HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS:
MOVIES THAT MATTER
Every month we will show one film from previous festival programs at the City Kino Wedding. In March to mark International Women’s Day, we are showing three powerful short films highlighting women fighting for freedom, life and democracy in Ukraine, Afghanistan and Iran. After each film we will be speaking with an expert about the current situation in the country in question and what we can do to help besides showing our solidarity. In April we will show the outstanding documentary "Backlash: Misogyny in the Digital Age" and in May "This Stolen Country of Mine" by German director Marc Wiese.
DOCUMENTARY LOVER: The new "Documentary Lover" pass includes tickets to all films from our "Movies that Matter" series at City Kino Wedding, as well as all documentaries on our new VoD platform and all events and films on- and offline during our 2023 festival. Get your pass now: DOCUMENTARY LOVER
The remote island of St Helena is best known for the fact that Napoleon spent his last years in exile there and was eventually buried. His tomb is beautifully maintained and serves as the island's biggest tourist attraction. To boost tourism, the island decides to build its first commercial airport. Annina van Neel comes from Namibia to help with the construction work and is there when the remains of thousands of "freed slaves" are discovered.
Two men fight against the growing and far-reaching Chinese influence in Ecuador. Paúl Jarrín leads the indigenous resistance against China’s plundering of Ecuador’s natural resources. Journalist Fernando Villavicencio exposes the government corruption that facilitates the Chinese economic takeover. In both cases, the state reacts with full force.
To mark International Women’s Day, we are showing three powerful short films highlighting women fighting for freedom, life and democracy in Ukraine, Afghanistan and Iran. After each film we will be speaking with an expert about the current situation in the country in question and what we can do to help besides showing our solidarity.
Oh, Sister!
A short documentary about six women facing the challenges of the ongoing Russian invasion and fighting for peace, justice and freedom in Ukraine.
The Struggle for Women’s Rights in Iran
“It has to go down in our history that, despite all the difficulties, women in Iran have kept fighting for peace, justice and freedom.” — NASRIN SOTOUDEH
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)
A short, Oscar-winning documentary about a skate school for girls from impoverished neighbourhoods who learn to read, write and skateboard in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Riccardo plans on doing something that no one else has ever dared to do before: the Italian medical student wants to go to Gaza on an Erasmus exchange. His goal is to become a war surgeon. So, he leaves his family, friends and fellow students behind and trades his peaceful life at university for life in Gaza – an area that has been shaped by rocket attacks between Israelis and Palestinians for decades. Right away, he struggles with feelings of being a stranger, panic attacks and the desire to leave. But he also meets people who become his friends, with whom he waits for the missiles to hit again and again. Something completely surreal and almost unbearable for him is part of everyday life for his friends. While Ricardo can flee back to safety at any time, his friends are not allowed to leave Gaza.
A woman covers her face with a scarf – she does not want to be filmed – but the camera continues to point at her. This scene is from a documentary by a Dutch film team. Their aim is to portray life in Goma, a large city in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But are they even the right ones to tell this story? Should they stop filming instead? A discussion ensues. Together with filmmaker Kagoma Ya Twahirwa, Congolese filmmaker and journalist Bernadette Vivuya decides to re-edit the footage taken from a Western perspective and expand it by including a Congolese perspective. Can this dissolve the colonial gaze?
