Green competition at the 21st WATCH DOCS!

The 21st WATCH DOCS. Human Rights in Film. International Film Festival will take place between December 10-19. This year's WATCH DOCS will have a hybrid character: due to the huge attendance success of the previous edition, we decided to continue presenting festival films online on the mojeekino.pl platform alongside screenings in Muranów and Kinoteka cinemas

This year's festival program will include such permanent sections as the international documentary competition, "I Want to See" (a panorama of contemporary socially engaged documentaries), "New Polish Films" (the most interesting Polish films of the season devoted to social issues), and "WATCH SHORTS (short films concerning human rights). As usual, WATCH DOCS screenings, both in theaters and on the Internet, will be accompanied by discussions with festival guests: filmmakers, journalists, and experts.

This year's WATCH DOCS program will also include a second competition, co-financed by the European Union. Starting from the 21st edition of the festival, every year documentaries devoted to ecology and climate change in the context of human rights will compete for the Green Dog Award. The competition lineup will feature such films as:  

  • "Animal," a critically acclaimed documentary straight from this year's Cannes Film Festival about young climate activists exploring the multi-faceted relationship between humans and nature 
  • "I'm so sorry", an impressive, exquisitely-shot, poetic picture by Chinese director Zhao Liang showing the dangers of nuclear energy (premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival) 
  • "Aya," a sophisticated, cinematic portrait of the inhabitants of a paradise island off the coast of Africa, doomed by global warming (premiere - ACID Cannes 2021) 
  • "70/30," showing the tense cooperation of activists and politicians, who, amid street protests and cabinet negotiations, created a climate bill that would become an example to the world (opening film of the CPH: DOX festival in Copenhagen).  
  • Swedish film "Arica" about a battle for compensation for victims of a corporation that stored toxic waste... in a housing estate 
  • "The Troublemaker" - a British documentary focusing on new forms of protest and showing the beginnings of the "Extinction Rebellion" as well as the evolution of the views of the organization's founder - Roger Hallam
  • "Nature is My Homeland" - Polish documentary awarded at the Krakow Film Festival, which makes us aware of the non-obvious links between contemporary man and nature.  

The films in the competition will be judged by a jury of ecological activists.

The WATCH DOCS. Human Rights in Film International Film Festival is one of the world's largest film festivals dedicated to fundamental human rights.

In addition to the international December festival in Warsaw, WATCH DOCS is also a traveling festival in over 30 Polish cities, the WATCH DOCS DIY project, WATCH DOCS Belarus, and FUTURE DOCS - a platform for cooperation between documentary filmmakers and human rights defenders. The festival is organized by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and co-financed by: the City of Warsaw, Polish Film Institute, Open Society Foundations, European Parliament, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Nordic Council of Ministers.