organized by the UN Office in the Russian
Federation, Administration of the Novgorod Oblast
and the Russian Guild of Film Makers.
Every year, UN agencies working in the
Russian Federation conduct a series of events to
raise awareness in the area of human rights.
On 27 June 2007, Russian Youth
Day, the UN Office in the Russian
Federation launched the Youth and Human Rights
film festival in Veliky Novgorod in order to
attract attention of the public, especially young
people, to human rights issues and promote the
region’s positive image as one of the most
successful in the area of target programmes aimed
at support and development of young people.
The purpose of the festival was to present a
number of films dedicated to various aspects of
human rights advocacy and to maintain the
interest of young people to these issues.
The best cinema hall of Veliky Novgorod, the
Cinema Centre, became a major venue of the
festival. During three days of the festival,
everybody could watch new Russian and foreign
films and meet young film directors.
A total of ten full-length and short feature
films and documentaries were demonstrated at the
festival.
At 12 on 27 June, a film ‘All
the Invisible Children’ produced with the support
of UNICEF was demonstrated. Eight famous film
directors, including Emir Kusturica,
Ridley Scott, and John Woo, filmed
stories about the life of children in different
countries of the world, which formed a single
movie. These novels touch upon topical and
sensitive issues, such as crime, family violence,
AIDS, poverty, consequences of military
conflicts. Each story leaves its mark making
spectators think about the problems we are trying
to ignore. Excellent camera and sound work add to
the spectacular effect of the film.
At 5 pm, the opening ceremony of the ‘Youth and
Human Rights’ film festival was held. Mr.
Marco Borsotti, UN Resident Representative in the
Russian Federation, who came to Veliky
Novgorod on a one-day visit, opened the festival.
Delegation of the UN Office in Russia,
representatives of the Novgorod Oblast
Administration, and young filmmakers took part in
the ceremony. In the evening, a new film by Igor
Apasyan ‘Graffiti’ was demonstrated. It tells a
story of a young artist who prefers practicing in
the Russian province and drawing portraits of
countryside people to discovering the beauty of
European masterpieces. Sergey Potapov, a leading
actor of the Moscow Maly Theatre, who played one
of the main parts, presented the film.
On 28 June, a new
feature film by Ilya
Rubinstein and Marat Rafikov
‘May’ was demonstrated in the
framework of the ‘Serving in the Army’ programme.
The film is about a 28 year old senior lieutenant
Pechalin, who is going to Moscow for three days in
order to ensure supply of new conscripts and to
give the demob album of a young soldier to his
parents who do not know that their son is dead.
The film features a true hero from whom we can
learn a lot - not to betray people and to help
those in need. The role is brilliantly performed
by actor Andrei Kuzichev.
At 5 pm, a young filmmaker Ella Arkhangelskaya
presented her film ‘Megapolis’ in
the framework of the ‘Cinema Protecting the
Rights of Children’ programme.
The matter of concern of the
filmmaker is a new tendency of
bringing up children by babysitters and governors
when parents do not understand the happiness of
being together with their children and the risk
that their indifference will make their children
go to the streets.
At 12 on 29 June, a romantic drama entitled
‘Stone Brambleberry. Summer Time’ by a young
filmmaker Dmitry Fedorov was presented in the
programme ‘Cinema for Equal Rights for
All’. This film tells a love
story of a disabled girl Nika, a daughter of a
famous artist, and a common boy, showing a
conflict of generations and an internal conflict
in the generation. The filmmaker reflects on
dreams and aspirations of today’s young people.
The film ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ and a
meeting with film director and playwright
Ekaterina Shagalova closed
the three days festival in Veliky
Novgorod.
During the festival an exhibition of
social posters ‘For Life Without!...’
was held in the lobby of the Cinema
Centre.
Short films by young filmmakers were also
demonstrated at the festival. A film
‘While He Was Flying’ by a
graduate of the Courses of Scriptwriters and Film
Directors, Alexander Kessel,
representing school of Vladimir
Khotinenko, tells us about the fragile soul of a
teenage girl who convinces herself that her father
she has never met is a hero. Yegor
Anashkin, a graduate of VGIK film
director’s department (school of Vadim
Abdrashitov) presented a film ‘Reported to
Service!’ about the problem of bullying in the
army. Alexander Lamakin from VGIK (school of
Vladimir Khotinenko) presented a film ‘Express
95’ about a soldier who was discharged for three
days… Pavel Dunyaev,
a VGIK student (school of V.A. Mann, M.
Babak), presented a film ‘Voodoo
Land’ about addiction to
computer games.
The festival was a non-profit and
non-political action open for general
public.
During the festival, representatives of
regional media from Novgorod, Pskov, Leningrad
and Moscow regions came to Veliky Novgorod. They
took part in the seminar ‘Youth and Human Rights.
Bringing up a Healthy and Successful Generation’
held on 28 June. The seminar was organized by the
UN Office in the RF, in cooperation with the
Russian Union of Journalists.
The aim of the seminar was to train regional
journalists in the area of human rights and help
local media build a dialogue with UN agencies,
familiarize regional journalists with UN work in
Russia, particularly in the area of human rights
and youth problems.
The interactive discussion related to a number
of aspects of human rights issues important for
the region and for the Russian Federation as a
whole. The participants touched upon the question
of covering human right issues in media, the
state of disabled, the problem of HIV and AIDS,
discrimination of people living with HIV,
employment of young people and discrimination in
this area, juvenile delinquents and juvenile
justice as a means of fighting teenage crime.
The seminar programme included presentations by
representatives of the Union of Journalists of the
RF, Administration of the Novgorod Oblast,
experts of the Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights, UN Information Centre in
Moscow, UN Joint Programme on HIV and AIDS, and
the International Labour Organization.
The festival programme included a talk
show ‘Young People and Human Rights: Juvenile
Justice’ on the Slavia TV channel, a branch of
VGTRK GTRK. The hour long programme was
broadcast live at 7.10 pm on 28 June 2007. The
following topics were discussed by the
participants:
- Situation with youth, teenage, and
children’s crime in the country and in the
Novgorod Oblast in the all-Russian context.
- Major reasons for youth crime, attitude to
juvenile delinquents in society and street
children: criminals or children?
- Responsibility of society for children and
young people, the role of mass media and
cinema in their upbringing. Involvement of mass
media and cinema in the process of social
rehabilitation and adaptation of
delinquents. Disapproval of violence and tolerance
as prerequisites of crime prevention,
especially among young people.
- Introduction of juvenile justice as a means
of solving the problem of crime among young
people and providing social security on the basis
of Russian and international practice.
(Regional pilot projects of the United
Nations Development Programme in the area of
juvenile justice). The role of juvenile
justice in crime prevention and adaptation of
juvenile delinquents.
Natalia Shumilova, reporter of the Salvia TV
channel, and Igor Stepanov, Director General of
the Guild of Russian Film Makers, hosted the show.
Ombudsman for the Novgorod Oblast, Ms. G.S.
Matveeva, Chairman of the Novgorod Regional
Committee for Youth, Physical Culture and Sports,
Mr. S.N. Fyugov, UNHCHR Human Rights Advisor, Mr.
Rachid Alouach, UNDP expert in juvenile justice,
Mr. Nodari Khananashvili, and Secretary of the
Russian Journalists’ Union, Ms. Nadezhda
Azhgikhina took part in the discussion.
Agenda
of the seminar for journalists |
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