The proposal reflects that the theme of 2024, the fight against climate change and the defense of the territory, is “a very complex and very diverse scenario.”
The festival will be held from May 30 to June 8 and will dedicate its film series “Pau i Justícia” to the struggle of the Palestinian people
The Valencia International Film and Human Rights Festival, Humans Fest, organized by Fundación por la Justicia, has presented the official poster this year, which has been created by graphic designer Alvaro Perin, who has worked since “an inclusive and honest vision” to represent the fight against climate change and the defense of the territory, the backbone of the 15th edition.
Specialized in projects related to social transformation, music and education, Álvaro Perín affirms that he has experienced this assignment as “a great opportunity as an independent designer.” During his creative process he has tried to “know the needs of the project and empathize with viewers”, which allows him to “achieve formulas that impact and excite.”
INCLUSIVE DESIGN FOR A COLLECTIVE CLAIM
In this case, the result is “colorful and animated” to attract attention, while the illustration reflects the fight against climate change and the defense of territory as a very complex and very diverse scenario as for its actors.” For this reason, Perín explains that “we needed an identity that represented all the movements and all the sensibilities, making them part of the poster as they will also be part of the Humans Fest.” Thus, the image ranges from the festival audience to activists, including the film industry itself.
All in all, the poster for the 15th edition of Humans Fest shows a position shared by its creator, Álvaro Perín, and the festival team. “We live in a time when it is very important to activate the collective consciousness and think, in addition to the environmental problems themselves, in interdependence with our territory to take care of it. Any initiative that works to foster that perspective goes in a direction that can create possibilities for a alternative future to capitalist development”, he concludes.
HUMANS FEST DEDICATES ITS “PAU I JUSTÍCIA” CYCLE TO PALESTINE
This year, the festival team also wanted to join the citizen mobilization in support of the struggle of the Palestinian people and the demands defended by multiple social organizations. Therefore, his “Pau i Justícia” film series, which is being held at La Filmoteca IVC, will star three palestinian films which will be screened at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 31, Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2.
Specifically, it will be the case of the documentary Ghost Hunting (2017), Award for Best Documentary at the Berlinale, which shows how Palestinian director Raed Andoni brings together a group of former prisoners to build a replica of Al-Moskobiya, Israel's main interrogation center, based on their memories.
It will also be programmed Omar (2013), a fiction feature film that received the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. This cinematographic work tells the love story in occupied Palestine between Nadia and Omar, who is captured by a resistance action and, from then on, must face painful life or death decisions.
Finally, The Tower (2018), an award-winning animated film, will complete the cycle. This family proposal, which has not been released commercially in Spain, offers a trip to Palestine through the eyes of Wardi, an 11-year-old girl who lives in the refugee camp where she was born, showing the consequences of the crisis in which His country has been engulfed for years.
Members of the artistic teams of the films and Valencian activists will also participate in the screenings of “Pau i Justícia” to maintain colloquia with the public, thus amplifying the dissemination of the reality of the Palestinian people due to the invasion and genocide that Israel is committing.
Humans Fest will also feature this year with the presence of representatives of the Red Carpet Human Rights Film Festivalof Palestine, the first film festival held in Gaza and the West Bank.
COLLECTIVE CREATION OF SHORT SHORTS AND HUMANS FEST, AN INDISOCIABLE TANDEM
Once again, the festival has held a participatory documentary workshop, lasting three days, accompanied by the team from La Cosecha, a Valencian production company specialized in communication with social impact. Thus, a fortnight of activists belonging to entities such as Entrepueblos, ACEM (Ecologists Manchuela, Cuenca and Albacete) or Neighborhood Associations such as the one in the Nazaret neighborhood, among others, have collectively created several short films in which they speak from different perspectives about the fight against climate change and the defense of territory.
“For our festival it is important to be open to citizen listening, not only offering films on human rights created by professionals, but also for the rights subjects themselves to have a space to speak in the first person,” explains Pilar Almenar, advocacy coordinator. from the Humans Fest.
The resulting works will premiere during the festival in a meeting that will include screening and discussion with the people participating in the workshop, who will open the reflection that they have started with their audiovisual proposals to the rest of the citizens so that they can also participate in the social dialogue on the theme of the Humans Fest and, in Consequently, part of the change.
Humans Fest is part of the international Human Rights Film Network. Its 15th edition is celebrated thanks to the collaboration of the Second Vice Presidency and Department of Social Services, Equality and Housing, Diputació de València, Ajuntament de València, Institut Valencià de Cultura, Caixa Popular and Teika.
