Who am I and where do I belong? At a time of political crises, in a divided society and on the threshold of irreversible climate change, finding an answer to this question is becoming ever more difficult. We thus all the more urgently feel the need to find our own identity, one that will give us a sense of certainty and security. How to understand ourselves, to differentiate ourselves from others while not creating a deep chasm in society? These are the questions we will be exploring at this year’s 21st One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, which will take place from 6 to 17 March in Prague and subsequently in 35 other cities throughout the Czech Republic.

 

The festival’s slogan, Safe Proximity, refers to a state in which people in society, even if they are all different, are capable of listening and understanding one another. “The hate filled abuse of identity has become a weapon in the hands of some politicians and media outlets who are trying to set one group against the other. The result is a chasm – us versus them. We want to learn what things differentiate us from one another; to find what brings us together and what can make us feel safe and secure while being close to one another,” says One World’s director Ondřej Kamenický.

 

Like last year, the festival’s PR campaign has been organized by Studio MT (Matyáš Trnka in collaboration with Matěj Růžička). The colourful question marks and exclamation points throughout the festival’s visuals and its trailer are a reference to the difficult subject of negotiating one’s identity in a complex and uncertain social climate. “Some of us are more secure about their place in the world, but this sense of security can change over time. Sometimes we know what our goal is, while at other times we ask questions and doubt things. And all along, we meet people with whom we have a lot in common at that particular point in time… and we also have the need to define ourselves in opposition to other people. The question marks and exclamation points in this year’s visual design are thus engaged in battle – although from another point of view we see that, regardless of differences of opinion, we are all inhabitants of the same place, the same universe, the same (one) world,” says Matyáš Trnka.

Three Oscar-nominated documentaries at One World

 

The full programme of the 21st One World festival will be presented at a press conference on 19 February, but it is already clear that audiences will have much to choose from. Returning to the festival as a juror in the international competition is director Talal Derki, whose film Of Fathers and Sons earned him the Best Director award at last year’s festival. This year, he is vying for an even greater honour: Of Fathers and Sons has been nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Documentary Feature. The five nominees include two films about life in the United States that are being shown at this year’s One World. Hale County This Morning, This Evening (dir. RaMell Ross) looks at the day-to-day life of an African American family in the South, and Minding the Gap (dir. Bing Liu) traces the friendship and adolescence of three skateboarders in the Rust Belt in the country’s northeast.

Besides our three traditional competition categories (Czech Competition, International Competition, and the human rights competition Right to Know) and another nine thematic categories, also returning this year is our programme of special discussions titled Talking Cinema, as part of which we will welcome to Prague experts from a variety of areas, whose talks will be accompanied by screenings of selected films.

 

One World for All

 

Once again, One World will truly be for everybody. We endeavour to make our screenings and accompanying events accessible for the broadest possible spectrum of viewers, including people with disabilities. This year, we are even showing eighteen films with subtitles for the hearing impaired, colour-coded to identify who is speaking and including relevant sounds. Besides five films with audio commentary for visually impaired individuals, this is the second year that we are also offering three relaxed screenings so that people with mental impairments, epilepsy or autism can enjoy the films in a relaxed setting.

And last but not least, One World offers the best possible level of barrier-free access for wheelchair users or viewers with limited mobility. “We don’t see activities for people with disabilities as something ‘extra.’ On the contrary: We want for the idea of accessibility to be an organic part of the entire festival,” explains Kamenický. The festival is thus aiming not only for external accessibility, but internal accessibility as well: for instance, it welcomes people with disabilities among its volunteers. “We believe that they should have the same opportunity to see behind the scenes of a large cultural event like everyone else,” adds One World for All coordinator Adéla Gálová.

 

East Doc Platform

 

Running alongside the One World festival is the East Doc Platform (EDP) for film professionals. The Institute of Documentary Film recently revealed detailed information on the projects that will be presented at the eight instalment of this event, which will take place from 9 to 15 March. The film projects look at the murdered documentary filmmaker Aleksandr Rastorguev, a DJ grandmother getting ready for her European tour, the return of wolves to the Czech landscape, and a documentary video game about Czechoslovak parasitologists’ dangerous mission to Cambodia at the time of the genocide. EDP also offers free master classes, discussion panels, screenings and other events for the general public. Film professionals interested in industry accreditation can register using our online form.

 

Get Your Audience!

 

If you can’t wait for the festival, we have one hit from this year’s festival available for free download as part of our Get Your Audience! project. The Punk Voyage follows a distinctive group of four Finnish punkers on their journey to the Eurovision Song Context, all the way to the final concert. The film can be downloaded until 20 February at www.promitejity.cz, where you will find more than 50 documentary films from past festivals.

 

The festival programme and its international guests will be presented at a press conference on Tuesday, 19 February at the audience centre in the Tibet Open House (Školská 28). You should be receiving an invitation from us soon via email.

 

Further information, including this year’s visuals, can be downloaded from www.oneworld.cz

 

One World in the Regions 2019

Benešov	28.–30. 3.
Boskovice	4.–7. 4.
Brno	21.–29. 3.
České Budějovice	18.–22. 3.
Český Krumlov	21.–23. 3.
Děčín	3.–6. 4.
Havlíčkův Brod	22.–24. 3.
Hradec Králové	19.–22. 3.
Jablonec nad Nisou	18.–21. 3.
Karlovy Vary	29.–31. 3.
Kladno	3.–5. 4.
Liberec	25.–31. 3.
Louny	9.–13. 4.
Mladá Boleslav	4.–10. 4.
Nymburk	3.–6. 4.
Olomouc	18.–23. 3.
Opava	25.–29. 3.
Ostrava	4.–12. 4.
Pardubice	26.–29. 3.
Pelhřimov	4.–7. 4.
Pilsen	22.–29. 3.
Police nad Metují	21.–24. 3.
Polička	11.–13. 4.
Rožnov pod Radhoštem	8.–11. 4.
Sušice	4.–7. 4.
Tábor	28.–31. 3.
Tišnov	21.–23. 3.
Třebíč	15.–17. 3.
Třinec	1.–7. 4.
Uherské Hradiště	25.–29. 3.
Ústí nad Labem	25.–29. 3.
Ústí nad Orlicí	6.–13. 4.
Vsetín	18.–22. 3.
Zlín	1.–4. 4.
Znojmo	19.–22. 3.