Approximately 15 thousand viewers enjoyed the 4. “Human Rights in Film” International Film Festival. As usual, the two screening rooms in the Ujazdowski Castle were full. This year, film screenings and accompanying events were additionally held in three other theatres, including the largest festival cinema – Kino Relax, which was filled each evening.

Films about North Korea and Tibet as well as Farheen Umar’s “Women of Islam” were the most popular. Arthur Dong’s documentaries about discrimination of sexual minorities in the USA also received significant interest. At the last minute, Arthur Dong decided travel to the festival, resulting in very interesting discussions after the screening of his films. Petr Lom, the author of the fabulous “Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan,” was also a previously unannounced festival guest.

Fabrizio Lazzaretti received the Festival Prize of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights for extraordinary achievements in showing human rights in film. The festival program included two of his films – the now classic “Jung (War) in the Land of the Mujaheddin” and the latest – “Justice - in Time of War.”

Through cooperation of “Human Rights in Film” with Amsterdam’s IDFA Festival, in addition to the Europe.doc review, there was also a meeting organized for Polish filmmakers on the sources of financing documentary films in Europe. IDFA representatives, Tue Steen Muller and Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen, chaired this meeting.

Internet portals and the press, including the Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzeczpospolita dailies published information and festival reviews, with additional broadcasts provided by television and radio stations. The Polis Young Journalists Association, in cooperation with Jugendpresse Deutschland, developed and published a festival gazette – a special edition of the international magazine Orange.

Nearly one hundred volunteers assisted in festival preparations and realization.

The 3rd Traveling Film Festival “Human Rights in Film” of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights will begin in February 2005. The first city it will visit will be Lublin, where festival films will be shown at ACK UMCS “Chatka Żaka” on February 16 - 19.