Human Rights Film Festival workshop:how to organize film festival

I am writing to you on behalf of the Amnesty International Film Festival organized by the Foundation Movies that Matter. Coming Spring the 10th Film Festival will be held in Amsterdam, from 26 to 30 March 2008. The festival screens both documentaries and feature films. In discussions and talk shows surrounding the films, the filmmakers, human rights activists and audience will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and views. During the festival we will organize the 2nd edition of a special outreach project called Cinema without Borders that aims to stimulate the organization of human rights film events in the countries where they matter most: Africa, Latin America, Asia and the former Soviet Union countries.

We are inviting 15 qualified guests representing these countries from the field of cinema and human rights who have realistic plans to set up a human rights film event in their own region but who lack professional, communicative and financial measures. Our guests will have the opportunity to see all the latest film productions at the Film Festival.

The most essential part of the Cinema without Borders project will contain several practical and inspiring workshops on how to organize a human rights film festival. Questions to be discussed are:

- where do we start when organizing a human rights film event?
- how do we fund a festival?
- what films should be screened?
- how do we get the films?
- how do we deal with film rights?
- how can we make use of the human rights film network?
- how do we set up an educative program for schools?
- how to make the festival successful on the long term?

The workshops will be led by Dutch and international festival directors, experts on film education, members of the human rights film network and are meant to exchange thoughts and ideas with motivated people from all different backgrounds. In addition we will have a video library with around 150 documentaries and features on human rights, including items produced by Amnesty International. After the festival we would like to stay in contact to advise and assist our guests in their festival activities.

I would like to enquire in what way you have been working with the visual media in relation to human rights, and most importantly, if you are able and willing to participate in our Cinema without Borders project. If you are interested in working with us, please send us as soon as possible a motivation letter, your CV and a short proposal of the festival plan you aim to realize. Please inform us about your ideas, purposes and questions in the process of organizing a human rights film event in your region.

I am very much looking forward to hear from you.

Kind regards,

Suzanne Hoeksema
S.Hoeksema@moviesthatmatter.nl

STICHTING MOVIES THAT MATTER & AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Tel. : +31 20 7733623
Fax : +31 20 6240889
Internet : http://www.moviesthatmatter.nl/ & www.amnesty.nl/filmfestival