When films help to reflect on human rights, democracy and environment

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When films help to reflect on human rights, democracy and environment

© EU Delegation to Albania

A lullaby sung by Lebanese singer Fairuz for her daughter's bright future, accompanies a poignant meeting of Geizi Tsafrir and Nonie Darwish at the border between Gaza Strip and Israel.

Tsafrir, an aging Israeli operative, reveals to Darwish that he was involved in a targeted assassination operation in 1950s, where her father, the Egyptian Colonel and head of military intelligence in Gaza, Mustafa Hafez was killed. At the age of eight, Nonie became on orphan.

Sitting in two lawn chairs near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, on the Israeli border overlooking Gaza, where Darwish had lived as a child and where her father was killed, they shake their hands. Tsafrir seeks redemption, Nonie seeks peace, and throughout the movie Telling Nonie, both witness how Arabs and Jews fail to recognize each-other's pain and put an end to the cycle of violence.

After the documentary, screened at the International Human Rights Film Festival in Tirana, the director, Paz Schwartz, launched an impassionate appeal for peace.

"On October 5th last year, I was awarded for this film in Haifa. Two days later, on October 7^th, I was woken up by sirens and the horrible news. The area near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, where Tsafrir and Darwish met, overlooking the Gaza border with Israel, became the scene of October 7th Hamas's attack. When I filmed this documentary, I had so much hope for peace, now, I don't really know" said Paz Schwartz.

For 19 years, the festival has showcased documentaries dedicated to peace, human rights and democracy.

This year's programme (September 16-21) featured 41 films and documentaries, screened in various locations like the Academy of Film and Multimedia "Marubi", the Security Academy, the Albanian Assembly, the School of Magistrates, the Authority for Information on Former State Security Documents and the Centre for Openness and Dialogue. The aim was to reach diverse audiences and promote discussions about human rights, disinformation and manipulation, gender equality, political and identity oppression, freedom, and the legal and moral impacts of war, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, in an effort to challenge our society to reflect, question and engage in the critical issues of our time.

Supported by the European Union, the festival's theme, "Act green for now and for the future," underscored the power of art in promoting universal values.

In his remarks at the opening of the festival EU Ambassador to Albania, Silvio Gonzato, emphasized that "Albania's accession to the European Union means endorsing the principles of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. These principles are central to our partnership. This year's theme, 'Act green for now and for the future', is a powerful reminder of our shared responsibility to protect the planet. And the reason for this is simple: there simply is no "planet B." I am proud to help IHRFFA become a year-round event with debates and discussions, reaching audiences beyond Tirana, and inspiring collective action to protect human rights," emphasized Ambassador Gonzato.

IHRFFA Executive Director Kujtim Çashku highlighted the importance of protecting the environment, and developing the sense of responsibility in the society to keep the area where we live and the areas where we travel, clean.

"Our festival is asking to act but also to think. Developing economy is just one side, the other is how it affects our planet and why we have so many calamities, whilst species on earth are disappearing. Institutions all over are concerned about wars, and that is right, but this is also a war with its own victims as we are destroying the earth for future generations", he said.

More on the festival: International Human Rights Film Festival Albania (ihrffa.net)