The 2023 Taiwan International Human Rights Festival will be held starting on September 22 in Taipei and later in Kaohsiung. The theme of this year’s edition is “Gone with the War.”
The 2023 Taiwan International Human Rights Festival organized by the National Human Rights Museum will be held starting on September 22 in Taipei and later in Kaohsiung. The theme of this year’s edition is “Gone with the War.”
The award-winning independent film producer and artist Huang Ming-chuan (黃明川) was invited to lead the organizing committee and curate the event. The topics span from war, and technology, to migration. The organizers hope to provide diverse perspectives of violence and conflict for the Taiwanese audience.
The opening film “We Will Not Fade Away” was produced by the Ukrainian documentary film director Alisa Kovalenko. Huang applauded that Kovalenko skillfully addresses the atmosphere of war without presenting scenes from the battlefield. The film portrays the cruelty of war through the lives of five Ukrainian teenagers. The film festival features “Ariel” by Alison Murray, “The Blue Island” by Chan Tze-woon (陳梓桓), and “Total Trust” by Zhang Jia-ling (張嘉玲), which touch upon human rights conditions under authoritarian regimes in Argentina, Hong Kong, and China.
Huang said that the film selection committee members hoped to further engage human rights issues with younger audiences and included an animation film “Dounia & the Princess of Aleppo” in the program. The animation is suitable for preschoolers to learn about exile, migration, and refugees.
Huang emphasized that the film festival attempts to avoid superficial and biased understanding of human rights issues and create a space for making sense of violence that is still happening every day in the world.
