introduction

About Version

The 1st Annual International Human Rights Film Festival Version is organized by the Open Society Archives at Central European University and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee with the aim of using the powerful medium of film to promote mutual understanding between people and cultures and to heighten public awareness about human rights.

The principal aim of Version festival is to highlight human rights issues, especially for the young, and to create greater global awareness in the public, through documentaries that go beyond the usual media coverage of current social and political affairs.

The selected films address a wide range of issues affecting international affairs today: civil conflicts; war crimes; terrorism; political repression; searching for personal and historical truth; free media; minorities; acceptance and tolerance versus exclusion, nationalism and racism; equal opportunities, women's rights, trafficking, domestic violence; child abuse and lost youth; corruption. And though much of the subject material is serious, sometimes even tragic, the films are also infused with hope and the conviction that committed people can make a difference. This is the essential message that the film festival wants to spread.

Venues

The main venue of the festival is the centrally located Toldi Cinema (1054 Budapest Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 36-38). The Central European University’s Auditorium (1051 Budapest Nádor u. 9) will host the workshop "Visions Matter".

Organizers

Open Society Archives
at Central European University
Tel.: (00 36 1) 327 3250, (00 36 1) 327 3255
Fax: (00 36 1) 327 3260
www.osa.ceu.hu

Festival Director:
Zsuzsanna Zádori
Audio-Visual Archivist
Open Society Archives at Central European University

Program Director:
Oksana Sarkisova
Audio-Visual Archivist
Open Society Archives at Central European University

Roma Program Director:
Andrea Pócsik
Film Critic

The general e-mail of the festival is verzio@ceu.hu