THE COST OF SAFETY: ONE WORLD FILM FESTIVAL COMES TO BRUSSELS
Published: Apr 12, 2023 Reading time: 3 minutes
One World, the world's largest human rights documentary film festival, is returning to Brussels. For the 16th time, this festival—the largest festival of its kind, which annually attracts tens of thousands of people in the Czech Republic alone—will once again fill cinemas and movie halls all over Brussels, including BOZAR, the Cinema Galleries, and the European Parliament building. The festival is organized by the Czech humanitarian and human rights organization People in Need and 10 other Brussels-based partners, including the European Parliament, the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU and Czech Centre Brussels.
For more than two decades, the One World Festival has been an integral part of the activities of People in Need. Since the festival was established in 1999, it has brought documentaries on human rights from around the world to local audiences, screening them in dozens of towns throughout the Czech Republic and also at Czech primary and secondary schools. One World has received numerous awards, including the UNESCO award, for raising awareness of human rights.
The festival takes place between 20 – 27 April 2023, and audiences in Brussels will have the opportunity to watch a selection of 12 films, of which 11 will be accompanied by expert debates. The on-stage discussions will feature insights from human rights defenders, politicians, filmmakers, and representatives of the international community of non-profit organizations.
This year's festival theme is The Cost of Safety. What "Safety" means differs for each one of us, and the lengths we will go to secure our safety also varies significantly from person to person. With this theme, the festival's creators want to make audiences in the Czech Republic and Belgium think critically about how much they would pay for safety and freedom.
The festival's opening night will feature the Ukrainian documentary Overcoming the Darkness, which depicts Russia's invasion of Ukraine by looking at how different parts of the country suffer the consequences of aggression in Russia's senseless war. On the theme of Russia's aggression in Ukraine, we will also show We Will Not Fade Away. Set in a village in the Donbas, viewers are presented with the story of five teenagers facing the next stage of their education. They dream of leaving the war zone and exploring a world not ruled by missiles.
Besides the war in Ukraine, the festival will shed light on other vital subjects, such as investigative journalism (The Murder of a Journalist and While We Watched). Moreover, the festival will include movies depicting cyberbullying (Misogyny in the Digital Age), exploitation (The Illusion of Abundance), as well as political activism and discrimination (Young Russians on the Run and The New Greatness Case).
The full program and registration details can be found HERE.
Guests and Participants for the discussions include (among others):
◾️ Maria Buchelnykova, Docudays, Ukrainian organization documenting war crimes
◾️ Lucía Ixchíu, Indigenous citizen of Totonicapán, Guatemala
◾️ Luna Watfa, Syrian journalist & protagonist of the movie The Journalist and Her Jailors
◾️ MEP Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, co-rapporteur on the file on gender-based cyberviolence in the European Parliament.
One World in Brussels is organized by People in Need, the European Parliament, Czech Centre Brussels and the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU, and local NGOs and other partners. The complete program of the 16th annual One World in Brussels and a full list of partners and guests are available at https://www.oneworld.cz/brussels/.
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For press and media inquiries, please contact:
Ondřej Lukáš, Media Coordinator for People in Need, ondrej.lukas@peopleinneed.cz, +420 776 186 529.
