Cinema without Borders

Applications are now closed

Upcoming edition

We are pleased to announce a new edition of Cinema without Borders taking place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in cooperation with Ciné Droit Libre and Association SemFilms Burkina. The five-day workshop and networking programme on how to organise a human rights film festival or mobile cinema project will take place from 10 – 14 December 2023. We will bring together starting and more experienced film festival professionals from West Africa.

Participants will gain practical knowledge and get fresh ideas and possibilities to strengthen their network. By exchanging experiences and best practices, participants are inspired and assisted to further develop their own festival. The interactive workshops will address various aspects of organising a human rights film festival, such as programming films and organising debates, fundraising, impact strategies, promotion and reaching new audiences.

Participants

We will select a maximum of 15 qualified participants from the field of cinema and human rights, who already have some experience in organising at least one socially engaged film event/festival. A relationship to a reliable non-profit organisation is a requirement for participation. Selection is based on motivation and experience. Gender and regional balance of participants is also taken into account. There is no participation fee, costs for travel and lodging will be covered and we expect participants to be available for all the 5 days of the programme. The major part of the workshop programme will be in French.

For this edition, we have invited participants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo to apply.

To get an impression of the programme, watch the aftermovies of Cinema Without Borders 2022 and 2019 below.

Previous editions

Since 2006 seventeen editions of Cinema without Borders were held. Most workshop programmes took place during the Movies that Matter Festival in The Hague. Other editions were held in Burkina Faso (2012), Jordan (2014), Argentina (2018), Philippines (online, 2021), Kenya (2022) and during the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA, 2013). 200+ participants from more than 60 different countries – from Myanmar, Bahrain and Bangladesh to Pakistan, the Philippines and Peru – attended the programmes.