Since 2003, the FIFDH has been committed to cinema and to respecting human rights. Each year, in the heart of international Geneva and in parallel with the main session of the UN Human Rights Council, the Festival presents films and debates that highlight struggles and denounce violations wherever they may occur.

Let's open the debate!

The FIFDH invites activists, NGOs, profes- sors, diplomats, artists, activists, journalists and the general public to join, exchange and discuss their points of view. During the 10 days of the Festival and throughout the year, the FIFDH attracts more than 40,000 festival-goers to 80 venues in the Greater Geneva area — in the city centre, but also at the UN, in museums, theatres, collective accommodation centres, hospitals and prisons — with the aim of reaching out to a wide diversity of audiences and offering an inclusive event.

The debates have featured Nobel Prize winners Shirin Ebadi, Joseph Stiglitz, Tawakkol Karman and Dr Denis Mukwege. High Commissioners Michelle Bachelet and Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein. Activists Angela Davis and Nathan Law. Whistleblowerse Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. Authors Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Arundathi Roy, Roberto Saviano, Alice Zeniter, Leïla Slimani and Philippe Sands. Artists Ai Weiwei and JR. Diplomats and politicians Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa and Leïla Shahid, but also Edgar Morin and Stéphane Hessel, along with many activists and field workers.
 

A film festival

Three international feature film competitions - fiction and documentary - offer a selection of committed films, in the presence of the filmmakers and protagonists. The films are at the heart of the FIFDH’s programme, as much for their artistic impact as for the subjects they address. They encourage encounters between the guests and the different audiences in order to lead to commitment.

The biggest names in international cinema have come to the Festival, including Angelina Jolie, Forest Whitaker, Gael García Bernal, Rithy Panh, Raoul Peck, Juliette Binoche, Reda Kateb, Hanna Polak, Aïssa Maïga, Abderrahmane Sissako and Nabil Ayouch.
 

The Festival offers a wide-ranging pro- gramme of films and debates for schoolchildren, but also for students of universities, haute écoles and film schools, including workshops and masterclasses. Throughout the year, the FIFDH provides an online catalogue of films to raise awareness about human rights issues among young audiences. The programme for 12-18 years students — The FIFDH in your class — offers educational sequences specially produced for public and private schools.

Know more about the school programme.
 

The FIFDH is organising the HUMAN RIGHTS FILM TOUR, in partnership with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), an international tour of Swiss films followed by debates offered around the world, with the support of Swiss embassies and local NGOs. The tour has visited 60 countries since 2018, including Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Pakistan, South Sudan, Belarus, Guatemala, Algeria, Bhutan and Madagascar.

Know more about the international tour. 
 

"Impact Days: a unique laboratory for socially engaged cinema"

This programme brings together filmma- kers, producers, NGOs and foundations to develop collaborative synergies and run impact campaigns around films. As a go-between for filmmakers and international Geneva, the programme attracts every year over 900 people from 70 countries.

Impact Days also offers Swiss and international documentary projects — tackling urgent and current issues — the opportunity to benefit from a training and support programme over several weeks: the Impact Lab. A catalogue of projects, including thematic resources and films about impact campaigns, is available online.

Know more about the Impact Days programme.
 

The Festival is supported by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and the City and Canton of Geneva. The Festival works closely with 170 international partners, including Amnesty International, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Doctors without Borders (MSF) and the Cinémathèque suisse. Its professional programme is supported by Doc Society, the Federal Office of Culture (OFC), Media Desk Switzerland and Suissimage. The FIFDH is a founding member of the Human Rights Film Network, a network of 45 international festivals. Its media partners are Le Temps,  SSR-SRG, Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), ARTE, Euronews, TV5Monde, Courrier International and France Culture. About the media coverage of the FIFDH.

Know more about  the partners of the Festival.
 

The Festival is supported by singer Barbara Hendricks, former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss, filmmaker Rithy Panh, actor, filmmaker and activist Gael García Bernal and producer Abigail Disney. Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights tragically killed in Baghdad in 2003, was the Festival’s first patron.
 

“The FIFDH offers a unique space to observe the world, to debate, but above all, to make a commitment to change this world."

BARBARA HENDRICKS
SINGER AND PATRON OF THE FESTIVAL
 

Grand Geneva Award
10’000 CHF - Offered by the City and Canton of Geneva
Awarded by the International Documentary Jury

Gilda Vieira De Mello Award, as a tribute to her son Sergio Vieira De Mello
5’000 CHF - Offered by the Barbara Hendricks Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation
Awarded by the International Documentary Jury

Youth Jury Award
1000 CHF - Offered by the Peace Brigades International (PBI)

Fiction Grand Award
10’000 CHF - Offered by the Hélène et Victor Barbour Foundation
Awarded by the International Fiction Jury

Youth Jury Award
1'000 CHF - Offered by the Eduki Foundation

The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) Award
5’000 CHF - Offered by the world Organization against Torture (OMCT) to a director whose film demonstrates his or her commitment to the human rights’ cause to help in the writing of his or her next film project
Awarded by the OMCT Jury

Special jury
Awarded by a jury composed of patients of HUG's Hôpital de jour.

Learn more about the FIFDH Cultural Actions.
 

FIFDH Code of conduct

The FIFDH is a space for open and frank discussions, for sharing ideas, reports and analysis concerning human rights around the world. Featured films and debates address some of the most sensitive topics in the world today. By the simple fact of their participation, all those attending any part of the Festival and Forum commit to do so in a spirit of open-mindedness, respect and tolerance. Any form of discrimination, harassment, racism, sexism, homophobia, hate, political or social insult, or other disruptive behavior will not be tolerated in the scope of the FIFDH.
 

• Annual report 2023 (in French)
• Annual report 2022 (in French)
• Annual report 2021 (in French)
• Annual report 2020 (in French)

• Programmes and activity reports of the previous editions of the FIFDH