Press Release – For immediate release
Thursday 9 December 2010

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has today (9 December 2010) marked International Human Rights Week by raising the curtain on its 2011 Human Rights Film Awards.

Director of hit Irish film His and Hers Ken Wardrop was also announced today as the newest addition to the Awards jury, which also boasts names such as actress Victoria Smurfit and filmmaker Kirsten Sheridan.

Speaking today, Ken Wardrop said:

“It is great to see the ICCL Human Rights Film Awards enter its third year and firmly cement its place as a fixture in the Irish film world’s annual calendar. As filmmakers, we are in a unique position to highlight injustice and call for a more just society through our work, and the ICCL Human Rights Film Awards provides just such an opportunity. Over the past two years, the competition has produced shortlisted films of outstanding quality which cast light on a range of human rights issues in new and creative ways.”

“I am most honoured this year to join the Awards Jury and I would call on all those passionate about human rights and film in Ireland to enter” he added.

The 2011 ICCL Human Rights Film Awards invites individual film students, filmmakers, and all those with a strong interest in human rights to submit an original short film focusing on a particular human rights issue. The aim of the Human Rights Film Awards is to provide film students, filmmakers and those working in human rights with an opportunity to contribute to human rights discourse in Ireland through the medium of film.

This year’s awards will also include a schools-focussed ‘Human Rights in Under Minute Challenge’, in association with RTE Young Peoples programming. Open to young people attending second level schools in Ireland, this new strand of the Awards challenges young people to capture a human rights issue on film in the space of 60 seconds. The winner of the challenge will be featured on TV and online on RTÉ Young People’s Two Tube programme in summer 2011.