From April 15 to April 22, the inaugural ACT Human Rights Film Festival is happening on the Colorado State University campus. The festival includes 18 films that explore a myriad of different topics and international issues. This amazing opportunity is being provided to both the community and students through the Department of Communications, here at Colorado State University. Dr. Scott Diffrient, an Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, is behind the masterpiece. He is using funds that he received from the William E. Morgan Endowed Chair of Liberal Arts to establish this festival. The film festival is the first ever international human rights film festival to take place in Northern Colorado.
The Call to Act portion of the festival is loosely based on the Boulder International Film Festival, but ACT focuses solely on issues of human rights. The categories include Art as Resilience and Cultural Resistance, Disability Rights as Human Rights, For Democracy, Against Impunity, New Rainbow Nation’s: GLBTQA in Africa and Beyond, Stolen Children and Modern-Day Slavery, and Hunger, Homelessness and Humanity.
Within these categories are 18 amazing films, that are really a once in a lifetime opportunity to see. Each ACT film will be paired with one or more local, national, or international nonprofit organizations whose mission addresses or relates to the issue at hand. Representatives from these nonprofit organizations will be onsite and ready to help connect film-goers to additional information, opportunities for action, and organizational involvement at home and beyond.
The diversity and caliber of the films cannot be spoken of highly enough; there are films from Kenya, Cameroon, South Korea, Guatemala, India, Vietnam, Mexico, the United Kingdom and many more countries. These groundbreaking films cover topics of extreme importance in the globalized society we live in today, including child marriage in Yemen, women’s rights in Iran and homelessness across the world. These films are award winning, and one has even been nominated for an Oscar. Not only are the films themselves incredible, but if you attend any one of the screenings you will be present for discussions with the directors, producers and -- in some cases -- the subjects of the films themselves.
The ACT Human Rights Film Festival is something you do not want to miss. Volunteer positions are still available and tickets are on sale now. If you want more information or would like to see the trailers for the specific films being shown please visit actfilmfest.org.