The International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) in Geneva will present on March 14th, 3 video and audio documentaries on human rights in Pakistan, made during a Fondation Hirondelle workshop in July 2017 in Karachi. They will also be presented on March 15th at the Espace Pôle Sud in Lausanne.
‘Bahaali’ or ’Recovery‘, a 20' movie by Tamana Ayazi, Kanzul Fatima Arif and Gulzar Nayani followed two children, already former drug addicts, who refuse to let their past define their future. ‘Sound of Silence’, a 20' movie by Mohammad Behroozian, Najiba oori and Nameera Ahmed tells the story of Fariah, 15, who was born deaf in Karachi. Her story explores the challenges deaf people face and how they overcome them. ‘Transgender in Pakistan’ by Said Nazir Afridi, is a 10' radio documentary that plunges the listener into the daily lives of Pakistani transgender people and their fight to enter the labour market.
These documentaries were made in July 2017 by Pakistan and Afghan participants of a 15-day workshop co-organized by the United Nations Information Center and the Swiss Embassy in Pakistan, and facilitated by two experts from Fondation Hirondelle. 8 journalists and directors of video and audio documentaries, 4 Afghans and 4 Pakistanis participated. Each participated in the production of a documentary during the training, around issues related to human rights and peace building.
In the past two years, the United Nations Information Centre and the Swiss Embassy in Pakistan have partnered to enhance dissemination of information on human rights throughout the country. The film festival “Human Rights through Cinematography” organized in partnership with several member states and the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights Geneva, offered Pakistani audiences access to many professional documentaries on human rights issues from all over the world. The festival has brought to Pakistan leading experts of documentary film making who interacted with diverse audiences. The current training is part of this program.
This screening organized in the framework of the FIFDH will take place on March 14 at 6:45 pm at the Cinemas Grütli, Henri Langlois room, in Geneva. The next day the screening will take place in Lausanne, in the "Pôle Sud" cultural center, at 8 pm. The documentaries will be broadcast in the original version with subtitles in English. The entrance is free for these two evenings