The theme of this year's Taiwan International Human Rights Film Festival, "The Road to Truth / Eyes on the Present", reveals the progress and current state of global human rights. It is an ongoing process, both in the present and on the road ahead. At the same time, through the documentation and stories on the other side of the lens, it presents the faces of the ordinary people fighting for human rights in every corner of the world.

The festival's two main sections approach various human rights issues from different perspectives: "Gender Equality" uses visual storytelling to restore, piece together, revisit, observe, document, and explore our differences in perception; "Human Rights Lens" critically examines hatred and forgiveness through the lenses of history, people, land, and identity, helping us understand the different progressions of human rights around the world today.

In today's conflict-filled world, human rights violations are not merely relics of our dark past or the struggles of marginalized minorities. Anyone, anywhere, can be deprived of their basic human rights overnight. Accordingly, this year's festival pays special attention to ongoing wars, including two films each on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Apart from survival, the selections also address freedom of speech and media equality.

This year's selections include award-winning works from Cannes, Berlinale, and the Oscars. The opening film, And So It Begins, highlights the chaos of an election filled with fake news, smears, and media manipulation, revealed through the campaign journeys of a female politician and a female journalist in the Philippines. The film is not just an electoral revelation but a contemporary record of cognitive warfare. The conflict between media integrity and real-world pressures is vividly portrayed through the democratic actions of two Nobel Peace Prize winners in Of Caravan and the Dogs. The deeply moving I Shall Not Hate tells the story of a Palestinian doctor and Nobel Peace Prize nominee who continues to strive for unattainable justice and reconciliation despite dealing with the grief of losing three daughters in the conflict.

Ama Gloria, the opening film of Critics' Week at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and the closing film of the Women Make Waves International Film Festival, spans the Atlantic, tenderly portraying the touching friendship between two generations of women that transcends blood, race, or class. A Balance, winner of the New Currents Award at the 2020 Busan International Film Festival and selected for the Panorama section of Berlinale, explores the complex interweaving of truth and lies through a female filmmaker's investigation of a teacher-student affair and bullying incident. Where does the truth lie — in front of or behind the camera? Who'll Stop the Rain, inspired by the 1994 protests of Chinese Culture University's Fine Arts Department, utilizes the memories and self-reflection of a student movement to bring out the revolutionary spirit of female students and trigger an internal revolution of sexual identity. These films are significant not only for the events they depict, but also for the conflicts and hesitations they provoke. It is this soft hesitance that opens up the possibility for us to understand each other and gradually approach different truths.

In an era of conservative resurgence and rampant populism, those with a spirit of tolerance find it increasingly difficult to move forward. These films make us realize that idealism is not the privilege of heroes. Those who hold firm to their beliefs and refuse to confirm, despite being regarded as thorns and rebels in the eyes of authorities, are not alone. Those who seek reconciliation are not weak, and those who pursue justice are not made of steel — they might all be ordinary people full of contradictions, fears, and doubts. The only things they have in common are an unwavering belief in the value of universal human rights and a refusal to give up easily. As Palestinian doctor Izzeldin Abulaish said, "When we treat patients inside the hospital, we treat them not based on their ethnicity, religion, background, name. It's according to the disease. Why we don't adopt this approach to treat each other equally outside the borders of the hospital? Do we need to be sick in order to understand that we are equal?" Whether it is students fighting for creative freedom against school authorities, journalists fighting for press freedom against governments, documentary directors pursuing truth, or doctors facing ruthless soldiers, what they hold is a belief so simple it borders on naive. With this common belief, people of different ethnic groups and faiths can work together and build a bridge to jointly expose the injustices of the unjust. This is not just to solve current problems, but also to address future ones.

The sense of immediacy and urgency of these films shows that the filmmakers often face the same life-threatening dangers and imprisonment as those they document in order to complete their films. As such, film is no longer just art but a medium that conveys life as a true art form. In our troubled world, these activists bring us true courage and hope. For instance, the 2024 winner of Berlinale's Golden Bear, Dahomey, reveals the potential of transitional justice through a case of plundered cultural artifacts. The winner of the Dublin International Film Festival's Human Rights Film Award, Young Plato, uses a philosophy classroom to make young students reflect on nationalism, politics, religion, war, and violence. Through the classroom of cinema, we too can learn, ponder, and question who we are, and how we can use our own rights to fight for the rights of others.

see more : 2024 Taiwan International Human Rights Film Festival