On Human Rights
LEKHA J. SHANKAR
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The 22 three-minute films, commissioned to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, will be screened at Bangkok.
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The film genre of ‘shorts,’ on the theme of Human Rights and made by the top names in contemporary art and cinema, is to have an exclusive screening at Bangkok. One hopes it can be shown at festivals around the world and possibly at cult
ural and academic institutions too.
The films have had their world premiere at Sao Paulo, last year, and there have been screenings at some Human Rights festivals and United Nations/ European Union events in Europe.
ART for the World’s idea
The shorts came about when the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with funding from the European Union (EU), decided to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The project was conceived by the well-known ART for the World organisation, which commissioned 22 talented filmmakers, photographers, and video artistes from around the world, to make three-minute shorts on the six themes of the Universal Declaration: culture, development, dignity and justice, environment, gender and participation.
The directors were chosen for their espousal of human rights. Among the well-known filmmakers are Hany Abu-Assad (Palestine), whose controversial film ‘Paradise Now’ was nominated for the Oscars in 2006, Sergei Bodrov of Russia, whose film ‘The Caucus Prisoner’ was nominated for the Oscars and the Golden Globes in 1996, Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret of Israel, whose film ‘Jellyfish’ won the top award at Cannes in 2007, and Zhang-Ke Jia from China, whose film ‘Still Life’ won the top award at the Venice festival in 2006.
Some of the other award-winning directors in the series are Abderrahmane Sissako from Mauritania, Apichatpong Weerasethakul from Thailand and Murali Nair from India.
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