The movies Red rooster, The white guard y Breathe, mom, which address the relationship between young people and the rural environment, mining looting in Mexico and air quality, close the competitive sections
El Saler and Orriols host the festival's cool film sessions, which address in their Debates Humans issues such as sustainable cinema, fashion and jurisprudence
The presence of the environment in cinema, literature and podcasts stars on Saturday at the MuVIM the last Vermouth Humans
The 15th edition of the Valencia International Film and Human Rights Festival, Humans Fest, organized by the Foundation for Justice since 2009, faces its final days with numerous proposals, both screenings and activities, to show citizens how to fight against climate change from different parts of the world, as well as multiple initiatives in defense of the territory from the local to the international level.
Humans Fest premieres this Thursday Red rooster, the brilliant debut in long-form fiction by Valladolid filmmaker Enrique García-Vázquez that closes the competitive Humans Fic section. Starring Pino de Pablos and Lucía Lobato, Red rooster narrates the relationship of new generations with the rural environment and addresses issues such as depopulation and the migration of young people to the city through the story of two girls determined to open a summer cinema in the patio of the old family house in a Castilian town in the Tierra de Campos region.
Fresh cinema in El Saler and Orriols
Enrique García-Vázquez, a director who emerges with his first fiction as a filmmaker with his own perspective, will be present at the Humans Fest along with the actress Lucía Lobato, who will hold a discussion with the public at the end of the screening. Besides, Red rooster will star in the last two sessions of Cinema a la Fresca. The sessions will take place this Thursday in El Jardín de la Alcaldía de El Saler, and on Friday in the Jardín de la Ermita de Orriols square. Both screenings will begin at 9:30 p.m. and will also have the presence of the director and the actress to participate in a discussion with the audience.
In turn, the Humans Doc section will offer the last two titles in competition at the Babel cinemas. This Thursday it is scheduled at 10:00 p.m. The white guard (Julie Elien, Canada, 2023), an essential documentary that addresses mining looting in Mexico. The title refers to the white guards, organized crime groups paid by mining companies to maintain control of the environment. The film explores the mutually beneficial relationship between large corporations, the government and the cartels that are taking down more and more activists.
On Friday at 8:00 p.m. the Humans Doc section closes the film Breathe, mom (Meri Collazos Solá, Spain, 2024). The film is about the story of Meri and her daughter Nina, who suffers from an Alpha1 genetic deficiency, a genetic rarity that leaves her unprotected from any polluting air. In her fight for clean air, Meri meets families with the same problem. Together they discover shocking truths and face the consequences of the Dieselgate, gene editing and the pandemic. The session will be attended by the director and two of the protagonists, who will hold a discussion (with interpretation in sign language) with the audience at the end of the screening.
Sustainable cinema, fashion and jurisprudence, in the Debats Humans
The Rector Peset Residence Hall will host new meetings of the Debats Humans this Thursday and Friday. The talk Fast fashion and inequalities addresses the fast fashion industry this Thursday starting at 6:30 p.m. The screening of the documentary Dirty clothes (Félix Zurita de Higes, 2021), which analyzes the exhausting working conditions of the women who make textiles in Central America and its parallels with those not so different from those of the Valencian Country, where more than 700 textile companies have closed, will give walk to a subsequent discussion with ISCOD-UGT activists and shopkeepers from Elche.
On Friday the 7th the last three meetings will take place. First, Sustainable cinema, With limited capacity, it will address from 11:00 a.m. the environmental impact of film productions and how to develop more sustainable filming. Sixto García, eco-manager and member of the Sustainability Commission of the Valencian Audiovisual Academy (AVAV); Jaime Fons, representative of the Spanish Network for Sustainable Development, and producer Deborah Micheletti will talk about how to adapt the audiovisual sector to reduce the environmental impact of productions.
Next, the meeting Cameras and (climatic) action! Starting at 5:00 p.m., it will offer the screening of the participatory short films resulting from the documentary workshop organized by Humans Fest together with the Fundación por la Justicia with activists against climate change. Touristification, identity and defense of the territory and the dystopian future of the city of Valencia are the respective plots of the short films No Places (Elena Krause, Conxa Solano, Margaret Flaws, Roberta Callicó and Gabriel Lozano), Move Horizontally (Marina Reig Vega, Andrés Ortiz, Sofía Val Corvera and Patricia Azpelicueta) and New Val 2075 (Jaume Ferrando, Ruth Davia, Lydia Melia and José Octavio Toledo-Alcalde).
Finally, the meeting Ecosystems on trial will analyze international jurisprudence to defend the environment and human rights with the help of Antonio Vercher Noguera, Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Chamber, Coordinator of Environment and Urban Planning and lawyer of the European Court of Justice, in a talk presented by Izabel Rigo Portocarrero, deputy director of the Public Law Area and academic coordinator of the Master's Degree in Environmental Law at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).
Art and weather on Saturday at the MuVIM
The Vermouths Humans return this Saturday to the MuVIM starting at 12:00 p.m. to talk about Art for the climate: creators for a world in danger, a meeting in which the journalist Pablo Garrigós and the creators Luci Romero (writer), Laura García Andreu (film and podcast director Velles) and Meri Collazos (film director) will talk about their motivations for valuing the environment through cinema, literature and podcasts.
In addition to the screenings, meetings and talks, the public will be able to visit the photographic exhibition for free until June 16 at the Tabacalera Building (C/ Amadeo de Saboya, 11). African activism against climate change, a production of the University of Valencia that has been made by Soraya Aybar, David Soler and Pablo Garrigós. This exhibition offers first-person stories of activists and the environmental impact that changes the media's usual view of East Africa.
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. For its part, the Valencian regional radio and television station, À Punt, is the official media of the festival.