22/03/2016 - For the first time, the festival is organising Civil Society Pitch, a workshop linking human rights NGOs with filmmakers

With 53 films selected across its nine sections, the ninth edition of One World Romania (21-27 March) looks set to transform Bucharest into the human rights capital of Europe. Organised by the One World Romania Association and the Czech Cultural Centre in Bucharest, and supported by the Romanian National Film Center, the festival will showcase the newest and hottest documentaries on a diverse array of social and political issues. 

The Europe’s Crisis Cabinet section will screen documentaries about today’s most pressing social issues, such as the protection of private data (David Bernet’s Democracy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Bernet
film profile]), religion and tolerance (Ernesto Pagano’s Napolislam), and Europe’s violent past and how it still affects the present (David Evans’ My Nazi Legacy).

Ten documentaries are part of the Refugee Luggage sidebar, while nine films in selection will explore aspects of the present-day Middle East. The Rights and Wrongs section shows how every legal system in the world has its own shortcomings, while The Purple Eye of Our Love delves into the difficult topic of violence against women with the help of five documentaries.

Among the festival firsts, there is a virtual-reality (VR) event, which will allow the audience to use VR gadgets for an immersive and immensely empathetic documentary experience, and the Civil Society Pitch, which will introduce NGOs specialising in human rights to filmmakers. On 26 and 27 March, the NGOs will pitch 13 human rights stories to 17 filmmakers, who may end up tackling issues such as the situation of the Muslim Roma in the county of Dobrogea, or the fact that it is impossible for blind children to access the national education system in Romania, in their next features.