Each year the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights presents an edition
in March, using cinema, forums and discussions as a voice to highlight the struggles
and denounce injustices and violations wherever they occur.
In addition to this, the FIFDH extends its commitment throughout the year through various programmes, which can be discovered below.
FIFDH SECTIONS
International Documentary Competition
This competition showcases feature-length documentaries from around the world—works by filmmakers whose powerful subject matter blends with a free and inventive cinematic style.
The films in this section compete for the Geneva Grand Award FIFDH, the Gilda Vieira de Mello Award FIFDH, and the Youth Jury Award – Documentary.
Focus Competition
A panorama of documentaries that bear witness to human rights violations and initiatives on the ground, or that highlight the investigative work of committed filmmakers and journalists.
The films in this section compete for the Vision for Human Rights Award.
Fiction Competition
An international selection of fiction films that explore, through their form and/or content, issues connected to human rights. This section champions cinema in all its variety, from powerful dramas to socially engaged comedies and films d’auteur.
The films in this section compete for the Fiction Grand Award FIFDH and the Youth Jury Award – Fiction.
Short Films
This selection features short documentaries, fiction and hybrid films that combine creativity with formal and narrative diversity. The short format allows us to explore the many facets of commitment with boldness and intelligence.
This years’s Under Pressure selection has been developed in collaboration with Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Switzerland’s leading short film festival.
Young Public
The FIFDH reaches out to its youngest viewers, keen to discover and learn about subjects that can sometimes be difficult to discuss. Films and workshops for children and their families are organised in partnership with the MEG, The Magic Lantern, and Les Cinémas du Grütli’s Le Grand Écran pour les enfants.
Spotlight
The Spotlight section features new, socially engaged documentaries, followed by discussions with the people involved.
Serving as a genuine action platform for these films, it places their core issues in the spotlight and brings together filmmakers, protagonists, activists, and audiences to amplify their impact.
Forum
A space for open discussion, observation, and analysis of the current state of human rights. The selected films and accompanying exchanges tackle today’s most sensitive issues, spark reflection, and expose violations wherever they occur.
All Year Round
The FIFDH sees cinema as a tool for mediation, an opportunity to reach out to a variety of audiences. The screening of committed and creative films offers unique opportunities for exchanges with people from many different backgrounds, enabling collective reflection on sensitive and complex issues.
By collaborating with numerous institutions throughout the canton – screenings in hospitals and prisons, events in reception and accommodation centres, suspended tickets, etc. – the FIFDH makes cinema an educational and integration tool.
Schools Programme
Cultural mediation is extended to schools through the educational programme during the Festival and throughout the year in Geneva’s secondary I and II schools.
In Hospitals
Midi Ailleurs
ArtHUG strives to maintain a cultural presence on all HUG sites. In this context the FIFDH is collaborating with the HUG and offering a film as part of the Midi Ailleurs programme. A completely free screening at the hospital open to everyone: patients, nursing staff, accompanying persons and families, but also to the general public.
Convergences Jury Workshop
The FIFDH is collaborating with the Maison de l’enfance et de l’adolescence (MEA) on a Convergences Jury workshop for teenagers from different units.
The young juries watch several films in the presence of the directors, protagonists or speakers. They then deliberate and award the Convergences Prize to the best film. By expressing their point of view and confronting others, these young juries regain confidence in their abilities. The Convergences Prize is announced at the Festival’s closing ceremony.
In Correctional Facilities
In collaboration with the Office cantonal de la détention (OCD), women and men deprived of their liberty in the La Brenaz and Champ-Dollon prisons also take part in the Festival.
Forming a jury, they attend film screenings in the presence of guests and award a prize to the best film, announced at the closing ceremony. The workshop also includes writing articles for the establishments’ in-house newspapers, to recount their experiences as juries.
With the Hospice Général
In collaboration with the Hospice général and occasionally with local authorities, the FIFDH organises events for migrants in collective accommodation centres (CHC). These initiatives enable the CHCs to become fully-fledged players in cultural life, by creating links between people from migrant backgrounds and the local population during a convivial event. The screenings, which are sometimes held outdoors during the summer, are free and open to all.
What’s more, the Festival includes CHC residents in its team of volunteers. The residents are supervised by other volunteers and discover the Festival from the inside.
The FIFDH celebrates human rights around the world!
Every year, in collaboration with UN Human Rights, a selection of films is screened around International Human Rights Day: a tour that has already visited over 60 countries since 2018, including Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Pakistan, South Sudan, Belarus, Guatemala, Algeria, Bhutan and Madagascar.
HRFT 24-25 in Guinea
HRFT 24-25 in Tunisia
Impact Days is the FIFDH’s professional programme for filmmakers and NGOs. Quality documentary projects are selected each year and filmmakers are mentored to refine their impact goals. Impact Days facilitate alliances between filmmakers and key players in the vast ecosystem of organisations, policymakers and philanthropists active‧ives within international Geneva.
Between January and February, the Impact Days programme offers an Impact Lab for selected projects, as well as a strategy workshop for NGOs and international organisations.
In March, Impact Days invites a wider professional audience for three inspiring days in Geneva including public pitch sessions, case studies, discussions with key actors of impact production and networking moments.
Impact Days 2023
Impact Days 2024
Throughout the year, the Festival programme is extended through free screenings in partnership with the municipalities of Greater Geneva. By involving residents and local associations, these events aim to highlight the richness and diversity of the Geneva region. They provide an opportunity to get together, view films and discuss human rights issues. They’re convivial, free and open to all!
Join us in Aire-La-Ville, Anières, Avully, Avusy, Bernex, Carouge, Chêne-Bourg, Confignon, Gaillard, Lancy, Meyrin, Onex, Plan-les-Ouates, Presinge, Satigny, Saint-Genis Pouilly, Thônex and Vernier.