A look back at the FIFDH for Schools 2025

The 2025 edition of the FIFDH for Schools brought together more than 1,050 students and around a hundred teachers. Thank you all for coming and taking part!

THANK YOU FOR THIS SUPERB EDITION!

Following the success of the FIFDH’s series of short films for Schools 2024, we again incorporated this format into our programming this year, in partnership with the Palestine, Filmer C’est Exister festival. J’aimerais voir la mer (I’d like to see the sea) was made up of 6 short films focusing on the dreams of freedom of young Palestinians in the West Bank, deprived of the sea by the Israeli occupation. The screenings were enhanced by the presence of the director of one of the films, A Short Film About Kids, Ibrahim Handal, who came specially from the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem in the West Bank.

This year, half of the films in the school programme were from the FIFDH’s rich official programme. Among them, the film The Brink of Dreams by by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir was awarded the Geneva Grand Prize at the FIFDH 2025. The film portrays the evolution of a group of young girls who rebel by forming a street theatre troupe in a conservative town in southern Egypt. The directors were present, as was one of the film’s protagonists, Magda Masoud (see photos below).

Among the films in the official selection was Karuara, People of the River, whose directors Stephanie Boyd and Miguel Araoz Cartagena, along with the film’s illustrator Mario Auburtin, accompanied the school screenings (see photos below). Shot in the Peruvian Amazon, the film is about protecting the river and the indigenous Kukama-Kukaimiria culture in the face of globalisation and the plundering of resources by foreign companies. The film will be shown again on 16 April at Anières (free admission).

In the same vein of addressing the challenges posed by globalisation, the film Made in Ethiopia by Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan depicts the lives of three women affected by and/or involved in the establishment of a Chinese industrial complex in Ethiopia. The presence of Aisha Dabo, co-founder of the AfricTivistes network, provided an opportunity to discuss China’s economic presence on the African continent more generally.

In addition to quality films, we were honoured to welcome speakers renowned in their fields of expertise, such as Paloma Moritz, a journalist specialising in ecology at Blast, who took part in the discussion following Nicolas Brown’s film Blue Carbon. The film highlights the potential of marine environments for carbon capture. During the discussion, the journalist warned of the greenwashing represented by a multitude of carbon credit initiatives. Alongside her, marine biologist Alix Chatton from the IUCN stressed the importance of preserving and restoring coastal ecosystems.

We were also delighted to welcome Geneva-based press illustrator Patrick Chappatte, who took part in a discussion on freedom of expression and freedom of the press around Laura Nix’s film Democracy Under Siege, part of the Draw for Change series about committed female illustrators around the world. The film follows newspaper illustrator Ann Telnaes, who recently resigned from her role at the Washington Post after one of her drawings was censored by the paper (see photo on screen below).

Swiss journalist Philippe Mottaz also accompanied the screening of this film, which he complemented with his expertise on American democracy, addressing in particular the threats to it posed by President Trump’s term in office. The film will be shown again on 13 May at the Cinémas du Grütli, in partnership with the Globe Cartoon Association and in the presence of Patrick Chappatte.

We would like to thank our partners who make this programme possible, and in particular Amnesty International, whose training officer, Illan Acher, moderated several of the programme discussions. Thanks also to the teachers and students who attended, as well as to the volunteers and the entire FIFDH team.

If you had the opportunity to attend the FIFDH for Schools 2025, we would be very grateful if you would take a few moments to answer the satisfaction questionnaire below (in French. estimate: 2 mins).

In the meantime, check out the films in the FIFDH School Programme on the online platform, which allows you to watch these films in class independently and free of charge. New films will be added in September 2025.

If you would like to organise a screening in your school (in an auditorium, for several classes), please contact us at: ecoles@fifdh.org