New Amsterdam Human Rights Award at IDFA for best human rights documentary

The inaugural Amsterdam Human Rights Award will be presented for the best human rights documentary at the upcoming 30th edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).

An international jury will choose a film from the IDFA program with strong cinematography that best presents the theme of human rights.

The Amsterdam Human Rights Award is accompanied by a cash prize of €25,000. The award has been created by the City of Amsterdam.

The creative documentary lies at the heart of IDFA; quality in artistic and cinematographic terms is key. The documentaries selected often deal with socially relevant and urgent themes, whereby human rights – and the violation of these – are central. The films stimulate reflection and interpretation on the part of their audiences.

From its program this year (more than 300 films), IDFA will select at least six and no more than ten documentaries to be submitted to an international, three-strong jury made up of film and human rights experts.

The jury will then nominate three films for their cinematographic qualities. The winner of the Amsterdam Human Rights Award will be announced during the festival.

On Monday, 20 November – International Children’s Rights Day – IDFA will be focusing especially on human rights.

The three nominated films will be screened, with an introduction by one of the members of the jury and post-screening discussions with the director or main characters from the film in Tuschinski 1.

During the morning, a special interactive film program for pupils from Amsterdam schools will also take place, with screenings of brand new documentaries from the ‘Mensjesrechten’ (‘Just Kids’) series (EO/IKONdocs).