Impact Day 2021

Filmmakers, producers, NGOs, organizations and foundations are invited to participate in the FIFDH Impact Days. An event whose objective is to find find potential alliances and strategies that will increase the quality and results of their joint actions to have a positive impact on the world we live in.

The FIFDH, international leading human rights film festival, is held each year in March in Geneva, a city where over 750 NGOs and international organizations actively work and advocate to promote human rights and protect human rights activists worldwide. In 2019 the FIFDH launched the Impact Day. The Impact Day’s activities are divided into two categories: the training and networking events, addressed to selected filmmakers with a project and to changemakers (International organizations, NGOs and foundations), and the public activities, addressed to every filmmaker or organisation interested in impact production.

> Further reading : "72 Hours" wins the 2021 FIFDH Impact Day Award

Among the 131 documentary projects received from 70 countries (considering production and co-production territories), 16 have ultimately been selected to participate at the Impact Day 2021. They come from 19 countries from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas. 50% of the films are directed by female directors, 31% by male directors, and 19% are co-directed by teams of male and female directors.

The topics cover a wide range of the most urgent issues: from children trafficking in India to indigenous activism in the Amazon and the Philippines; from corporate responsibility in countries as Guatemala or Switzerland to forced displacement and land rights in Europe, and human rights abuses in Libya’s detention centers; among others.

Directed by: Anna Savchenko

Produced by: Play Time Films (Belgium), SaNoSi Productions (France) and Volia Films (Estonia)

Directed by: Nadia Fares

Produced by: Framevox (Switzerland)

Directed by: Anelise Salan

Produced by: East Movies and The L Studio Film (Romania)

Directed by: Miriam Chandy

Produced by: Filament Pictures Pvt Ltd (India), Bricolagista! and Film Independent (USA)

Directed by: Pieter Van Eecke

Produced by: Clin d’Oeil Films (Belgium) and Een van de jongens (Netherlands)

Directed and produced by: Ilyash Yourish and Shahrokh Bikaran (Afghanistan)

Produced by: Magneto (France)

Directed by: Sandrina Koppitz

Produced by: Elemag Pictures (Germany)

Directed by: Karl Malakunas

Produced by: Thoughtful Robot Productions (USA) and Storytellers International (Philippines)

Directed by: Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu

Produced by: AfroFilms International (Kenya), Twende Pictures (USA) and Muiraquitã Films (Brazil)

Directed by: Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić

Produced by: Wake Up Films (Serbia), Cut-Up Production (Montenegro), Kinematograf (Croatia) and Syndicado (Canada)

Directed by: Nadine Pequeneza and Carla Molina

Produced by: HitPlay Productions (Canada)

Directed by: Carolina Corral Paredes

Produced by: Amate Films (Mexico)

Directed by: Dodo Hunziker

Produced by: Doklab (Switzerland)

Directed by: Roland Chauville and Tay Blyth-Kubota

Produced by: Les Productions du Noyer (Switzerland)

Directed by: Louise Kjeldsen, Carsten Stomer and Kate Godfrey

Produced by: Plus Pictures and The Why Foundation (Denmark), a&o Buero (Germany) and Renegade Pictures (UK)

In March, after attending the online workshop to shape their impact strategies, the selected films’ teams will present their projects and attached campaigns to a wide range of NGOs and Foundations representatives with the aim of building synergies to make impact through the power of films.

An international selection committee greatly contributed with their expertise to identify the projects that will be part of the FIFDH Impact Day 2021:

• Farah Fayed, Manager of GOOD PITCH Beirut (Lebanon)
• Khushbooh Ranka, Director, Producer and Impact Producer (India)
• Lea Maria Strandbæk Sørensen, Forum & Impact Manager at Nordisk Panorama (Sweden)
• Paulina Suárez, General Director of Ambulante Festival (Mexico)
• Edgar Hagen, Head of Documentary Film Directing at FOCAL (Switzerland)

The 2021 FIFDH Impact Day is organised in collaboration with:

With the support of: