Human Rights Film School Competition

The Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin, will hold a Gala Screening on Thursday, 11 June of the ICCL (Irish Council for Civil Liberties), Human Rights Film School Competition. Both amateur and professional Irish filmmakers, directors, producers, and scriptwriters created short films for the competition to raise awareness about human rights.

A short-list of six films have been selected:

• Pirogues by Barry O'Donoghue (Producer)
• Team Spirit by Siobhan Twomey (Writer, Director)
• My Identity by Vittoria Colonna (Director)
• A Life Inside the Frame by Daniel Bevan (Co-writer, Co-director).
• 8 Things to Remember by Aoibheann O'Sullivan (Director)
• Children of Manila by Genny Carraro (Producer)

People can watch the shortlisted films on the Human Rights Film School Competition web site, and can vote for their favourite film here.

The winner of the Human Rights Film School will receive a place in the prestigious 2009 Summer School on Cinema and Human Rights at the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC) in Venice, which offers master classes and lectures given by renowned experts in the disciplines of film and human rights.

The Summer School is a 3 week crash course on filmmaking for social change, which runs alongside the Venice Film Festival from 27 August to 16 September. The course seeks to address the question "how can film be used as an instrument for enhancing human rights awareness?" This will involve a programme of interactive teaching, private screenings, workshops and modules on cinema and human rights, along with attendance at screenings at the Venice Film Festival, meetings and discussions with filmmakers and others from the film world attending the festival.

The School is led by award-winning documentary maker Nick Danziger.