FIFDH Impact Days 24

The Geneva-based professional programme, focused on delivering maximum documentary impact, has chosen 16 projects from 21 countries for its next edition running March 10-12 2024. “We truly believe in the power of collaboration to change hearts and minds for human rights,” write organisers. Impact Days is the Industry arm of FIFDH – International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights Geneva which runs March 8-17.

Being designated as a ‘foreign agent’ can have a terrible impact on journalists and activists in contemporary Russia as Putin looks to curb any kind of criticism or agitation against his special military operations in Ukraine. The provocative documentary Of Caravan and the Dogs, which world-premieres at FIFDH, astutely documents the personal danger, and severe punishment meted out to, those wanting to take a stand and defend the truth.

The International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (Geneva) presented February 15 the programme for its 22nd edition, which takes place March 8 to 17, 2024. Among the “influential voices of human rights” in attendance will be American activist Angela Davis, Indian economist Jayati Ghosh, and Russian journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitri Mouratov.

The Long Rescue tells a desperate tale of abuse, but the focus is on recovery rather than trauma, survival rather than rescue. It’s a story of human trafficking in The Philippines. “Sexual violence can feel overwhelming, but we're here because we believe much can and must be done,” director Jennifer Huang told the Geneva audience. “We invite you to talk with us about how we can work together to support the journeys of these survivors in their recovery, discovery, and agency.”

“Our film is a love story featuring four deaf couples signing the stories of how they met, fell in love, and the joys of complexities of their relationships,” Irish producer Anne Heffernan told the audience of change-makers at FIFDH Impact Days. “Together, these cinematic love stories weave a tapestry of deaf experience over a 70-year period and we believe it will make people think differently about what it means to be Deaf in a hearing world."

The Geneva-based International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) kicks off March 8, heralding a 10-day focus on human rights and the role cinema can/must play in upholding them. “The strength of an event such as FIFDH lies in its ability to unite those who aid us in deciphering the intricacies of the world, reflect on collective solutions and remind us of the need to take action,” underlines co-director Laura Longobardi.

After being forced to flee their country after the Taliban takeover of 2021, four charismatic and influential Afghan women are the focus of this immersive, powerful and confrontational documentary. As they adjust to life in a new country away from their culture and the support of their homeland, they fight to place once more the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan at the forefront of world attention.

Doc Society’s Sandra Whipham provided a sobering account March 11 of the current streamer-led documentary landscape, but offered a large measure of hope in urging independent makers to wrestle back financial, executive and creative control. “We need to imagine a new global pool fund where resources are shared equitably to every region, where local experts can make decisions about what and where to spend. Funding this work at scale [and] funding the distribution and impact strategies that we know are effective is the answer to the nightmare of AI-generated content, creative conformity and political retreat we find ourselves in.”

Impact Accelerator marks the start of a new collaboration between the Swiss promotion agency and the Geneva-based philanthropic organisation. The call for applications is aimed at Swiss producers planning an international impact campaign. Through the new partnership, 3 projects will be supported from 2024 through 2025. Deadline for application: April 30.

On the isolated Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, men perform a very particular ritual. They play football together, and then they cry together. Helena de Castro’s debut doc feature will analyse this fascinating variation on the beautiful game. “If we let ourselves cry because of football, then let's use football to unleash all the [other] things we should cry about,” de Castro told the Geneva audience.