The Valencia International Film and Human Rights Festival, Humans Fest, organized by Fundación por la Justicia since 2009, has inaugurated the exhibition at the headquarters of the Diputació de València “The streets will always be ours”, which includes a selection of photographs of Eva Mañez, who has portrayed the massive feminist mobilizations that have taken place in the city in recent years.
“The selection of images and the title of the exhibition are based on the chants and proclamations that are usually heard at these demonstrations. They are cries that ask for changes towards equality, that claim that our bodies belong to us and no one else, that warn that we will no longer be relegated to the home or settle for more violence or aggression,” the photojournalist herself explained.
The opening ceremony of this exhibition took place in the interior patio of the Provincial Council of Valencia (Plaza de Manises, 4), where it will remain until June 26 with free entry weekends. Eva Máñez has been accompanied by Mentxu Balaguer, deputy for International Cooperation; Majo Siscar, director of the Humans Fest; José María Tomás y Tío, president of the Foundation for Justice; and Rosa Solbes, representative of Les Beatrius, a network of professional women for feminist journalism.
AN UNSTOPPABLE AND CROSS-CUTTING MOVEMENT
The photojournalist Eva Máñez has also explained that with this exhibition she has tried to capture the power, heterogeneity and scope of the feminism. Continuing with her words: “The women's strike of 2018 was a turning point that gave us the opportunity to be aware of the strength we have in the streets. Here there are images from then on in mobilizations for 8M, 25N or against injustices such as the case of La Manada. One of the most interesting aspects of the images is that they capture the diversity of women who make up this movement: young and old, already organized or mobilizing for the first time, heterosexuals and LGTBIQ+, migrants, from different social classes…”
THE “BIG WEEK” OF THE XIV EDITION OF HUMANS FEST
The festival, which began last Thursday, June 1, faces its “big week” until Saturday, June 10, when the award-winning works of this edition will be announced. Thus, from Monday to Friday the bulk of the fiction feature films and documentaries will be screened. Official Section at Babel Cinemas. Likewise, the SGAE Centro Cultural Room will host the short films that are also in competition.
For its part, the Rector Peset Residence Hall will be the setting for the Sample of Participatory Shorts, where on Monday the 5th and Wednesday the 7th in the afternoon the works carried out by different social groups will be screened in audiovisual workshops and colloquiums will be held to reflect on the power of cinema for social transformation.
Likewise, at La Filmoteca the “author cycle” which this year the director has released Isabel Coixet as honorary awardee Peace and Justice. Specifically, next Friday will be the turn of his documentary El sostre groc, which narrates the sexual abuse committed at the Lleida Theater School and will be accompanied by a subsequent round table on why there has not been a #metoo widespread in Spain. Two protagonists of the documentary will participate: Cristina García and Aida Flix.
The final stretch of the XIV Humans Fest will be starred by a free session of “fresh cinema” in the Plaza de la Ermita in the neighborhood of Orriols (Friday the 9th at 9 p.m.) and a second installment of the so-called Vermouths Humans: meetings with activists in the MuVIM cafeteria to talk in a relaxed atmosphere about human rights. Specifically, on Saturday the 10th at 12 noon it will be the time to listen to women who cross intersections beyond their gender.
Humans Fest is part of the international Human Rights Film Network. Its 14th edition is celebrated thanks to the collaboration of the Conselleria de Cooperació, Diputació de València, Ajuntament de València, Institut Valencià de Cultura, Caixa Popular and Teika. For its part, the Valencian regional radio and television station À Punt is the official media of the festival.