Programme of the 12th WATCH DOCS Festival WATCH DOCS

In three weeks, on 7 December 2012, the 12th edition of the International Film Festival WATCH DOCS. Human Rights in Film will be launched.

The Festival’s Programme includes nearly 90 films divided into five permanent sections, three retrospectives and a competition.

SECTIONS

The “I Want to See” section will show a selection of documentaries on events, people and topics that are currently of the utmost interest for human rights defenders. The “Close-ups” section will be devoted to a situation in Burma and in “The Discreet Charm of Propaganda” the viewers will have the chance to watch films discussing the propaganda of gender stereotypes. “New Polish Films” are the most interesting Polish social documentaries made during the last season. This year’s edition will see the return of short films.

RETROSPECTIVES

One of the highlights of the 12th WATCH DOCS Festival will be a retrospective of the films of Jafar Panahi, a filmmaker associated with the Iranian New Wave film movement and this year’s Sakharov Prize winner. The retrospective will feature four of his films including the recent “This Is Not a Film”. The two remaining retrospectives are: “Portrait of a Tormentor”, a set of documentaries depicting murderers who, influenced by ideology or propaganda, committed crimes against humanity, and “Framing the Others”, an exploration of the image of otherness in culture, specifically in film culture.

COMPETITION

The WATCH DOCS competition will showcase the world’s best human rights documentaries. Fifteen films made between 2011 and 2012 will be competing for the WATCH DOCS award founded by the Polish Filmmakers Association. The WATCH DOCS audience will have a chance to watch documentaries of filmmakers awarded at the most prestigious film festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Hot Docs, Tribeca or Berlinale.