One World Film Festival returns to cinemas

One World Festival

One World Film Festival returns to cinemas

The 24th Annual International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival will take place physically in 25 cities across Czechia from 21 March to 3 April. Prague audiences can look forward to the festival’s Prague dates from 23 to 31 March. Select films will also be made available on the One World Online platform once the festival is over. The Faculty of Social Sciences is one of the supporters of the Festival.

The theme of this year is Journeys of Freedom, with stark warnings of human right violations.

More info:

Tips for interesting films:

(film in English; Czech subtitles)

In California, a former prisoner and a lawyer launch into a years-long battle with a system that, despite the law, takes away some women’s right to bring a new life into the world.

The documentary reveals the illegal practices found in California’s women’s prisons, including poor healthcare, sexual abuse, and even illegal sterilisation without the prisoners’ knowledge or consent. For the most part, the victims of these practices are women of colour. The film tracks the 7-years-long efforts of former prisoner Kelli Dillon, who was involuntarily sterilised by the state when she was 24, and lawyer Cynthia Chandler to uncover a systematic breach of women prisoners’ rights and obtain justice for women who have become victims of “modern eugenics” in the 21st century. From 1997 to 2014 more than a thousand women were forced to undergo sterilisation in California prisons.

(film in Russian; Czech and English subtitles)

The film follows intrepid lawyer Maria Eismont while working on the case of Konstantin Kotov, a political activist arrested for taking part in anti-government demonstrations in Moscow in 2019.

"Four years of prison. For taking part in protests. Peaceful protests," says lawyer Maria Eismont, presenting the results of the trial to journalists. She shows a video proving the innocence of her client, Konstantin Kotov. As a political activist, Kotov was arrested for repeatedly participating in demonstrations and convicted under an article of the Criminal Code known as the Dadin Article, which is being misused to combat resistance against the regime. Maria Eismont is not afraid to stand up for truth and justice. She and a team of her colleagues are working hard on the Kotov case, ready to defend other arrested protesters who have called for fair elections.

(film in English and French; Czech and English subtitles)

A detailed investigative documentary reveals the systemic corruption in Ilham Aliyev's foreign policy. It presents the views of many experts and the stories of opposition journalists in Azerbaijan.

How is it that the brutal dictatorship of Ilham Aliyev in Azerbaijan outwardly creates the impression of a friendly country? The answer is its mastery of "caviar diplomacy", also used by other neighbouring states. The aim of this foreign policy practice is to build an extensive network of corruption, to buy European politicians through bribes, to influence foreign election observers or to spend huge sums of money on the performances of global pop celebrities. It is only thanks to the persistent work of indomitable journalists, such as the persecuted Khadija Ismayilova, Emin Huseynov and others, that the regime has failed to cover up its illegal oil trade or the imprisonment and elimination of political opponents.

(film in English, German, Russian; Czech and English subtitles)

Using TV Rain founder Natalya Sindeyeva’s story, the film maps the station’s stormy history and shows what it takes to provide independent news in Putin’s Russia.

Natasha spends every party dancing, drives a pink Porsche and has a crazy idea: starting her own Russian TV station named TV Dozhd (Rain). In 2008 she starts from zero, finding her main investor through a fairy-tale marriage to a rich banker. “For me, rain is an adventure,” she calls out, dancing barefoot in the rain on the roof of her station’s new headquarters, happy her dream is coming true. As CEO, she assembles an effective team and over the next few years, despite some initial snags, transforms a relaxation channel into an important player in the field of independent journalism. But as her stations gives more airtime to anti-government voices, it encounters increasing resistance from the regime. How far will things escalate?

(film in English, French and Mandarin; Czech and English subtitles)

An Uber driver in the US, a food delivery bike rider in China, an audio transcriber in Nigeria and a handyman in the UK – despite their differences they have one thing in common: their work life is ruled by mobile apps.

