Royal seal for film festival

An international human rights film festival set to be held in Bahrain in May has been given Royal approval and will be held under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad, festival director Nasser Burdestani revealed this week.

The festival is the first of its kind in the region and will bring together directors, actors and human rights activists from across the globe.

Mr Burdestani said: "We really appreciate the patronage. It is further proof of the King's reforms and we believe that this festival will be a credit to Bahrain."

Twenty feature films and documentaries are currently being selected and are due to be approved by the Ministry of Information by mid-April. He is confident that none of the films selected will be censored by the authorities.

"With globalisation and the growth of open societies you cannot censor things. If you do censor movies it is an advertisement for the filmmakers," he said.

"We hope the public will see the movies and make their own judgments, we hope it generates a lot of debate."

Some of the selected films will focus on human rights issues in the region, but no films made in Bahrain or focused on the country will be screened.

"We're not showing films from Bahrain for two reasons," he explained. "One is that we don't have any films that in my opinion are good enough quality and the second is that it is the first festival and we don't want to show something relating to Bahrain and conflict with the government."

He revealed that a number of award-winning films with strong human rights themes will be submitted for approval.

Among those he hopes will be screened is Sous Les Bombes, a French film by Philippe Aractingi that won awards at the Venice, Sundance and Dubai film festivals, which deals with the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006.

He also hopes to show The Devil Came on Horseback, an American documentary by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg that exposes the genocide raging in Darfur, as seen through the eyes of a former US marine who returns home to make the story public.

Another documentary, Palestine 1948 Nakba, by award-winning Japanese photojournalist Ryuichi Hirokawa chronicles 40 years of his work reporting the realities of the Middle East and Palestine to the world, is also set to be screened.

Mr Burdestani also hopes to show the 2007 Oscar-nominated documentary, Iraq in Fragments, which tells the stories of ordinary Iraqis living in a time of war, occupation and ethnic tension.

However, Mr Burdestani said that the festival will not simply be a somber procession of injustices and crude domination. "The films have an upbeat message about promoting non-violence, tolerance and respect for all humanity," he said.

He hopes this would be the first of three annual festivals, which would see Bahrain become the first Middle Eastern country - and the fourth in Asia - to be incorporated into an international human rights film festival network, currently made up of 20 countries.

He explained: "We want it to be small, simple and manageable this year. If it goes well we hope to do it again and make it bigger. We're building this culture of human rights gradually, but I would like to see Bahrain one day become an international theatre for an annual festival.

"If people want an event like this they will make it clear."

Mr Burdestani, a banker with Arab Banking Corporation, who has been involved with Amnesty International since the political reforms of 2002, joined hands with the Bahrain Society for Public Freedom and Democracy Watch to launch the festival.

The society was given BD7,000 by the Social Development Ministry, under which it operates, and BD3,000 by Netherlands-based Movies that Matter.

Mr Burdestani said he had been trying to establish a human rights film festival in Bahrain for more than two years, but it was only this year that enough funding had allowed it to happen.

He said it was coincidental that the festival coincided with the UN's scrutiny of Bahrain's human rights record, and believes that the kingdom was ready for the event.

"Bahrain has often been the first to do things and this is another important first," he said.

"Bahrain believes in reform and democracy and it can play a leading role in supporting democracy and freedom in the region. We believe the first human rights film festival will, and should, be held in Bahrain.

"Bahrain is ready for a festival like this because it is part of the human rights council, it will be reviewing its human rights record this year, it has had reforms and it is making lots of steps towards change."

The festival, which will take place from May 1 to 4, will coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Labour Day and World Press Freedom Day.

Mr Burdestani said that the medium of film had the power to galvanise mass support for human rights issues. It was during Mr Burdestani's work with campaigns against torture, the arms trade and the illicit diamond trade that he recognised the power of films to promote human rights.

He explained, "We used Lord of War, a film about the arms trade to generate signatures for an arms control campaign in 2005, and as a result Bahrain contributed the most signatures in the Mena region. We did the same with Blood Diamond to encourage people to find out about where the stones they were buying came from, and with The Road to Guantanamo to highlight the issue of torture.

"We utilised the messages from these films, and found a new way to instil a culture of human rights. Movies can play a major role, especially in attracting a new generation to the concept of human rights.

"Film, as a medium, is an excellent way to enlighten people about rights issues around the globe."

As a result of Mr Burdestani's campaigning efforts in 2005, he was invited by Amnesty International, Netherlands as the only representative from the Mena region to participate in a workshop where participants were taught how to distinguish between human rights films and political propaganda.

"It is very difficult and it is a very complex process," he said. "You need to work out who is supporting and funding the film and who benefits from it."

His attempts to organise a film festival the following year were thwarted due to lack of funds. Then last year Mr Burdestani attended the Venice Film Festival and a workshop on human rights.

"I met with lots of people, contacts, directors, actors and activists and they were all extremely excited about the idea of Bahrain's human rights film festival. They wanted to come to the region, to see the people and how they reacted," he said.

Directors, actors and activists will be on hand to discuss the films during the festival.

Films can be submitted up to March 15. A prize for the best film will be awarded by Movies that Matter and viewers will also be able choose their favorite, with the winner receiving a viewers' award.

Films will be screened at the Bahrain Cinema Company and Dana Cinema.