Albania to host seventh human rights film festival

TIRANA, Sept. 11 – Environment and human rights will be the central topics of this year’s seventh edition of the International Human Rights Film Festival in Albania. The festival scheduled for Sept. 24 to 29 will focus on people with disabilities, human trafficking, corruption, migration, totalitarian regimes, freedom of speech. The festival bringing together filmmakers and actors from around the world features short films, documentaries and features.
The International Human Rights Film Festival in Albania (IHRFFA) began in 2006 as an initiative of the Marubi Academy of Film and Multimedia and other international organizations operating in the country. Since its inception, this festival has become an annual tradition during September.
Since the fall of Communism in 1991, Albania has been in a state of transition, facing many issues of which Human Rights has played a significant role. The International Human Rights Film Festival serves as a cultural platform to increase the world’s awareness of human rights issues. This festival is a perfect venue for telling such stories as well as promoting the significance of being human.
“Human Rights in Albania have been an important issue during the years of transition. There are still serious violations of Human Rights issues in different fields of Albanian society life, for which the public needs to be sensitized, in order to understand what its rights are and how to fight for them. That is why human rights events in general and event as the International Human Rights Film Festival are necessary for the Albanian society which is still suffering different social and human rights problems such as: discrimination, human rights problems related to environment, children with special needs, democracy, freedom of expression, human trafficking, children frustration, health care, ” organizers say.
This Festival is organized since 2006 by Orafilm-Marubi, which its main activity is the Academy of Film and Multimedia Marubi, an academy which gives professional education in the field of cinematography and human rights.
The main goal of this activity is awareness rising and the education of the Albanian public in general, with the concepts of human rights from all over the world, as well as the consolidation of this human rights event as a tradition for the Albanian society.