destroy flora and fauna, poison the food chain and consequently wipe out the 27 million indigenous people of the area - the Ijaws, the Ogoni and the Itsekiris. The inhabitants dare to ask the self-evident, they demand an end to it. As a response they are massively and brutally attacked by special forces of the army and the police, which are armed by the oil companies. The camera meets at the river militia of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta-MEND- and presents to the world for the first time shattering images of their speed boat patrols and of their heavy weaponry. The Delta of Niger is a place where despite the natural beauty, contemporary "globalized" hell prevails. A Netherlands court announced in Dec 09 they will accept a case against Shell regarding this - a major step in establishing a place and a precedent for addressing the destruction of people's environments. |
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Crude - The Real Price of Oil USA, 2009 Screening time: |
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This is the story of one of the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet. An inside look at the infamous $27 billion “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life high stakes legal drama set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. “A fascinating and important story. CRUDE does an extraordinary job of merging journalism and art.” Christiane Amanpour, CNN Chief International Correspondent |
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Rape of a Nation USA/Norway/UK Screening time: |
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A stunning short film of images by photo-journalist Marcus Bleasdale, combined with commentary about the successive waves of fighting and war in the DRCongo, where there are now no hospitals, few roads and limited NGO and UN presence because it is too dangerous to work in many of the regions. "..however painful it may be for us delicate souls, and however intractable the Congo’s ills may appear, and however drained of compassion we may feel in the face of Darfur and other hells, we must never turn away our gaze. Indeed, we have a moral duty to look... . To observe pain only through the prisms of the boardroom and the computer screen is to sever the vital artery between compassion and action. The continuing human tragedy of Congo is not a statistic. It is a continuing human tragedy." John Le Carre about the book of the same name by Marcus Bleasdale |
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a Blooming Business The Netherlands, 2009 Film website Screening time: |
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The film shows "the other side" of the beauty of flowers, through the flower industry’s slave mechanism involving Kenyan prisoners. The oppression, sexual harassment and horrible working conditions are the main characteristics of the dark and inhumane world recorded by the director Ton van Zantvoort. "A rose is a rose is a rose, unless it's a toxic offshoot of international corporate corruption. ... this unsparing portrait of the dirty reality of the flower business, may make it impossible for you look at a flower in quite the same way again. A quietly formidable film" Vancouver International Film Festival review Winner Best Documentary Leipzig Film Festival |
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The Yes Men Fix the World USA, 2009 Screening time: |
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The Yes Men Fix the World follows a couple of political activists as they infiltrate the world of big business and pull off outrageous pranks that highlight the ways that corporate greed is destroying the planet. Along the way the duo discover the culprits behind the cult of Outrageously entertaining....This movie is glorious testimony to the moral power of satire." New York Magazine |
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