One World 2020 Overview

Festival:
The 22nd One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival

Dates:
March 5-14

About:
Approximately 100 new and recent documentary features screen in this event taking place in Prague and 35 other Czech cities.

Among the offerings in the event’s Czech Competition are Anji Sauvé Clubb’s NOMAD MEETS THE CITY, about a nomad who moved to Mongolia’s capital for better financial opportunities; and Linda Kallistová Jablonská’s DOGGY LOVE, which profiles a female Finnish dog sled racer; both world premieres, as well as Dmitry Bogolyubov’s TOWN OF GLORY, a portrait of a small Russian town steeped in Soviet nostalgia and Putin demagoguery.

The International Competition presents the world premiere of Agnieszka Zwiefka’s SCARS, in which a now grown Tamil Tiger seeks out other former child soldiers; as well as the international debuts of Peter Torbiörnsson’s NINOSCA, a longitudinal profile of a Nicaraguan girl’s transition to womanhood; Arno Bitschy’s THIS TRAIN I RIDE, about women who ride freight trains in America; and Meng Han’s SMOG TOWN, about a Chinese’s city’s attempts to combat air pollution.

Included in the Right to Know Competition are Christopher Patz and Ammar Aziz’s world premiere title DISCOUNT WORKERS, which follows the quest for justice for a victim of a Pakistan sweatshop fire; international debut LOST HOME, Juraj Mravec’s meditation on war and male friendship; and Czech premiere PRISON FOR PROFIT, Ilse Van Velzen and Femke van Velzen’s investigation into human rights abuses resulting from the privatization of South African prisons.

Non-competitive sections include themes such as the environment in UnEarthed, with work like David Curtis’ SOVEREIGN SOIL, about a struggling subarctic Canadian farming community; and Ola Waagen’s THE SECRET LIFE OF PIGS, an exposé of the harsh realities of Norwegian pig farming; the health-focused Diagnosis, with Maartje Nevejan’s ARE YOU THERE?, about the experiences of epileptics; and Ruud Lenssen’s LOST IN MEMORIES, a portrait of the filmmaker’s father as he contends with dementia; gender identity in Masculinity and Femininity, with Joonas Berghäll’s THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH, on the unhappiness of the Finnish male; the institution-focused Gaps in the System, with Maasja Ooms’ PUNKS, about troubled teens going through a group home rehabilitation program; technology in One Zero, with Tonje Hessen Schei’s IHUMAN, a survey of AI and its impact on the world; self-determination in Long Life Life, with Matej Bobrik’s OUR LITTLE POLAND, about Japanese students of Polish culture and language; human rights in Journeys to Freedom, with Katerina Suvorova’s FACE THE MUSIC IN KAZAKHSTAN, about the backlash faced by a non-mainstream Kazakh band; and China in a special sidebar that includes Andy Cohen and Gaylen Ross’ XIMEI, about a woman fighting stigmatization and intimidation due to her HIV status.