Stories on Human Rights

22 short-movies for the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Internationally recognised filmmakers, artists and writers, have joined forces to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by contributing to a unique film project composed by twenty-two 3 minutes short-movies inspired by the six themes of the Universal Declaration: culture, development, dignity and justice, environment, gender and participation. These short films "Stories on Human Rights" are an initiative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and produced by ART for The World, an NGO based in Geneva and Milan. "Stories on Human Rights" is the first large film project bounding together artists and film makers in a single project on cinema. Participants have been selected for their strong artistic qualities and their deep interest towards the promotion of Human Rights.

The 22 film-directors involved were chosen both for their talent (Zhang-Ke Jia won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Jasmila Zbanic the Golden Bear in Berlin, Hany Abu-Assad a Golden Globe…) as well as for their commitment to social issues and their deep concern for Human Rights. The various backgrounds and sensibilities deployed in this same global project have produced a multiple-voiced representation of the meaning of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) at the international level. The movies have been shot in more than 15 countries around the world and in different languages. They exist as single short movie and are also presented altogether in a long feature film of 1h and 20 min, subtitled in the six official languages of the UN (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) The film is accompanied by a book published by Electa. It contains interviews of the film makers and the artists, still frames of the short movies and ackstage pictures as well as contributions by twelve authors, including five Nobel prize winners, referring to the six themes of the Declaration: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Khaled Hosseini, Roberto Saviano, Naguib Mafuz, Elfriede Jelinek, Ruth Ozeki, José Saramago, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Assia Djebar, Nuruddin Farah, Toni Morrison and Mo Yan.

"Stories on Human Rights" became a reality thanks to ART for The World, the creative involvement of numerous film-directors and artists, the financial support of the European Commission, the Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DGCID), the French Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs, the Brazilian Social Services of Commerce (SESC) and the French National Centre of Cinematography (CNC).
 

Short movies by

Marina Abramovic (Serbia/The Netherlands)
Abu-Assad (Palesatine)
Armagan Ballantyne (New Zeland)
Sergei Bodrov (Russia)
Charles de Meaux (France)
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster & Ange Leccia
Runa Islam (United Kingdom / Bangladesh)
Francesco Jodic (Italy)
Etgar Keret & Shira Geffen
Zhang-Ke Jia (China)
Murali Nair (India)
Idrissa Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso)
Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland)
Daniela Thomas (Brazil)
Saman Salour (Iran)
Sarkis (France)
Bram Schouw (The Netherlands)
Teresa Serrano (Mexico)
Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania)
Pablo Trapero (Argentina)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)
Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia)
 

About ART FOR THE WORLD

ART for The World is a Non Governmental Organization associated with the UNDPI; it is based in Geneva and since 2005 collaborates with its twin associaion ART for The World Europa based in Milan.
In 1995, Adelina von Fürstenberg founded ART for The World within Dialogues de Paix (Dialogues of Peace), an international contemporary art exhibition which she curated on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. ART for The World is inspired by the article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims creative activity as an essential part of people’s well-being, and pluralism and respect of differences in this context are essential conditions: “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts…”

ART for The World tries to spread our common cultural heritage and to promote, through art, that mutual respect which is necessary for the diffusion of the principles of Human Rights. These are the main goals ART for The World aims to achieve organising international cultural events with the participation of artists, directors, musicians and writers from all over the world which express their thoughts on the most relevant issue of our recent times. All of this belongs to a more general context, as these activities go beyond the common boundaries of the culture giving different audiences the opportunity to meet through the universal dimension of art.

ART for The World may be considered as an itinerant museum: its activities are not related to a permanent and defined space, but to the sense of the initiatives it promotes. Hence, ART for The World is a link between diffusion of contemporary art and culture and the defence of universal rights and values. ART for The World is the only NGO organising projects in the field of contemporary art. It is a unique and extreme experience in the international scene. For its activities, ART for The World need a “light structure”, a small permanent staff, a board of counsellors and collaborators in different cities around the world (Boston, Chicago, New York, Paris, London, Bruxelles, Milan, Turin, Florence, Athens, Sao Paulo, New Dehli) able to act rapidly and effectively. ART for The World works thanks to the contributions of its donors – public and private institutions and individual members – supporting each time the different projects.

ART for The World presents its projects in sites, which normally do not belong to the traditional contemporary art circuit, such as ancient monuments, monasteries, public buildings, schools, islands, parks, stadium and other open spaces. Well known and young artists from all continents are invited to participate both because of the great quality of their works and their moral and civil committment to themes related to humanity. For more information on the activities of ART for The World: www.artfortheworld.net

Concept and curatorship: Adelina von Fürstenberg
An initiative of the United Nations.
A project by ART for The World.
Further Informationen: www.artfortheworld.net