The shortlist for the 5th annual Irish Council for Civil Liberties Human Rights Film Awards was today (Wednesday 05 June 2013) announced by a jury of leading names in Irish cinema, including Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director Kirsten Sheridan.
The cream of entries to Ireland’s only human rights film competition, the five shortlisted films cover a diverse range of issues at home and further afield.
Announcing the shortlist today, Jury Member Kirsten Sheridan said:
“The five films shortlisted for this year’s Awards run a gamut of themes from the subjugation of women during armed conflict to the empowerment of people with disabilities. The strength of the human spirit and the capacity of a human rights based approach to protect the most vulnerable members of society is a common thread that runs through all of them.”
“The Jury would like to congratulate all the filmmakers on reaching the shortlist of this prestigious competition, and we look forward to our deliberations to decide the winning film.”
The shortlist will be the subject of an exclusive Gala Awards screening at the Light House Cinema on the evening of June 20th 2013, where the Jury will announce the winning film.
To arrange print and broadcast interviews with the Jury and filmmakers and for further information on the awards screening in the Light House Cinema on 20 June 2013, please contact:
Walter Jayawardene
Communications Manager
Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL)
9-13 Blackhall Place
Dublin 7
Ireland
Tel. + 353 1 799 4503
Mob: +353 87 9981574
Fax. + 353 1 799 4512
E-mail walter.jayawardene@iccl.ie
Notes to the editor:
- The ICCL Human Rights Film Awards is a project of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL). It is Ireland’s first and only short film awards dedicated to human rights.
- The shortlist of five short films was announced at 12.30 today, 05 June 2013, at a photo call at the Irish Film Classification Office. The shortlist will be available to view online from 12.30pm on 5 June 2013 via the competition website HERE
- Photographs will be filed to newsdesks by Gareth Cheney at Collins Photography. Stills from the shortlisted films are available on request from Walter Jayawardene at the above details.
- The shortlist will be the subject of an exclusive Gala Awards screening at the Light House Cinema on the evening of 20 June 2013, where the Jury will announce the winning film.
- The Jury comprises acclaimed filmmakers Kirsten Sheridan, Rebecca Miller, and Ken Wardrop; actors Brenda Fricker, Stephen Rea and Victoria Smurfit; Senator David Norris; Grainne Humphreys, director of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival; Oscar-nominated animator Nicky Phelan; and John Kelleher, former Director of IFCO.
- The shortlist was chosen by a panel of experts in human rights and the Arts, including Anthea McTiernan of the Irish Times; Alan Fitzpatrick, Managing Director of Filmbase; John Maguire, Film Critic with the Sunday Business Post; Alicia McGivern, Head of Education at the IFI; Marc O’Sullivan, Arts Editor of the Irish Examiner; Suzanne Egan of the UCD School of Law.
The 2013 ICCL Human Rights Film Awards Shortlist – Details:
Mums & Dad
Director: Dara deFaoite
A lesbian couple and gay man become the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy. This short documentary explores the roles and relationships that exist between a mother, Ruth, a father, Jer, and their six-year old son Stephen, reflecting a significant aspect of the diversity of family types in Ireland today. At its heart Mums and Dad is a story of love, loss, trust and respect, however this short documentary also contextualizes the challenges faced by LGBT parents and the right of every individual to make responsible family decisions regardless of marital status or sexual orientation.
The Value of Women in the Congo
Director: Dearbhla Glynn
War has torn Eastern Congo apart for nearly two decades it is the deadliest war since World War 2. One of the more sinister repercussions of the war is that violence against women has reached epic proportions. In an effort to look at the root cause, ‘The value of Women in The Congo’ explores the experience of the victims of this violence as well as the perspective of the perpetrators, warlords and high-ranking commandants. What emerges is an arresting and brutal account of how war ravages the land and its people and leaves few victors – least of all women, whose value is often rendered worthless.
The Rattle of Benghazi
Director: Paco Torres
Say Benghazi and Dublin in the same sentence and it would be a struggle to imagine any type of synergy. But that is exactly what Dublin-based, Spanish director Paco Torres has achieved in his acclaimed short film The Rattle of Benghazi. Our Dublin cityscape becomes transformed into the setting for the 2011 uprising against the government of Muammar Gaddafi. The geographical mash-up is not the only duality at play here as the film, told from the perspective of a brother and sister, juxtaposes the chaos of war with the innocence of childhood. While the film opens with a seemingly innocuous scene of the children at play, what unfolds becomes altogether more harrowing, as the realities of war intrude on and envelop the siblings’ lives.
Jimmy
Director: Martin Smith
The ‘a day in the life of’ motif is not a new idea in filmmaking. Until you see Jimmythat is. Following the daily routine of disability rights campaigner Jimmy McIntosh, MBE, award-winning Scottish filmmaker Martin Smith dispenses with the conventional methods of observational documentary film making, where the subject is often objectified for and by the audience. Instead Smith adopts a truly unique style of directing that allows the viewer to see the world according to Jimmy. With a camera at eye level and another attached to his wheelchair, Jimmy is transformed from subject of the camera’s gaze to its master. Jimmy thus becomes an innovative and intimate portrait of one man, as seen from the inside out.
No Enemies
Director: Trish McAdam
A campaign video for Front Line Defenders, No Enemies takes as its inspiration Chinese human rights defender Lui Xiaobo’s renowned I Have No Enemies speech of Christmas Day 2009, when he was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment. Set against spartan graphics, the film gives elegant shape to Liu’s journey from arrest to conviction. His words – spoken by Salman Rushdie and Seamus Heaney among others – are a graceful and stoical declaration of love – love for his wife and for life, unencumbered by and transcending the oppression he faces.