FOREWORD
This sixth edition of the Festival of Human Rights is an evidence of the ongoing consolidation of democratic traditions along with the concerns of a developing society such as the Albanian one. The selection of 35 feature, documentary and shorts from over 300 films submitted from around the world, focuses on issues and relevant topics that are troubling our country as well.
The central themes of this edition deal with various aspects of organized crime whether it be corruption, terrorism, fundamentalism, human trafficking, exploitation of minors, modern slavery and the abuse of natural resources.
Besides this, we also dedicate a special selection of challenging and inspiring films about people who have a disability of a variety of kinds….
During five days of the festival morning forums will be held. High-school students will be participating along with experts from different fields who will debate on various issues related to human rights.
Since I live in a country where censorship has continued for decades, it has been a pleasure for the staff and the selection committee, to bring to the attention of the public, films that shine a light into the dark hole of today’s totalitarian and post-totalitarian societies.
A series of recent films that have been banned in their countries shall be shown to the public.
The organized crime today has no boundaries or borders. It has its own map. The end result of these crimes are the domination of financial systems and the establishment of power structures whose sole aim is to control every aspect of our lives.
The audience will notice that the main purpose of organized crime is the accumulation of material profits at any cost. These profits eventually transform a country’s informal illegal economy into a legal one through the corruption of public authorities, privatization of state, by direct involvement in legislative, governmental and judicial structures. As a result, this interference in government grants impunity to all organized criminal activity so that one is unable to distinguish what is legitimate and what is not. Through the added weight of the media in today’s societies the organized crime, as often as not, uses the power of the media antennaes.
The selected films specifically show that crime structures are provided with regular information by the public sector. Many anti-corruption operations fail as a result of information being revealed by the very public structures. In some of these works, the filmmakers have been courageous enough with their camera to make a firsthand detailed investigation and analysis of these crimes.
This year’s festival has a special selection featuring remarkable personal stories about the Roma community as well as people living with disabilities. The selection of these films highlights the inspiring achievements of these groups, giving us thus, an alternative vision of them.
I am convinced that our viewers will see work that might very well enrich their lives, give hope and discover many topics and themes that are still taboo for the Albanian audience.
Kujtim Çashku
Executive Director of the IHRFFA
