This year, the 22nd edition of the Human Rights Film Festival will be held from December 2 to 7 at the Kaptol Boutique Cinema, the Kino Kinoteka and the MaMa micro-cinema.
This year, the Human Rights Film Festival brings about thirty feature, documentary and experimental films, among which are the most important art house films shown or awarded at the most important world film festivals that marked the current film year.
The festival program includes, among others, the highly anticipated new film by Italian director Luca Guadagnino, Queer. It is an adaptation of the cult novel by William S. Burroughs from 1985, and follows the story of an American emigrant, war veteran William Lee, who begins a relationship with a younger man in Mexico City in the 1950s. The feature film Love in Mumbai (All We Imagine as Light) by Payal Kapadia is the first Indian film to be awarded the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, making Kapadia the first Indian director to be awarded.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a film by the renowned Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, which was awarded the Special Jury Prize in Cannes and the Fipresci Jury Prize. At the center of the plot is Iman who, after being promoted to judge, is exposed to strong political pressure, and his family enters the spotlight. The film was shot secretly, which is already common for Iranian cinematography, and represents a further means of disseminating footage from the core of the civil resistance.
The festival program also includes a new film by award-winning Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke, Caught By The Tides, based on footage over 22 years, some of which is from the director's previous films, in an impressionistic non-linear blend of fiction and non-fiction. The film, among others, won the critic's award for the best international film in São Paulo, and was also in competition for the Palme d'Or.
In addition to the above, this year's Human Rights Film Festival also includes already announced films: Maria by the Chilean director Pablo Larrain, Phantosmia by the most important Filipino independent director Lav Diaz, the film Youth (Hard Times), the central part of the documentary trilogy by Wang Bing, one of the most important names in world documentaries today. The 22nd Human Rights Film Festival also brings two retrospectives: that of director Kelly Reichardt, who belongs to the very top of world cinema, and which includes five films, as well as the program of Palestinian director and producer Kamal Aljafari, which brings all eight of his films.
In addition to the film, the festival also includes an accompanying, discursive program that aims to open current socio-political topics. The Human Rights Film Festival is organized by the Multimedia Institute (MaMa) and the Association for the Development of Culture "URK" (Močvara). Admission to the complete program is free, with prior collection of tickets at the cinema box office.
