There is nothing quite like the medium of film when it comes to communicating urgent and complex issues in a way that people can understand.As celebrated His and Hers director Ken Wardrop put it on the launch on 9 December 2010 of the 2011 ICCL Human Rights Film Awards:

“As filmmakers, we are in a unique position to highlight injustice and call for a more just society through our work, and the ICCL Human Rights Film Awards provide just such an opportunity.”

Now entering their third year as Ireland’s only human rights-themed short film competition, the ICCL Human Rights Film Awards have become a firm fixture in the Irish film calendar, enjoying the support of a star Jury boasting such names as actress Victoria Smurfit and directors Kirsten Sheridan and Ken Wardrop.

The aim of the Human Rights Film Awards is to provide film students, filmmakers and those working in human rights with an opportunity to contribute to human rights discourse in Ireland through the medium of film, to grapple with issues which affect some of the most vulnerable members of Irish society.

Over the past two years the competition has produced shortlisted films of outstanding quality which cast light on a range of human rights issues, from Transgender rights to “extraordinary rendition”; from Middle East conflict to older people’s rights.

The 2011 competition aims to continue this trend, while also widening its reach to younger people in second-level education through a ‘Human Rights Films in Schools’ project and a new youth-focused strand, the ‘Human Rights in Under a Minute Challenge‘.

Applications are now open for entries, and the ICCL would like to encourage professional and amateur filmmakers, and indeed anyone with a strong interest in human rights, to capture a human rights issue that is important to them. A shortlist of five films will be chosen for deliberation by our Jury, and will be the subject of a Gala Awards screening in Summer 2011. For those needing a little inspiration, the Awards website features the films shortlisted for the last two competitions.

The deadline for applications is 15 April 2011, and full details of how to apply can be found at www.humanrightsfilmawards.org.   Get filming!

Walter Jayawardene is Campaigns and Communications Officer with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Ireland’s leading independent human rights watchdog, which monitors, educates and campaigns in order to secure full enjoyment of human rights for everyone

2011 ICCL Film Awards

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