The French
branch of rights group Amnesty International is hosting its 8th
Human Rights Film Festival, with movies from countries including France, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia.
The six-day festival, which runs until Nov. 12 in
Paris, includes features and documentaries, with the aim of raising awareness
and increasing the public’s “engagement
in favour of human rights,” the organization said.
Each screening will be followed by discussions between
the filmmakers and the audience.
“Through a
rich selection of narratives, the films give a voice to victims and to those who
fight daily to advance rights,” Amnesty International France said.
“Cinema can arouse emotions, spark indignation and
give us a wish to discuss and to understand ways in which each of us can contribute
to change,” said Camille Blanc, the group's president.
The focus this year is on violence against women and children (Jusqu’à la garde / Maman Colonelle / I Am Not a Witch), the situation of refugees in France (Une saison en France), transexuality
(Coby) and human exploitation (Makala).
French-Iraqi
filmmaker Abbas Fahdel is the keynote presenter or parrain, appearing at the launch on Nov. 7 for a discussion with the audience.
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| The poster for Maman Colonelle. |
The opening film is the gripping Jusqu’à la garde
(Custody), by French actor and director
Xavier Legrand, who got an Oscar nomination for his 2013 short film Avant que de tout perdre (Just Before Losing Everything).
Already acclaimed at screenings during the Toronto and Venice film festivals, Custody is the continuation of the story, begun in the earlier short movie, of an abused woman dealing with a manipulative ex-husband.
Already acclaimed at screenings during the Toronto and Venice film festivals, Custody is the continuation of the story, begun in the earlier short movie, of an abused woman dealing with a manipulative ex-husband.
Other participating
filmmakers include Dieudo Hamadi, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), whose
documentary Maman Colonelle portrays a senior policewoman battling to stop abuse of
women and children; Emmanuel Gras, with the documentary Makala, a film about back-breaking
labour, also set in the DRC; France-based Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh
Haroun, with the drama Une
saison en France (A Season in
France), which tells the story of undocumented migrants (“sans papiers”) in
Paris; and Zambian fillmmaker Rungano Nyoni with her haunting debut feature I Am Not a Witch - about a 9-year-old girl accused of witchcraft and sent away to a "witch camp".
SWAN will have reviews of some of the films at a later
date.
