The first week of the 15th Travelling Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA in Chernivtsi is over. In this period, there were two public screenings which attracted mostly young audience. Progressive and interested youth who care about the topic of human rights are the future of our region and Ukraine in general.
The Travelling Docudays UA in Chernivtsi started with the screening of the Granny Project. The platform for the screening was the Contact student youth center at the Fedkovych National University in Chernivtsi. Despite the rainy weather, the event gathered many people who wanted to look at well-known historical events from a different perspective. The absolute majority of the audience were young people.
Despite the sad and horrific events of the World War II, which was the central topic of the film, the air in the hall was not tense. The film, directed by Balint Revesz, was full of such genuine optimism and hunger for life that it was just impossible to hold back your smile. Granny Project teaches us that however dark the times are, it is important to preserve the light inside you. We should learn to laugh at ourselves, laugh at the things that cause us pain, both physical and mental.
After the screening, there was a lively discussion where everyone had their own point of view and tried to argue for it. Nevertheless, everyone came to a similar conclusion: it is very important to spend more time with your grandparents, because it’s in our power to let them feel full of life and optimism again.
Tears, compassion and indignation were the emotions that overcame the audience after watching the documentary A Woman Captured by the Hungarian filmmaker Bernadett Tuza-Ritter. The screening and the discussion took place in the Celan Literary Center, a contemporary popular cultural space in our town.
The film evoked genuine emotion among Chernivtsi residents, because how can it be that one person allows herself to consider another person her property? A Woman Captured exposes the problem of contemporary labor slavery using the example of Marish, a 52-year-old Hungarian woman who was forced to serve the same family for more than a decade. Her ID was taken from her, she only gets leftovers to eat and no bed to sleep in. Her wages were taken away from her, to the last Euro. The woman finds herself in a psychological trap, and only the director’s support allows her to dare to escape and make steps towards free life. Marish’s story had a happy ending, but, unfortunately, this is far from an isolated case.
That’s why we invited an expert, a representative of the Contemporary Plus NGO Aliona Ignatieva, to participate in the discussion. Mrs Aliona said that the problem of labor slavery does not just exist today, it exists at a very large scale. The audience learned about numerous cases of labor slavery, particularly sexual slavery, in the Chernivtsi Region only. The Contemporary Plus NGO actively fights human trafficking and helps the victims of labor slavery.
In addition, Mrs Aliona told the audience how to avoid the trap and protect themselves. First of all, people should be careful when travelling abroad to work, and should not trust unreliable sources. In addition, when they sign any contracts or papers, they should carefully study the content of all paragraphs. And, of course, they should never give their passport away to anyone. “When you’re warned, you’re armed,” so this educational information was very helpful.
The film’s topic moved the audience very much, so the discussion was lively and intense. What people found the most outrageous was the passivity of the police and human rights NGOs who could not help Marish. Aliona Ignatieva claimed that Ukrainian law entails criminal responsibility for human trafficking, and the victims of this problem should necessarily get help, according to the law.
Text and photo: Ksenia Filyak
