Since 2002, the non-profit Human Rights Film Festival has been showcasing films dealing with questions of freedom of speech and choice, openness and multiculturalism. It is organised by two institutions of the independent artistic and cultural scene in Croatia – the Multimedia Centre and the Cultural Development Association – making it one of the most successful events in the non-mainstream genre over the last two decades.
Now in its 21st edition, the festival has just opened with a screening of What’s to be Done? by Goran Dević, a gritty drama involving union activism, the economic downturn and a distressing suicide.
The schedule also includes new films from two respected UK directors, Jonathan Glazer and Ken Loach. Glazer, best known for his off-beat alien thriller Under the Skin, returns with The Zone of Interest, about a Nazi officer who attempts to build a dream life for his family beside Auschwitz.
Ken Loach, whose famous social-realist films are too many to list, once again delves into the contradictions and tensions at the heart of modern British society with The Old Oak, in which a pub landlord struggles to hold on to his establishment while tensions rise in his former mining village following the arrival of Syrian refugees.
All 20 or so films are screened in two locations – Kino Kinoteka and Dokukino KIC – and admission is free. The full schedule can be found here, and a full list of English-friendly films here. The festival runs until December 9.