The sixth One World Romania human rights documentary film festival is getting underway in Bucharest on March 11 and ahead of the opening the organizers are offering a sneak preview of some of the films featuring at this year's event. Holocaust documentary Shoah will also be screened ahead of the festival. The film was never shown in Romania on its original release in 1985.

The main theme for this year's festival is Hate Is Bad for Your Health, looking at hatred and its repercussions. “Since the last edition of One World Romania, the quantity of hate and intolerance per square meter has exponentially grown. Our karma is broken... Abused […] The program, put together with Adina Bradeanu, tries to be an antidote to hate and anger,” said festival director Alexandru Solomon (in picture). There are also documentaries featuring under five other themes – Dis/Abilities, Propaganda Lectures, Before the Law, Everyday Rebellions and Youth: Handle with Care. Groundbreaking documentaries from around the world are on offer, giving intimate portraits of those caught up in conflicts, revolution, human rights abuses, prejudice and tyranny across the globe. As well as the documentaries themselves, the One World Romania festival will show a retrospective of the Danish filmmaker Jon Bang Carlsen, plus workshops, debates and other side events.

Coming up at the festival are documentaries such as Call Me Kuchu, Anton's Right Here, The Sheik and I, Revision, Forbidden Voices, and After the Silence.

Included among the films being screened online before the festival are The Reluctant Revolutionary, which follows a tour guide in Yemen and how he becomes involved in the uprising against the country's president, and The Mayor – a portrait of Mauricio Fernández Garza, Mayor of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico. Being a mayor is a dangerous business in Mexico; they are often murdered in the ongoing battles between the authorities and the drug cartels that have resulted in ongoing violence and bloodshed in recent years.

Forced Confessions follows film maker Maziar Bahari, who got into trouble in Iran when he reported on post-election disturbances. Also coming up is Fortress, which takes a look at Transnistria – a breakaway republic on the banks of the Dneister between Moldova and Ukraine.

Watch the previews here.

Documentaries are showing at a number of cinemas in Bucharest – Cinema Patria, Cinema Union, Cinemateca Eforie and Cinema Corso. Film's are also screening at the Peasant Museum's Studioul Horia Bernea, The French Institute's Cinema Elvire Popesco and the Czech Centre/Centrul Ceh.

Entry to some events is free, while single tickets can be bought from the cinemas. Festival passes are also available online at Eventbook.

Find out more about the event and the festival schedule on the One World Romania site.

The festival runs between March 11 and March 17 and is dedicated to the memory of Czech writer, dissident and eventual president Vaclav Havel. The organizers are One World Romania Association and the Czech Center Bucharest, with support from various businesses and institutions, including Representation of the European Commission in Romania, National Center of Cinematography, National Council Against Discrimination and Pilsner Urquell.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com

photo source: oneworld.ro