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This year’s International Human Rights Film Festival (FIFDH ) in Geneva is dedicated to cinematographers such as Tibetan director Dhondup Wangchen and all those who run grave risks making their films. Journalist Pamela Taylor explores the issue in this piece pulished by Infosud , the Geneva-based humanitarian and development news agency. Infosud also publishes the Human Rights Tribune.

 

Geneva -- Dhondup Wangchen was sentenced to six years in a Chinese prison for ‘illegal journalism’ for his documentary ‘Leaving Fear Behind’ which sought to give a voice to Tibetans in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Although the film was not shown at the Geneva festival, there were several others that revealed the risks filmmakers run with authoritarian regimes determined to silence opposition voices.

FIFDH organizers say cinematographers are the latest target for authoritarian regimes and along with Dhondup Wangchen, they cite the cases of Jafar Panahi, the creator of ‘Persian Cats’ who was prevented from leaving Iran to attend Berlin’s International Film Festival in February. Kirpi Katembo Siku was also prevented from leaving the Democratic Republic of the Congo to present his film ‘Congo in Four Acts’. On February 11, Uzbek filmmaker, Umida Akhmedova was convicted of slander for her film, ‘The Burden of Virginity’, which reveals the hardships imposed on Uzbek women by traditional wedding rituals, including providing proof of virginity. There are many other such cases.

These are only some the most recent. One of the most powerful of the films shown at the Geneva festival was ‘Rebellion: the Litvinenko Case’ by Russian filmmaker and playwright Andrei Nekrasov which shows that in Russia, silencing the voices of those who question the Putin regime has progressed to the extreme of assassination. Nekrasov’s film follows Alexander Litvinenko, a secret service agent who balked at orders to kill, up to his death from a suspicious poisoning in London in 2006. The film also features journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose investigative reporting on Russia’s role in the war in Chechnya resulted in her assassination, also in 2006.

The film that kicked off the festival was ‘Ruzhaye Sabz’ (Green Days) by Iranian director Hana Makhmalbaf, a poignant look at a young woman’s inability to comprehend the events in her country as her generation’s so-called Green Movement protests recent elections. Another film, ‘Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country’, follows an undercover reporter known only as ‘Joshua’ as he and other hidden camera operators film Burma’s opposition protests in 2007. Forced to leave the country after the uprising began, Joshua narrates the film by cell phone. In a brief clip from August he says ‘that’s me in the white shirt. We are shooting this and the police are shooting us.”

Joshua made the film, with the help of Danish filmmaker Anders Ostergaard, because “I feel the world is forgetting about us. That’s why I decided to become a video reporter.” The film was nominated for an American Academy award for best documentary feature.

This gives rise to the question of whether such films are art or journalism. Repressive regimes clearly consider them propaganda and prosecute them under libel and slander laws or, as in the case of ‘Rebellion’, under anti-terror laws on the grounds the killers are Chechen terrorists. But Therese Obrecht of Reporters Without Borders in Geneva said RSF already defends the rights of video journalists around the world. “It’s about defending news and the people’s right to know what’s happening in their country. That’s what freedom of expression is all about,” said Obrecht who moderated the debate following ‘Rebellion’.

Andrei Nekrasov made ‘Rebellion’ with the assistance of Karinna Moskalenko, a human rights lawyer who represents the families of both Litvinenko and Politkovskaya. She explained the problem human rights attorneys in Russia face in trying to work within the law. “In the case of filmmakers we need to demonstrate that their films are works of art and as such should not be prosecuted under laws against terrorism or slander in the mass media.”

Speaking during the March 7 debate, Moskalenko, who just this month won her first case against the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights, told the audience “ultimately we can go there again,” if justice is not forthcoming in Russia. Both Andrei Nekrasov and Karinna Moskalenko currently live abroad although they frequently visit Russia where, according to Nekrasov, he is considered “public enemy number one, a spy and a traitor although the people are always asking to see my films.” Asked if he feels in danger, Nekrasov replied, “Yes, I’ve received threats but I’m not alone. My colleagues in Russia who are not involved in politics often ask why I am so active in the political realm. But I’m not alone, there are a lot of us, a lot of solidarity and I don’t think about this when I am making a film.”

In response to the same question Moskalenko said, “after Anna Politkovskaya I thought nobody is safe in Russia, after Litvenenko I thought nobody is safe in London. So even being well known is no longer a protection. As I told my husband, I am doing a professional job and I cannot think about the danger.” In October 2008, Moskalenko fell ill in Strasbourg, France, where she lives part of the year with her husband and three children. The suspected cause was mercury poisoning.

Pamela Taylor is an American journalist based in the Lake Geneva Region.