International film festival in Albania: an artistic boost to human rights promotion
Ensuring respect for human rights can seem an elusive goal at times and an annual gathering to celebrate them is for human rights promoters a welcome and necessary source of inspiration for the coming year’s toil.
The 12th edition of the International Human Rights Film Festival Albania (IHRFFA) opened on 18 September in Tirana, with the Tirana City Band offering a musical invitation to take a break from daily routines and reflect on the global human rights’ situation.
Human Rights – not to be taken for granted
The OSCE Presence in Albania, through an extra budgetary project implemented jointly with the Austrian Development Agency, once again supported the Festival as it put the spotlight on human rights in a week of hard-hitting cinema.
As noted by Head of Presence Bernd Borchardt, the choice of radicalization and populism as this year’s main topics is in line with the Presence’s increased focus on countering violent extremism that leads to terrorism.
This year’s films offer an excellent opportunity to discuss about delicate topics that might be ignored or side-lined
Head of OSCE Presence in Albania
“Albania is in a unique position to speak about radicalism and populism,” said Borchardt. “Under a dictatorship for nearly half a century, the country experienced the most insidious distortion of populism: a people who were brutalized in its own name. Now Albania has a new and rare reputation, as a country with an approach to religious co-habitation that shows how people of different faiths can live in harmony with each other. This year’s films offer an excellent opportunity to discuss about delicate topics that might be ignored or side-lined.”
Kujtim Çashku, IHRFFA Executive Director, speaking at the IHRFFA, Tirana, 18 September 2017....Art... is seen by any form of power at any given time as something dangerous, something that takes individuals away from its hands, regardless of its efforts to keep them under its yoke.
Do the right thing
A variety of films explore the many facets of radicalism and populism, from the spread of jihad among European youth to the rise of white nationalism and racism in neighbouring countries.
The public of all ages can see first-person accounts of real life persons who, in one way or another, have fallen for the allure of violent ideology as an escape from apathy, alienation and incomplete integration in the countries where they live.
In one film, a former jihad recruiter shares a personal story on how, in his combat days, he chose to remain true to his ideology rather than save two teenagers from a life of terrorism and probable death, all for the sake of remaining “honourable”. He is now a repenting man, older and wiser, trying to amend the wrongdoings of his youth. “I don’t want honour. I am happy to be a coward,” he says tearfully, leaving it up to the public to question his choice of words for describing the transition to a law-abiding lifestyle.
The quiet charm of choosing to do the right thing in the obscurity of daily life is contrasted with the false glory of the battlefield, with which terrorist groups lure our youth. The public is left wondering about how to take up the challenge of once again making justice, human rights and dignity worthy causes to new generations and preventing them from becoming easy targets of charismatic hatemongers.
Juelda Lamçe PhD, Associate Professor at Law Faculty of the European University of Tirana, after the screening of the British-Norwegian film at IHRFFA, Tirana, 18 September 2017.The Festival is indispensable in offering a platform for discussion on important topics. It offers citizens a window on human rights through personal testimonies in powerful films. It also offers an opportunity to discuss the political will to face diversity, engage in dialogue and consider the certainty of our democratic values.
Human dignity at stake
In another film, on North Korea, radicalism is seen from a side that rings even more familiar for Albania: a totalitarian state’s brainwashing narrative. The film juxtaposes the grandeur of a propagandistic parade with the almost starving people singing the praises of a dictatorial regime. To the older Albanian public, it is all too reminiscent of the time when an ideological cause was placed above their dreams, youth and life. To the young, it is yet again a lesson about a not so distant past, from a people suffering in the present.
In other films the festival’s spotlight again shifts, to daily struggles experienced by those whose human dignity could be better served and whose voices are sometimes left unheard. The screening of a film on a woman’s struggle to have her inheritance rights recognized alongside her brother’s is followed by a forum in which women prisoners are invited to address a panel comprised of directors of human rights NGOs, directors of institutions responsible for prisons in Albania and the Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania. The event provides the women, who are deprived of their liberty, with the opportunity to address their questions and concerns to those in decision-making positions.
Women prisoners, during a screening of the film "Home", at the IHRFFA, Tirana, 18 September, 2017.Prison authorities should be more considerate of women prisoners' needs and do do their best to treat us with the same respect they show to their mothers and sisters.
Forum for dialogue – IHRFFA’s strength
The forums were indeed one of the strongest aspects of this year’s edition of IHRFFA, bringing together people from different backgrounds and age groups and allowing them to share experiences on human rights issues. Following a film on a teenage social media sensation, high school students engaged in an exchange of ideas on the dangers and advantages of the digital era with those who pioneered its use in initiatives of social benefit.
Bringing the focus back again to radicalism, the screening of the film “Cyber Jihad” was followed by a forum at the Police Academy. Cadets had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the modern strategies and platforms used by terrorist groups to lure young people into a world of idealized murder and terror, as well as with the preventive work of law-enforcement agencies worldwide.
Radicalism and populism may well be the major threats to human rights, as, regardless of their cause, they pose the same risk: a paradigm shift from people to causes. This all-inclusive film festival served as a one-week celebration of what we hold dear: being able to live together in peace, safety and mutual respect.
This can never be possible without well-established respect for human rights. The OSCE Presence cherishes the IHRFFA as a valuable partner in its mission to strengthen compliance with human rights standards in Albania.