The festival
The International Film Festival and Forum for Human Rights (FIFDH) is the leading international event dedicated to film and human rights.
Since 2003, it takes place each year in March, parallel to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
With its concept “A film, a topic, a debate”, the FIFDH is an open forum to denounce human rights violations wherever they occur. Every evening, we invite human rights activists, filmmakers and personalities to debate, confront their points of view with the audience and offer solutions. Each debate is broadcasted live on the internet in two languages, and has a dedicated hashtag : the viewers can ask questions from any place on the planet.
Cinema is an extraordinary tool to shake consciences and promote resolutions at a high level. Each year, 2 competitive international sections screen 20 previews of new films by outstanding filmmakers such as Rithy Panh, Amos Gitai, Joshua Oppenheimer, Brillante Mendoza, Joachim Lafosse, Nabil Ayouch, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Abderrhamane Sissako, who all came to Geneva to present their films. 2 international juries award Le Grand Prix de Genève for the best documentary (10’000 €), Le Grand Prix Fiction (10’000 €), the Prix Sergio Vieira de Mello (5’000 €), Le Prix de l’OMCT (5’000 €) and 2 Youth Awards (500 €).
We have welcomed journalist Anna Politkovskaïa, singer Barbara Hendricks, Nobel prize laureates Shirin Ebadi and Joseph Stiglitz, actors Juliette Binoche, Gael Garcia Bernal and Reda Kateb, ICC attorneys Fatou Bensouda and Luis Moreno Ocampo, philosopher Edgar Morin, UN High-Commissioners Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein and Navi Pillay, Général Roméo Dallaire, Julian Assange (by Skype) and his lawyer Baltasar Garzon, artists Ai Weiwei, Russel Banks, Yasmina Khadra, JR and Miguel Angel Estrella, diplomats Leïla Shahid and Stephen J. Rapp, and activists the Yes Men, Eric Cantona, the Pussy Riot.
An INTERNATIONAL FORUM
With its concept “A film, a topic, a debate”, the FIFDH is an open forum to denounce human rights violations wherever they occur. Every evening, we invite human rights activists, filmmakers and personalities to debate, confront their points of view with the audience and offer solutions. Each debate is broadcasted live on the internet in two languages, and has a dedicated hashtag : the viewers can ask questions from any place on the planet.
A FILM FESTIVAL
Cinema is an extraordinary tool to shake consciences and promote resolutions at a high level. Each year, 2 competitive international sections screen 20 previews of new films by outstanding filmmakers such as Rithy Panh, Amos Gitai, Joshua Oppenheimer, Brillante Mendoza, Joachim Lafosse, Nabil Ayouch, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Abderrhamane Sissako, who all came to Geneva to present their films. 2 international juries award Le Grand Prix de Genève for the best documentary (10’000 €), Le Grand Prix Fiction (10’000 €), the Prix Sergio Vieira de Mello (5’000 €), Le Prix de l’OMCT (5’000 €) and 2 Youth Awards (500 €).
PERSONALITIES IN ATTENDANCE
We have welcomed journalist Anna Politkovskaïa, singer Barbara Hendricks, Nobel prize laureates Shirin Ebadi and Joseph Stiglitz, actors Juliette Binoche, Gael Garcia Bernal and Reda Kateb, ICC attorneys Fatou Bensouda and Luis Moreno Ocampo, philosopher Edgar Morin, UN High-Commissioners Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein and Navi Pillay, Général Roméo Dallaire, Julian Assange (by Skype) and his lawyer Baltasar Garzon, artists Ai Weiwei, Russel Banks, Yasmina Khadra, JR and Miguel Angel Estrella, diplomats Leïla Shahid and Stephen J. Rapp, and activists the Yes Men, Eric Cantona, the Pussy Riot.
Edward Snowden, in 2015, asked for asylum in Switzerland during his live intervention at the festival.
Each year, 3’000 students from secondary schools attend screenings, debates, juries and our “Young Reporters” competition. We also collaborate with the University of Geneva, the Graduate Institute of international studies and the Universities of Arts and Design of Geneva and Lausanne through masterclasses, workshops and conferences.
The FIFDH is an unmissable event in Geneva: we offer screenings and debates at the UN, but also in community centres, migrants homes, sports clubs, hospitals as well as in psychiatric clinics, prisons, museums and shelters.
We are supported by the the Swiss Foreign Affairs and Culture Departements, the City and Canton of Geneva, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and private foundations such as the Oak Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders, the FIDH and the World Organization against Torture are official partners of the Festival, as well as the Swiss Cinemathèque.
A YOUNG AUDIENCE, A PRIORITY TARGET
Each year, 3’000 students from secondary schools attend screenings, debates, juries and our “Young Reporters” competition. We also collaborate with the University of Geneva, the Graduate Institute of international studies and the Universities of Arts and Design of Geneva and Lausanne through masterclasses, workshops and conferences.
THE FESTIVAL BeYond
The FIFDH is an unmissable event in Geneva: we offer screenings and debates at the UN, but also in community centres, migrants homes, sports clubs, hospitals as well as in psychiatric clinics, prisons, museums and shelters.
PARTNERS
We are supported by the the Swiss Foreign Affairs and Culture Departements, the City and Canton of Geneva, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and private foundations such as the Oak Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders, the FIDH and the World Organization against Torture are official partners of the Festival, as well as the Swiss Cinemathèque.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE
THE FESTIVAL’S PATRONS
Sergio Vieira De Mello, UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights killed in Baghdad, was the first patron of our festival, alongside filmmaker Ken Loach, singer Barbara Hendricks, former french Minister for Justice Robert Badinter, former President of Switzerland Ruth Dreifuss, actor William Hurt, Louise Arbour and the writer Jorge Semprun.