With the theme "War, peacemaking, the rule of law and the commemoration of victims", the 21st edition of the International Film Festival for Human Rights, organized by the Marubi Film and Multimedia Academy, begins on Monday in Tirana. 39 participating films deal with subjects with complex histories of current wars, are connected to material and spiritual archival memories and the memories of victims and missing persons.
A place in the program is occupied by films that deal with the new relationships created with virtual archives and artificial intelligence. Some films deal with individual and social crises, crises of local and international establishments. A series of ethical and moral norms are clashing with exploitative interests of natural and human resources, in an isomorphic form on the unstoppable flow of human history, notes executive director Kujtim Çashku.
Through the films, various strategic interests are addressed, including Russia, NATO, China and the USA, while also looking at the consequences of the relations between Europe and America, remodeled by President Trump. Investments in armaments, the internal European non-unitary technicality remains a dilemma for its future, as is also evident in these film productions, while geopolitical ghosts roam the Balkans, keeping alive its historical self-victimizations. Blerta Bashollli's film "Dua", which shows the lives of young people during the war in Kosovo, while reaping international success, comes to the festival on September 18 together with the director.
Meanwhile, topics such as the Defense of Europe, Russian propaganda down to the family, and internationally award-winning films such as the Spanish film "Sundays" that opens the festival complete the mosaic of a festival that, in 21 years, confronts us with the dynamics of human society, even when they are hidden and are massacres and genocides.
Among them, the film “The Dialogue Police” is very relevant for Albania, a fascinating film about the police that defends freedom of speech and democracy. It is shown at the Security Academy in front of students who will become police officers, to show the role of the police in a democracy like the Swedish one. This police unit tries to ensure that every citizen has the opportunity to express their opinion and is armed only with words and extraordinary patience.
At a time when democratic dialogue is under pressure, this film brings a powerful narrative about the paradox of protecting the freedom of expression of others and, at a time of massive protests in Albania, gives us another model of policing. The festival will continue to extend to the school and university educational system, as well as to a range of state institutions in the service of a culture of reflection and criticism towards manifestations of human rights violations.
