The Geneva-based human rights festival revealed this week the 12 projects selected from around the world for its Impact Lab 2025. Each of the project rights holders will receive expert training to craft an impact strategy ahead of presentation to dozens of NGOs, international organisations and philanthropists, both in Geneva and beyond.
The next edition of FIFDH Impact Days will run March 9 to 12 2025. A total of 196 submissions were received from 77 countries, with all 5 continents represented. “Tough choices were made,” write organisers.
“From the world’s oldest martial art empowering young women in India today to Aboriginal Eldersfighting for asbestos-scarred homelands – from generations of children born of rape during war, to a rural Black Colombian woman inspiring the nation to dream – from a California judge bringing to court a dictator accused of genocide, to a first-hand look into autism after years of misdiagnoses and forced institutionalisation – and more – our selection goes around the world to report and impact upon urgent causes,” organisers add.
2025 Impact Lab selection
- Above and Below the Ground by Emily Hong. Synopsis: In Myanmar’s first and only country-wide environmental movement, Indigenous women activists and punk rock pastors defend a sacred river from a Chinese-built mega-dam through protest, prayer, and Karaoke music videos.
- Children of Honey by Jigar Ganatra & Immanuel Musa Marc. Synopsis: Three young friends on a quest to find the meaning of life in nature. A story told by the Hadzabe hunter-gatherers immerses us in a pivotal moment of their 50,000-year history – at a crossroads between old and new, as loss of land and alcohol addiction seeps into their once-peaceful community.
- Cinderella Unbound by Ilinca Calugareanu. Synopsis: In Romania’s patriarchal society, a group of relentless women fight against a justice system that harms and silences child victims of sexual abuse. Will they be able to create lasting change or will the status quo silence them too?
- Dissidents by Manon Loizeau. Synopsis: This project is confidential and as such FIFDH cannot currently publicly disclose more information. The festival will contact pertinent organisations and foundations to organise direct meetings with the filmmakers.
- Igualada by Juan Mejia. Synopsis: In one of Latin America’s most unequal countries, Francia Márquez – a Black Colombian rural activist – challenges the status quo with a presidential campaign that reappropriates the derogatory term ‘Igualada’ and inspires a nation to dream.
- In Front of Us by Inna Sahakyan. Synopsis: A California judge finds herself on the other side of the courtroom in the most difficult case she’s ever seen – bringing a dictator accused of genocide to The Hague.
- Kalari by Maria Kaur Bedi & Satindar Singh Bedi. Synopsis: Kalari is enthralling young women in India. As the world’s oldest martial art, it is becoming increasingly significant in a society where violence against women is both historical and a daily reality. We follow four women on their journey towards self-empowerment.
- Queer As Punk by Yihwen Chen. Synopsis: This project is confidential and as such FIFDH cannot currently publicly disclose more information. The festival will contact pertinent organisations and foundations to organise direct meetings with the filmmakers.
- The Myth of Monsters by Beatrice Leong. Synopsis: How far will you fight to belong? After a lifetime of being misunderstood, filmmaker Beatrice faces her own camera, revealing her autism diagnosis after years of misdiagnoses, forced institutionalisation and coerced electroconvulsive treatment.
- The Other Side of Silence by Dheeraj Akolkar. Synopsis: Wars don’t end when peace treaties are signed. Gerd Fleischer travels to post-war countries collecting testimonies from generations of children born of enemy soldiers’ sexual violence. She urges authorities to create legal protections for children being born today.
- Traces by Alisa Kovalenko & Marysia Nikitiuk. Synopsis: The deep traces of trauma left within six women survivors of sexual violence and torture as a result of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine become a source of strength. As they come together, the women attempt to transform their ordeals into post-traumatic growth.
- Yurlu | Country by Yaara Bou Melhem. Synopsis: Aboriginal Elder Maitland Parker is fighting to heal his homelands scarred by Australia’s very own Chernobyl – the Southern Hemisphere’s largest asbestos-contaminated site. For Maitland and his people the landscape is a living, breathing entity; when the land is sick, we are sick.
FIFDH Impact Days also announced that it will introduce Swiss Focus in 2025, a new event to enable Swiss and international impact producers, NGO representatives, and foundations to meet Swiss impact documentary filmmakers. Four projects with both national and international impact outlooks, and also to be showcased in Geneva in March 2025, will be announced soon.
