The Festival will take place at the Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, the seat of the Center for Contemporary Art (No. 6, Aleje Ujazdowskie Street).

Entrance to all screenings is free.

Screened in two cinema halls will be 17 films, mostly documentaries, dealing with human rights issues. Some of the screenings will be accompanied by moderated discussions with specialists in the field, including the President of Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights Marek Nowicki, Prof. Wiktor Osiatyński, Prof. Andrzej Rzepliński, the International Ombudsperson for Kosovo Marek Antoni Nowicki and Prof. Ewa Łętowska. On 10 - 17 December, the visitors will have free access to a videotheque with a broader offer of films, including educational films produced by our Foundation.

The principal difference between our Festival and other such events organized worldwide is the group of our recipients: the Festival is organized first and foremost for activists of Polish and East-European non-governmental organizations. We would like the event to provide them with the opportunity to meet; and to evolve into a specific third sector festival. Invited to attend have been representatives of non-governmental organizations from the New Independent States. We also want to reach a broader public, especially the young, thus expanding the activities of Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in the area of public education.

This year's edition of the Festival is a pilot one; we plan to organize next year a longer event involving a film contest among other additions.

To properly initiate a new annual event in Warsaw, the Program Board with director Marcel Łoziński among its members decided to choose for this pilot Festival a limited number of the best films shown recently at human rights film festivals worldwide - the Amnesty International Festival in Amsterdam, the Human Rights Watch Festival in New York, and the One World Festival in Prague.

The Warsaw Festival will be held annually in December to celebrate the anniversary of adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Funds for organization of the event have been granted by the Representation of the European Commission in Poland and the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Warsaw.

e-mail: film@hfhrpol.waw.pl

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Community. The views expressed herein are those of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and can therefore in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Commission.