The expansion of the internet at the start of the millennium gave rise to a “gig economy”. Its global value today is about USD 5 trillion and it is estimated that more than 500 million people will be participating in it by 2025. While platforms such as Uber, Amazon and Deliveroo are getting richer, their workers often just scrape by. There are no laws protecting them as in the case of standard employees and so they live in permanent uncertainty, exposed to the whims of customers, under the constant supervision of apps, and invisible to most people. Canadian director Shannon Walsh has given them a voice in her documentary, using their stories to reveal the real cost of gig-based work.

(film in Polish; Czech and English subtitles)

Since 2015, the Polish government has been attacking one of the three pillars of democracy: the judiciary. However, some judges do not want to give up their independence.

For years the European Union has been sharply criticising the long-standing pressure on the courts in Poland, where judicial reform is aiming to bring the courts under government control. Judges who do not submit to the government are portrayed as arrogant elitists or even enemies of Poland, and face bullying in the form of threats and disciplinary proceedings. Still, many Polish judges refuse to give up, continue to defend the independence of the law and try to activate the public and their European colleagues through demonstrations and debates. One of the main faces of the protest movement is Judge Igor Tuleya, who brings a touch of dark humour to the difficult situation. But how long can he and his colleagues resist the pressure?

(film in Georgian; Czech and English subtitles)

What do we find when we examine the minds of real people while collecting data and statistics? This is shown in a film that goes behind the scenes of sociological field research in Tbilisi, Georgia.

An older woman resolutely knocks on one door after another in order to have hundreds of detailed conversations with a random sample of people of different beliefs, backgrounds, ages, fears and hopes. Her job allows her to understand today’s Georgians remarkably well, and perhaps protects the retired teacher from bitter solitude and isolation. Beneath the layer of views about gender equality, local politics or Russian and European influence in the country, a picture of contemporary Georgian society gradually emerges from individual living rooms.

(film in Dutch, Russian, Ukrainian; Czech and English subtitles)

This gripping court drama covers a long dispute arising from Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Who owns valuable historical artefacts?

In March 2014 an Amsterdam museum held a unique exhibition of ancient Crimean artefacts. The displayed treasures included swords hundreds of years old, gravestones and other rare finds borrowed from Crimean museums thanks to the effort of the exhibition’s curator, archaeologist Valentina Mordvintseva. But while the show was underway, Putin’s troops occupied Crimea and the museum director found himself in an absurd dilemma. To whom should he return the valuable artefacts? To museums in Russian-occupied Crimea? Or to Ukrainian institutions in Kyiv? This dramatic dispute played out in a Dutch courtroom interweaves the interests of Russia, Ukraine and passionate Crimean archaeologists with historical and geopolitical issues and questions of identity and nationalism.

(film in English; Czech and English subtitles)

The search for one of South Africa's many lost children becomes a contemplation on the state of a country that has yet to escape the imprint of colonial tyranny.

Polish documentary filmmaker Tomasz Wysokiński follows a young South African, Jerry, in his almost certainly hopeless search for a lost girl. Angie is just one of many children who disappear without a trace with devastating regularity and whose fates are terrifying. Jerry, a former child soldier, himself haunted by his own demons and doubts, walks through the streets of poverty-stricken neighbourhoods, observing the misery in which his brothers and sisters live. This intense, darkly poetic documentary, which does not offer the viewer much relief and occasionally straddles the boundary of what can in good conscience be shown on the screen, conveys to viewers the postcolonial trap in which many people still live.

(film in Croatian and Slovenian; Czech and English subtitles)

The razor-wire fence along the Schengen border, built as protection against illegal migrants, also divides Slovene-Croatian families and the local community that has been living together along the border for generations.

While some residents of the Kupa region feel safer thanks to the new barbed wire fence, others view it as an inhumane tool for turning away people who are asking for help, and a wilful destruction of an interlinked community. The suddenly impassable border affects everyone: the old order of things is shaken and the new one becomes the topic of passionate discussions. New fears disturb the peaceful life in the middle of picturesque countryside. What will happen when a dynamic, mobile part of the world barges into the seemingly calm, traditional local life in the historically stormy Jugoslav region? And what are the experiences of the refugees who try to overcome the fence?

Events Announcements Students
9. 3. 2022
Monika Markéta…