One World in Prague

Every year, the Czech Republic plays host to the One World human rights documentary film festival. With the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution fast approaching in November, the festival’s slogan reads “20 years ago, you were born into freedom. Now it is your turn.”

I first became aware of this festival through the many advertisements plastered on the metro walls, which feature, if I may say so, a slightly creepy looking older man pushing a cart of babies. On second glance, the older man turned out to be Vaclav Havel, the celebrated playwright-turned-president who suffered years of imprisonment in his fight against Communism and ultimately emerged as the first president of Czechoslovakia, and then the Czech Republic.

I turned to Google to find out exactly what Havel was promoting with those grainy, sepia ads. It turned out that it was for this film festival, and a little more internet research revealed a list of fascinating films at only 70 crowns a viewing (roughly $3.5 dollars). I was able to catch three, each of which was absolutely amazing. One of them was the opening film of the festival, called Burma VJ. Joshua is a young Burmese reporter who, together with his collaborators at the exiled Democratic Voice of Burma station, records on film and audio the September 2007 demonstrations and the subsequent brutal government crackdown which saw monks and civilians alike slaughtered. The film combined the actual footage of the violent episode with recreated shots of all the waiting and wondering the fellow reporters had to endure as their compatriots laid their life on the line to record the protests.

After the screening, as with many of the other films, a debate was held, with members of the Czech NGO People in Need and journalists discussing the issues raised by the film. Once again, I bemoaned the fact that I couldn’t understand Czech. But nonetheless, the film festival was truly something. The only real pity is that I wasn’t able to catch more of the documentaries.