Jeden Svět (“One World”), the annual human rights film festival, has returned, taking place in 48 cities around the Czech Republic. The Brno program kicks off this evening in Fleda, and runs until 28 March in several venues around the city, with dozens of films available.
Jeden Svět was founded in the Czech Republic in 1999 to raise awareness of human rights and democracy issues, and aims to have an international reach. The national opening ceremony was held on Tuesday, with the awarding of the annual Homo Homini award for human rights from the Czech organisation People in Need to the editorial office of Abzas Media, an independent Azerbaijani online media outlet whose members have been imprisoned or forced to flee.
The starting event in Prague will be held this evening at Kino Světozor, including a screening of the Oscar-winning documentary “20 days in Mariupol”. In Brno, the festival will open this afternoon at Fleda, starting at 16.30 with a flea market and the chance to print festival motifs on a t-shirt, in a workshop organized by Brno Tiskne.
In keeping with the original aim of the festival, the screenings will be accessible to all, with special care taken to facilitate the participation of spectators with physical and mental disabilities.
Not all of the screenings are English-friendly. Among those that are, highlights include Mourning in Lod (Sunday 24.3, 8.30pm), which reveals the tragic outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian clashes in the city of Lod after years of peaceful coexistence, and White Angel (Saturday 23.3, 3.30pm), which describes the evacuation of the Ukrainian town of Marinka during the Russian invasion, and will be followed by a discussion with experts.
Another highlight, though not fully English-friendly, is the Czech documentary Havel Speaking, Can You Hear Me?, which depicts the last three years of the life of the former Czech President, intellectual and symbol of the resistance against the communist regime Vaclav Havel.
You can find the full program of the festival here.
