The International Cinema Festival and Human Rights Forum (FIFDH) is held every year in March in Geneva in parallel with the main session of the UN Human Rights Council.

This year, however, FIFDH coincides with the 75th anniversary of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, when countries around the world came together after World War II to ensure that the horrific events would not happen again.

Şenlik has 36 films with 7 world premieres this year; 21 debates, 10 of which will be broadcast live, expect to host approximately 220 international guests.

past horror stories

“There are 3 axes to the festivity this year,” says FIFDH director Irène Challand.

As part of the festival’s fiction competition, one of the films that touches on the themes of war and migration, “The Land in Me” tells the story of a Kosovo immigrant in Switzerland who has to return to his country to uncover the ghosts of his past and identify his relatives. found in a mass grave.

“This kind of story, corpses buried and exhumed from a mass grave, is something that happens in many places, not just in Europe, but on other continents,” says its director, Fisnik Maxville. cinema.

Can we negotiate with “the devil”?

In the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the humanitarian disaster it has created, the festivity did not hesitate to discuss difficult issues.

The planned screening of ‘We Will Not Fade Away’, a powerful Ukrainian cinema depicting the fears and dreams of 5 young people living in Donbas before the Russian invasion, is fueled by a debate on the legitimacy and effectiveness of an international court to punish crimes of aggression.

“The question is, what do we do with what we perceive as the devil? Can we bargain with him, should we put him in jail, can he be imprisoned?” draws attention to the lawyer and writer Pierre Hazan, who led the debate.

“On the one hand, there is the view that we cannot talk to Putin because he is responsible for an attack and because these troops are committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and there are others like the president of France who we should still talk to him because one day we will have to reach some kind of political solution.”

Waterjet and yurt on Lake Geneva

Among the festival’s special events, journalist and director Manon Loizeau’s latest feature film, ‘The Life Before Her’, about the Afghan immigrant youth, Elaha, whom he met in Greece, is screened.

It will take place in a dormitory on the shores of Lake Geneva.

“We spent over a year filming him, filming his journey, so this is a child’s perspective and I think it shows all children’s resilience and depicts growing up on the road,” Loizeau says.

“Truly a collective cinema and a message of hope. I believe this young girl is the symbol of Elaha Iqbali for all these children with incredible courage and chasing their dreams no matter what happens around them.”

As in other festive films, it shows the courage and doubts of ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations.

FIFDH will run until Sunday, March 19 in Geneva.