The Active Vista International Human Rights Film Festival 2016

This week, Iloilo City takes part in one of the most-talked about film festivals about social consciousness in the country. The Active Vista Film Festival organized by Dakila, is a festival that brings attention to stories of human rights struggles to enable the public to help dismantle barricades that hinder the pursuit of human rights.  The festival serves as a human rights education platform to empower audiences in bringing about relevant social change. By showing and creating films that address core human rights messages, it aims to stir critical thinking among its audience as a step towards their education as citizens. [hit the jump to continue]

This year, Active Vista kicks off with screenings of selected films in Metro Manila from February 24 till Feburary 27. The Manila screenings include EDSA XXX by Khavn, Barber’s Tales by Jun Lana, Miss Bulalacao by Ara Chawdhury, Kapatiran by Pepe Diokno, The Missing Picture by Rithy Panh (Cambodia/France), CitizenFour by Laura Poitras (USA), and Margarita with a Straw by Shonali Bose (India). The Festival extends regionally with a screening of the film "Miss Bulalacao" by Ara Chawdhury on February 25 in Dumaguete, On February 27, the same film will be screened in Cebu, and on that same date there's "Iisa" by Chuck Gutierrez in Davao, and here in Iloilo, "Engkwentro" by Pepe Diokno will be screened (at the Robinsons Movieworld Iloilo) on February 27.  

While Active Vista recognizes that no film, no song, no painting, no novel or no poem has ever stopped a tank, prevented a bullet, fed a hungry child or overthrown a corrupt government, the power of the art form cannot be rivaled. While art may not change the world, it can change the way we view the world. True revolution begins in the imagination.

Active Vista believes in the power of cinema. It challenges to define a spectrum in the use of films and digital media as a tool in shaping the consciousness of a new generation into the importance of knowing and understanding human rights as an integral foundation of responsible citizenship and nation building.

Active Vista recognizes the pedagogical strength of cinema in education. It allows an opportunity to debate, discuss and shape society as we arrive at a collective understanding of human rights as the backbone of the development of a nation. Active Vista understands the value of marrying art and advocacy, of films and human rights, and of entertainment and empowerment. It encourages critical thinking, dynamism in views and creative expression as fundamental requirements in addressing methods and directions of social transformation.

The Active Vista International Human Rights Film festival is organized by DAKILA and co-presented by the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the University of the Philippines Film Institute, Movies that Matter, and civil society organizations such as the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, the Ateneo Human Rights Center, the Alternative Law Groups, Metro Manila Pride and the Filipino Freethinkers.

Active Vista was established by Dakila – Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism, an organization building a movement of heroism towards social transformation, in 2008. Dakila is a pioneering NGO in the Philippines that has been actively in the forefront of using creative and innovative forms in human rights education and advocacy work. Apart from its Active Vista human rights program, Dakila is actively engaged in the advocacies for climate justice, peace, road safety, internet freedom, democracy and good governance and the campaigns against human trafficking and gender discrimination.
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