All human beings are free and equal...
Press release
20 October 2006
The Goethe-Institut and the Remembrance and Future Fund are launching the second International Short Film Competition to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On 10 December 2008, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will have been in existence for 60 years. What has changed in this period? What can we say about freedom and equality today? What has been achieved? To answer these questions, the Goethe-Institut and the Remembrance and Future Fund are inviting young filmmakers to enter the International Short Film Competition and to take a critical look at the rights embodied in the Declaration. The competition is being run under the title “All human beings are free and equal...” and is open to students at film schools and art colleges in Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, Israel and the USA. In their short films, they are encouraged to exercise their artistic creativity in taking a personal look at the various aspects of human rights.
Following on from the success of the Short Film Competition “Gestures of Reconciliation” in 2005, the Goethe-Institut and the Remembrance and Future Fund are launching their second joint competition.
The films can focus on how individuals or whole organisations work for human rights, or perhaps explore the concrete nature of and limits to freedom and equality. Participants are expressly encouraged to use a wide range of cinematic forms. The scope is broad, ranging from classic documentaries through to thematic explorations using animation techniques.
The deadline for registration is 31 January 2007. Applicants from outside Germany should send a one-page exposé to their local Goethe-Institut, while applicants in Germany should submit the exposé to their university department or to the head office of the Goethe-Institut. A jury will select the best entries from each country, and the corresponding film projects will then receive financial support. The films may not exceed 15 minutes in length. Prizes will be awarded to the best three short films submitted from each country. The first-place winners will each receive EUR 2,000 and have the opportunity to screen their films at the International Festival of Film Schools in Munich in autumn 2007 and during the Berlinale International Film Festival in February 2008.
More information on the second Short Film Competition at:
The first competition, “Gestures of Reconciliation”, met with a great response last year. Students of film from 11 countries submitted 250 exposés. The experts in the national juries then selected almost 50 outlines, which were subsequently produced with financial support from the Remembrance and Future Fund. The young filmmakers documented intercultural gestures of reconciliation in all areas of society. Their works dealt with conflict situations in Jerusalem and Berlin, with lovers torn apart by war, with informers, war veterans and refugees. In addition to absurd-grotesque forms of cinematic expression, philosophical and biblical themes were also featured.
Partners of the international competition
The Goethe-Institut’s international film activities are a key component of its international cultural programme. In cooperation with local partners, as many as 150 film festivals are organised each year around the globe. The Goethe-Institut provides advisory services, plans special film series or thematic programmes featuring German films, runs workshops, and invites German filmmakers to take part in discussions. In Germany, too, the Goethe-Institut supports the film sector by providing advice and promoting diverse projects. The world over, it promotes intercultural exchanges between film enthusiasts and filmmakers.
The Remembrance and Future Fund is part of the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”. To date, the Foundation has made payments amounting to EUR 4.3 billion to over 1.6 million former forced labourers in almost 100 countries for injustices suffered at the hands of the National Socialist regime. After the payments to former forced labourers and other victims of National Socialism have been made, the Fund will remain in existence as a grant-giving foundation. The capital reserves of the Fund, some EUR 358 million, were made available in equal amounts by the German Industry Foundation Initiative and the German Government. Around EUR 7 million in revenues generated each year by the Fund’s capital is used to promote international programmes and projects that build bridges of understanding to Central and Eastern Europe, Israel and the USA. This is how the Fund is assuming responsibility for a future founded on democracy, human rights and understanding between peoples.
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