ON THE OCCASION OF THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

SHORT MOVIES ON
CULTURE, DEVELOPMENT, DIGNITY AND JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENT, GENDER AND PARTICIPATION

DIRECTORS and ARTISTS:
Marina Abramovic (Serbia/The Netherlands), Hani Abu-Assad (Palestine), Armagan Ballantyne (New Zeland), Sergei Bodrov (Russia), Charles De Meaux (France), Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster & Ange Leccia (France), Runa Islam (UK/Bangladesh), Francesco Jodice (Italy), Dimitris Kozaris (Grece), Etgar Keret e Shira Geffen (Israel), Zhangke Jia (China), Murali Nair (India), Idrissa Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso), Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland), Walter Salles e Daniela Thomas (BrAzil), Saman Salour (Iran), Sarkis (France/Turkey), Bram Schouw (The Netherlands), Teresa Serrano (Mexico), Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania), Pablo Trapero (Argentina), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand), Robert Wilson (USA) e Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia).

MUSIC BY
MICHAEL GALASSO

- Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948. Drafted as “a common standard of achievement for all peoples
and nations”, the Declaration for the first time in human history set out basic civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all human beings should enjoy. It has over time been widely accepted as the fundamental norms of human rights that all Governments should respect. December 10, the day of its adoption, is observed worldwide as International Human Rights Day.

- The Film

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and make them accessible to the largest possible audience, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has chosen ART for The World to produce a long-feature film composed by a series of short films directed by filmmakers and video artists to convey the timeless significance of human rights and their underlying values.

Approximately 22 well-known filmmakers and video artists from all over the world have been contacted and - as a source of inspiration and orientation - provided with one cross-cutting theme representing the UDHR: Culture, Development, Dignity and Justice, Environment, Gender and Participation.

Following their personal vision, each of the invitees has written a story related to one of these six themes, and chosen all sort of different genres, locations, languages, sound tracks, etc. for their 3 minute short movie.

- The Post Production

After delivery of all the completed short films by July 2008, each one will be subtitled in the six official languages of the United Nations (UN): English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese and possible other languages to be decided.

Flaminio Zadra from Dorje Film will follow the post-production of the short movies and their compilation into one feature film.

The composer Michael Galasso, who is known for his soundtrack of Wong-Kar Wai’s film “In the Mood for Love” and his many original compositions for Robert Wilson’s performances and theater plays, will provided the long-feature film with a special composition for the sound track of the opening titles and the credits.

- The official screenings

The long feature film will be presented on the day of the 60th anniversary of the UDHR, 10 December 2008, in many cities around the world, in particular in New York, in a special session of the UN General Assembly and in Paris at the Palais de Chaillot, where the declaration was signed in 1948.

- Other actions

In order to distribute this feature film to a wide public audience, different channels of distribution are activated during the coming months. Apart from the planned distribution all over the world through film festivals, cinemas, TV and screenings at various official venues other channels will be also used to reach a wider audience such as mobile cinemas, exhibitions and debates, etc.