Human rights documentaries a hit with Czech teenagers: Roughly half of the country’s schools participate in the One World project
Every year, the colorful One World film festival – which just took place in Prague – turns the spotlight on human rights, screening scores of often fascinating documentaries from all corners of the globe. It also directly addresses young people, lending eye-opening DVDs to around half the schools in the Czech Republic, and holding special screenings for pupils.
It tells the story of Sabere, an Afghan girl who is sold to a 60-year-old man at the age of ten. After four years of abuse and terror, she manages to flee to a women's shelter, and eventually returns to her family.
At a recent school screening in Prague’s Atlas cinema, teacher Martina Moravcová was very surprised by how attentively her students followed the story of the brave girl’s struggle to escape her husband.
“As I said, this was the first time that I accompanied them to such a projection, but what really got to me was the silence. Because I could see that they were watching it, and nobody talked, and there was this utter silence that you seldom hear in a classroom, so I guess they did pay attention and I have the impression that it did really get to them.”
Another teacher, Nora Řepíková, says that both sides benefit from the collaboration.
“This is the third year that we are participating in the festival’s screening. We used to only send our older students here, but now we also have started involving the lower grades. Our students of course like leaving the classroom, of course, but I think it’s a positive thing for them beyond that.”
After the screening, festival organizers, from the Czech NGO People in Need, lead a lively discussion with the students – including 16-year-old Štěpán Svoboda.
“It was very interesting, because thing that we know are happening are happening there. But we cannot imagine how that is for the people there. For them it is normal, but if something like that happens here, well… it would be unimaginable for something like that to happen here.”
Could students picture something similar happening to a Czech girl? I ask 16-year-old Adela Hanzlíková who is visibly shaken after watching the film.
“I can’t imagine that. I’m really shocked about this. It’s something really different. This is a really terrible situation.”
František Špinka, who has four sisters, was also quite shocked by the documentary.
“I can’t imagine that because I love my sisters and I think it’s horrible, because there’s so much disrespect and so many persons being mistreated. And women are equal to men, in my opinion, so that’s really horrible.”
The organizers of One World really make an effort to have an impact on young people in the Czech Republic. Impressively, half of Czech schools are involved in the festival. Karel Strachota is the director of the project.
“More than 2800 schools participate. So those are the schools that show our DVDs as part of their classroom activities. And every year, we invite students from primary and secondary schools to the screenings in cinemas and we estimate that this year, in Prague and the other 33 cities that the festival tours later, some 50,000 students will come and see one of the films from our festival program.”
The extent of the collaboration is unparalleled in Europe – and a testament to the success of the project. Strachota says students react very strongly to the films they see.
Both primary and secondary schools participate, but the films are chosen to suit the age group. A lot of the documentaries deal with issues that are both bleak and brutal. Hana Kulhánková is the director of the One World festival.
“With teenagers, it’s always really interesting, and it also depends which high school they come from. Because sometimes, they really react with laughter, sometimes they react with shyness. There’s always somebody who is showing off the whole class. But you can really feel when the film gets them.”
Showing students connections between politics, economy and human rights through documentary film can be a very vivid way of teaching, says Kulhánková, but also requires a lot of effort.
“I think this is really unusual and that is also what we are trying to give over to our festival partners, and other film festivals. It is really interesting to collaborate with elementary schools and high schools, but it also requires a lot of time and energy and it needs good teachers that really believe that you can teach a lot through documentary film.”
One World brings the schools program abroad as well. Kulhánková says she enjoys attending school screenings of films from the One World program in other countries.
Scott Hudson used to teach at a high school in Brooklyn and now works in the One World program department. He explains that the selection process for movies that will be shown as part of the schools program takes into account special criteria.
“We do take certain things into consideration, length being one of the main ones, because most of the schools that are participating are not expecting school to be cancelled for a film screening, they just want it to fit into a classroom period.
“And so in most cases, films for the schools are under an hour, so that it can fit into a regular classroom length, we also try to find films that have younger protagonists, so there’s more of a direct connection between the school audience and the film.
“But that would then also broken down between the primary and secondary school students, because we have both. With films for kids, we tend to make sure that the content is not so extreme that it could potentially be traumatic or lead to questions that the teachers or parents don’t want to deal with. We just want it to be something that really encourages them to think about how great it is that they have so much security here and opportunity, and also what they could do and what is happening in the world.”
While some may find it hard to believe that a movie could change the way teenagers see the world around them, Hudson says human rights documentaries can have a huge impact on young audiences.
“Our hope is that it encourages them to not turn away, to become engaged and think about the ways in which they could become involved in civil society, whether it’s through an NGO like People in Need or one of the other Czech NGOs.
At least the students I spoke to seemed to be willing to run with it and embraced the experience. Štepán says he plans to watch more films than just the one he saw with his class this year.
“I would like to and I hope that this year, I will go to see at least some films, maybe with my parents. And I’m sure next year, we will go again with my school. I’m looking forward to that.”
The One World festival has moved on from Prague, where the main program ended in mid-March, and is now travelling nearly three dozen other Czech cities and towns. Czech students can see films from the festival program year-round in their classrooms.
