Impact Days '23

Polish director Hanka Nobis and producer Esther Van Messel (First Hand Films) pitched their new doc about two young people forced to the margins of Polish society. “The film addresses intersectional issues and we hope to resonate with NGOs and give an opportunity to campaign LGBTQ rights and freedom of expression, as well as the fight of violence against women and other non-binary people.”

This week Geneva-based FIFDH Impact Days presented a particularly poignant case study which revolved around the Ukrainian project Peace for Nina and which saw the participation of the project’s director and producer, Ukraine’s Zhanna Maksymenko-Dovhych, and Swiss-Albanian filmmaker Dea Gjinovici, who is also producing.

In New Boats, illegal fishing by companies from Far Eastern countries is forcing fishermen in Sierra Leone to emigrate, but some of them are putting up fierce resistance. “The documentary is an investigative piece that tells a relevant story of a community struggle trying to save not only their livelihoods but the critical food source that the country depends on,” says director Lansana Mansaray.

The Impact Days Industry programme of FIFDH (International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights) will this year run 12-14 March. “Through targeted partnerships, its ambition is to use the power of documentary film as a tool for concrete social and policy change,” write organisers. The 21st FIFDH takes place 10-19 March in Geneva.

FIFDH hosted the launch of the #JeSuisNoires global campaign on 14 March. Journalist-turned-filmmaker Rachel M’Bon explained how hers was the first Swiss film to give Black women a voice about the reality they live in. “When I decided to make this movie it was because I felt very concerned about the under-representation of Black women in media and the systemic racism in this country.”

Between March 12-14, Impact Days, the industry programme of FIFDH (International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights) will look to facilitate strategic collaborations between filmmakers and NGOs/governmental organisations, all of whom believe in the power of doc to effect radical change, whether in terms of policy or across society in general. Impact Days chief Laura Longobardi explains her programme’s mission to BDE.

The Grand Geneva Award (CHF 10’000) was won March 18 by Inna Sahakyan for Aurora’s Sunrise. Colette et Justin picked up the Gilda Vieira de Mello Award (€5000). My Name is Happy by Ayşe Toprak & Nick Read was awarded the Youth Jury Prize, while Abbas Rezaie’s Etilaat Roz won the Prize of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT).

The 5th Impact Days of the FIFDH human rights fest opened with an address by Industry Head Laura Longobardi who welcomed guests to “the annual gathering of all those who believe that storytelling can play an essential role in advancing positive values such as human and civil rights, social and environment justice and peacekeeping, right here at the very heart of Geneva, the city of multilateralism, of peace, and, of course, of human rights.”