FIFDH 26

Renowned Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, born and raised in Gaza’s Al-Shati refugee camp, explored two vital aspects of film and filmmaking in Gaza during his Impact Days keynote on March 9. He articulated the urgent need to bring the works of Palestinian filmmakers to international audiences. At the same time, films from around the world must be delivered to children in Gaza, who have grown up surrounded by blockade, loss, and repeated wars, to offer moments of escape, imagination, and emotional relief.

The Polish filmmaker/producer team of Elwira Niewiera and Maciej Kubicki made a powerful impact pitch March 10 for their feature doc project Women and War, which explores the psychological toll of war through the personal journeys of four women – Julia, Lena, Iryna, and Olena – who have survived the horrors of Russia’s war against Ukraine. “What I have learned from them is that the war doesn't end when the war is over,” she told the professional audience in Geneva. “It stays in their minds, in their bodies, and in their everyday lives.”

Gaza Sunbirds follows Ala’a, a young Gazan cycling champion whose life changes forever after he’s shot by an Israeli sniper. Determined to rebuild, he sets his sights on the Paralympics, inspiring others to join him. Director Flavia Cappellini has followed Ala’a and his team for more than 8 years. “What makes the film important is precisely this long perspective,” Flemish producer Kristian Van der Heyden tells BDE. “We see Gaza before the war, the escalation towards October 7, and the consequences that continue to shape the lives of our protagonists today.”

French producer Tanguy Babin of PaladiOra Films outlines to Business Doc Europe the qualities of Hnin Thet Hmu Khin and Olivier Petrie’s story of Hnin’s secret return to Myanmar from Thailand (after having played a significant role in the 2021 anti-junta protests) where she encounters a new generation who are looking to rebuild the country without taking up arms. “The film aims to move beyond a strictly geopolitical reading of the conflict, and instead reveal human stories that are intimate and universal,” Babin underlines.

In Rachel Lauren Mueller’s new feature doc, when a pagan white supremacist group arrives in a Minnesotan farming town, it sparks an intense struggle over who has the right to belong, offering a disturbing warning about the normalization of extremism. “Our aim with our film’s impact campaign is to repair the ruptures of communal polarization through the simple practice of bringing divided communities together to watch a film and share their perspectives,” producer Ariel Tilson tells Business Doc Europe.

Weaving together animation, observational cinema, and participatory filmmaking, Tetiana Khodakivska’s new feature doc, The Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole, is a coming-of-age documentary that questions the impact of indoctrination and propaganda on children in the modern world. The subject of the film is three Ukrainian children who both process and draw memories from their six months in a Russian ‘re-education’ camp. Producer Elena Saulich talks to Business Doc Europe.

Ana Castañosa Bielsa talks to Business Doc Europe on the eve of Impact Days 2026, which again seeks to channel the power of documentary film as a tool for concrete social and policy change. Yes, impact remains a “niche” sector within the film industry, she points out, but Impact Days’ effectiveness in underlining its importance is undeniable. “Cinema can be political,” Castañosa Bielsa reminds BDE of the context within which she and her colleagues are operating.

In 2026, the Geneva-based human rights festival presents 35 documentaries, nine fiction films and twelve short films competing in the various competitions, and/or accompanying the 21 Forums and three Impact Spotlights. The competing films will be reviewed by international and youth juries, who will reveal the Award winners during the Closing Ceremony. The upcoming edition of FIFDH runs 6 to 15 March.

From 6 to 15 March 2026, the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH, Geneva) returns “at a time of accelerating authoritarianism, weakening international law and growing repression. Civilians, and especially marginalised groups, are bearing the brunt of these shifts. FIFDH responds by highlighting resistance, solidarity and collective action,” the festival writes.

Running March 8 to 10, the Geneva-based industry programme will present a packed schedule of keynotes, screenings, case studies and analyses of best practices from around the world. Core to proceedings is the pitch of 12 international film projects developed during the Impact Lab training programme, and a 4 further impact projects in Swiss Focus. The event offers filmmakers the opportunity to connect with impact producers, philanthropists and key human rights organisations based in Geneva and beyond.