ONE WORLD 2010
14/3/2010 15:00 - International Human Rights Film Festival - 12th edition
PROGRAMME AT THE ARCHA THEATRE:
15:00 God Bless Iceland / Guo Blessi Ísland
Helgi Felixson / Iceland, Germany, Sweden / 2009 / 100 min.
Icelanders had a very rude awakening in 2008. The global financial crisis affected the North Atlantic island more deeply than other states. Empty state coffers, debts and the actual bankruptcy of the country's finances prompted thousands of Icelanders to take to the streets and demand the resignation of Geir Haarde's government, whom they blamed for the situation. Helgi Felixsson's significantly titled God Bless Iceland shows what life is like in a bankrupt state. For example, this film full of paradoxical situations illustrates how a policeman cracking down on the demonstrators is a bigger victim of the crisis than the anarchists smashing windows. Another of the protagonists, a driver called Sturla, suffers primarily because he has to sell one of his cars and his son's motocross bike. This documentary also records moments that preceded a notorious speech by prime minister Haarde (in which he convinced the nation of the island's bright future), as well as the violent demonstrations in Reykjavik demanding his resignation.
17:15 The 10 Conditions of Love / The 10 Conditions of Love
Jeff Daniels / Australia / 2009 / 53 min.
The protagonist of Jeff Daniels's documentary about "China's greatest nightmare" (which was shot over several years) is the 63-year-old human rights activist and president of the World Uyghur Congress Rebiya Kadeer. In the mid-1990s, she became the seventh richest person in China and also worked as a government advisor. She fell out of favour, however, after openly criticising China's policies in her native Xinjiang province, or East Turkestan, which the Chinese have occupied since 1949. After spending six years in jail, she was released in 2005 following pressure from humanitarian organisations and she was allowed to leave for the USA to be with her husband, the dissident Sidik Rouzi. She continued to criticise China's abuse of the human rights of Uyghurs, which soon caused two of her 11 children to be imprisoned. She herself had to survive an assassination attempt. This film works with unique archive footage documenting the suffering of the suppressed Uyghurs at close quarters. It also looks at the life of the charismatic Kadeer, who continues her work with remarkable energy.
19:15 Heated Blood / Vrela krv
Marko Mamuzic / Serbia / 2008 / 51 min.
Marko Mamuzic's documentary focuses on the alarming rise of neo-Nazism and nationalist factions in Serbia. By means of interviews with members of various neo-Nazi groups and their opponents, the film attempts to find out why so many young Serbs are drawn to fascism and nationalist ideology. One reason is the strong influence of the Orthodox Church in a country still isolated from the world some years after the fall of the Milosevic regime. This is confirmed by the statements of Nikolaj Velimirovic, a former bishop popular with young people on the far right, who directs hate speeches at members of sexual minorities and above all Jews; he not only blames Jews for the death of Jesus Christ, but even for the bombardment of Serbia in the 1990s. This documentary clearly illustrates the serious problem of neo-Nazism in Serbia through dramatic shots of street battles with the police during an attack on the American embassy, an attack on an anti-fascist demonstration, assaults on Roma and gays, and the burning of a mosque in Belgrade. The film won the Human Rights Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Discussion - prevention of dissemination of neo-Nazi ideology
21:45 A Legend of the Bird's Egg / Legenda o ptačím vejci
Zdeněk N. Bričkovský / Czech Republic / 2005 / 57 min.
Legend of the Bird's Egg is the first episode of the four-part POLARION series of forgotten nations living in the north of the European part of the Russian Federation. It is an impressive report from a country where folk magic mixes with pagan customs and Orthodox faith. It presents a region where superstition can mean faith and where a miracle can be found in a daily life. The film is based on the legend of a petrified bird's egg - the heart of a shaman who battled Orthodox missionaries. The heart got lost and if it were found again it would be a great hope for the whole nation - that's why people keep looking for it. Sometimes it is enough to keep your eyes open, because you could find it anywhere. The magic of fables, living together with old legends, which say that a human life can never sink into absolute unhappiness, serves to imbue this poetic documentary with the power of meditation. The director depicts the inhabitants gently and sensitively, and with the same respect they show for their elders and the dead.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Between March 10–18, 2010 the One World International Human Rights Film Festival will be held in Prague, then it moves on to 29 towns and cities throughout the Czech Republic.
Over 100 films, dozens of foreign guests – primarily film directors, screenings for schools, streamed films online, a range of accompanying events and more – these are the things that you can look forward to at the 12th edition of One World. The main festival will be held in Prague between March 10 – 18, 2010 followed by the Regional One World festivals in 29 towns and cities of the Czech Republic through the end of March into early April. In addition, a select number of films screened at One World, the biggest human rights documentary film festival in Europe, will be presented in Brussels in mid April.
This year’s festival will feature 101 documentary films from over 30 countries within both competition and thematic categories. These have been selected from more than 1600 submitted films. This year’s festival will open with the Iranian documentary Green Days, which portrays a current and striking example of human rights being repressed. As always, the main festival centre will be at the Lucerna Cinema. The other festival venues will be Světozor (2 halls), Divadlo Archa, Atlas (2 halls), The French Institute, The Municipal Library of Prague and Evald. Tickets will be available at ticket offices of the festival venues.
One World will be held under the auspices of Václav Havel, the minister of culture Václav Riedlbauch and the mayor of Prague Pavel Bém.
More info at www.oneworld.cz
Organised by People In Need - www.peopleinneed.cz
TICKETS: CZK 70
On sale at Archa Theatre Box Office from February 15, 2010
