The Festival opening pays tribute to Nadia Murad, Nobel Peace Prize 2018

The 17th edition will open on 8 March, International Women’s Rights Day. On this occasion, the Festival highlights women human rights defenders around the world.

The opening film, "On Her Shoulders", awarded at the Sundance Film Festival, tells the story of Nadia Murad, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who survived the violence and crimes perpetrated against the Yezidi people by Daesh. Filmmaker Alexandria Bombach brilliantly presents one of the first films that directly denounces the heavy personal toll paid by women victims and human rights activists.

The opening ceremony will be attended by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, Swiss Secretary of State Pascale Baeriswyl and human rights defenders from Libya, Brazil, Iraq and Ukraine.

On 8 March, the film On Her Her Shoulders will also be screened in a public session as part of an evening of the FIFDH Forum dedicated to women human rights defenders.