Cinédoc Focus on Civic Activism
More and more documentary film festivals pick a theme for their programs. The festivals want to state their comments on what goes on in the world and/or in their own country. This goes for the young Cinédoc-Tbilisi festival in Georgia. I asked Ileana Stanculescu from the festival what the poster represented. She answered like this outlining the chosen themes:
“This year (the festival runs from May 11 till May 16) we have a strong focus on civic activism. Our program this year covers five themes reflecting five human needs: safety, passion, faith, imagination and solidarity.
Under the umbrella of the theme ‘solidarity’ we will present and
discuss documentary films specifically on labor rights. Unfortunately there are very big problems in Georgia, when it comes to labor rights, there is no functioning labor inspection department, no protection of basic labor rights, a lot of invisible labor, etc. Yesterday, on 9 May, four miners have passed away in a mine accident in the Georgian coal mine city of Tkibuli, a tragic event.
We have selected nine films from all over the world that deal with the topic ‘solidarity’ and we will screen them in Tbilisi, as well as in other locations in Georgia (within our year long CinéDOC-On Tour Program). Please find the film selection at following link: http://www.cinedoc-tbilisi.com/?cat=105
For the focus on labor rights we are glad to partner with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung South Caucasus Office.
Under the umbrella of safety – we will screen films about migration (Stranger in Paradise, The Longest Run, Imagining Emanuel, A Maid for Each, Vienna – Passion Week).
We try to reflect Georgian civic activism with our film selection and with the discussions and debates we organize. There is a young and dynamic civil society in Georgia and we cooperate with many of its representatives to bring important topics to a large audience. Sometimes it is easier to understand the problems of women who are exploited if you watch a documentary like ‘A Maid for Each’ than if you read statistics on the website of a human rights organization.
And I think that many NGOs have understood that they can have a better communication towards a wider audience, if they partner with a documentary film festival. This is why they cooperate with the festival for the discussions and promotion of certain films.”
More will come from Tbilisi, where I will be from the 13th. I have already written an introduction to film titles and filmmakers:
http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3893/
http://www.cinedoc-tbilisi.com/
