Between October 12 and November 10, Lviv region will host the 14th Traveling International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA.

The Lviv program will include 24 films from various countries of the world; the selection will feature 6 films made in Ukraine. Among the festival locations, there will be 11 open venues, of which 6 will be in Lviv and 5 in other cities of the region.

The main locations in Lviv are the Lviv Art Palace, the National Memorial Museum “Prison at Łąckiego,” Lviv Regional Universal Science Library, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Center at Ukrainian Catholic University. The additional locations are the First Lviv Media Library, Lviv Regional Youth Center and the Virmenka Cafe. The program will also include special screenings for schoolchildren, students, educators, police officers, librarians.

Across the region, the screenings will take place in 10 cities and towns, namely Brody, Busk, Drohobych, Zhovkva, Sokal, Sosnivka, Truskavets, Chervonohrad, and the villages of Zapytiv in Kamianka-Busk district and Perespa in Sokal district.

The central topic of this year’s festival, The Four Degrees, is about the problem of climate change and environmental protection. Environmentalists predict that by the end of this century the average temperature on Earth will increase by four degrees; this will cause major natural disasters on the planet. The festivals suggests that our audience become catalyzers of change and look at the problem of environmental protection from different perspectives.

A photo exhibition related to the topic, As You Explore, Don’t Harm, concerning the negative impact of tourism on Hoverla and the general human impact on Ukrainian Carpathian mountains, will be set up in the Prison at Łąckiego museum by young scientists from the department of geography at the Franko Lviv National University. The museum will become a place to talk to historians and ethnologists, and a location for expert discussions on animal and nature protection.

The thematic blocs of the festival are formed according to the target audiences of festival partners and the selected locations:

DOCU/PUBLIC : various open locations for mixed audiences in the city of Lviv and the region;

DOCU/YOUNG: special screenings for schoolchildren and students, by invitation and accreditation, at educational institutions, libraries, open creative spaces in the city of Lviv and the region;

DOCU/POLICE: special screening for patrolling police officers of Lviv, by invitation and accreditation, at the Lviv Art Palace.

Lviv will also host two educational human rights events for teachers other educators on the topics of Gender Policies at Schools and Children’s Rights at Schools. The aim of the events will be to improve human rights awareness among teachers, administrators and other school representatives.

Press briefing of the Traveling Festival in Lviv Region

Press briefing of the Traveling Festival in Lviv Region

All the films will be screened in their original languages with Ukrainian subs. Entrance to all festival events is free of charge!

On October 11, there was a press briefing of the Traveling Festival in Lviv Region.

Briefing participants:

1. Nina Khoma, regional coordinator of the 14th Traveling International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA, director of the Patronus NGO.

2. Viktoria Sadova, representative of the SIM Center for Legal and Political Research NGO, which is a regional co-organizer of the 14th Traveling International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA.

3. Amet Bekirov, public figure, the head of the board of directors of Areket NGO, works on developing cultural diplomacy in Drohobych.

4. Andriy Mochurad, head of the Granite NGO.

Main photo: still from The Nature of my Heart film by Jaako Ruuska