Rights Explored

The Human Rights Film Festival, Kolkata, is over for 2009. It has been a very exciting and varied festival, and a pleasure to present to you a range of movies covering a broad spectrum of Human Rights issues both here in India and Nepal, Sri Lanka, UK and others.

The festival screened 20 short and documentary films out of its film submissions received and invited films from noted filmmakers. The inaugural film was Supriyo Sen's Hope Dies Last in War, Swarna Kamal awarded for 2007 and folllowed by Supriyo's  Internationally acclaimed Wagah.

Interaction with filmmakers - Supriyo Sen, Meghnath and Sourav Sarangi,  after the screening of their films was an added attraction of the festival and was reciprocated by a good response from the audience.

We thank all of you, who submitted or lent their films for screening, helped us to organise the festival and also of course, who attended the screenings and bringing your friends and family for making this years festival a success, albeit in a low key.

from the Festival Desk

MASUM    DRIK India

Welcome

We heartily welcome you to be part with our journey – ‘Rights Explored’.  

It’s not just another Film Festival added to the existing list of others. May be the idea of organising a Human Rights Film Festival originated, as a part of celebrating  MASUM’s twelfth anniversary......Yet...!!

Actually the expression ‘Rights Explored’ was a mission to explore the different dimensions of human rights, when MASUM took shape in 1997.  Few human rights activists came forward to took up the cudgels to explore the possibilities and provide a forum for dialogues on different aspects of Human Rights as well as to suppliment the ongoing  Human Rights movement.

When faced with decisions such as these, the temptation was to look to the interests of the community we live in, where human rights might be perceived as only for some advanced/privileged/mainstream sectors of society, but not for those who are on the margins. And when times get tough, it was easy for human rights to be ignored or side-lined by persons in power who used to claim they had to make “tough choices for the sake of our own safety, security and long term benefit”.

Likewise, The Human Rights Film Festival seeks to show that we have the ability and opportunity to work together to make our vision of a better society a reality and bring about meaningful change. There is an opportunity to promote a shared vision of a society where the dignity, rights and freedoms of others are valued so that we can live in a world that is environmentally and economically sustainable.

Our line-up for the festival is particularly strong with high quality documentaries and short films produced across the country and also from around the globe, touching on a wide range of human rights issues. Most have won international recognition. The festival aspires also to provide an ideal opportunity to enjoy the pleasure of diversity through films and rejoice in their universal appeal. With the images and sounds of these films, we learn about other portions of our society,  witness the artistry of the creative mind,  share the pleasures and agonies and  recharged with humanistic zeal.

Lat us join hands with each other to make the festival a success.

from the Festival Desk

MASUM        DRIK India