EU launches Film Days in Turkey to promote human rights

ANKARA

The European Union will mark this year’s Human Rights Day with movies addressing individual rights, human dignity and the experiences of a varied group of people, bringing 33 documentaries to audiences in Ankara between Dec 7 and 20 and in Istanbul between Dec. 9 and 18.

“2015 has been a challenging year for upholding human rights in both Turkey and the European Union.

Starting with the appalling attack on journalists and cartoonists in Paris and ending with another horrendous attack on civilians in the same city, violence has unfortunately marked our consciences throughout the year.

Refugees from a senseless war in our common neighborhood continued to pour into Turkey and the EU, stretching support systems to the brink,” read the introduction of the catalog prepared by the EU’s Turkey Delegation. 

“In order to jointly reflect on these themes and highlight all the values which form the foundation of the European Union, we bring you the European Union Human Rights Film Days, which is being organized around Human Rights Day (10 December) for the fifth time,” it added. 

During the two-week festival, dozens of films from several EU Member States and Turkey will be shown. The film screenings are open to the public and free of charge.

“The goal of the event is to share selected films from the EU and Turkey and to engage a discussion in order to create awareness on human rights issues, such as identity, tolerance, respect, human dignity, and intercultural dialogue as well as to challenge stereotypes. In that sense, most of the movies will be followed by panels with the participation of directors, NGOs, academicians to discuss and reflect on the human rights issues raised by the films,” the catalogue read. 

The cultural centers of Germany, Spain, France, Austria, the Netherlands and Austria will be venues for the Istanbul leg of the festival, while Ankara locals will be able to watch screenings at the city’s Büyülü Fener movie theater.