Own correspondent
The 21st International Documentary Film Festival on Human Rights Docudays UA will be held in Kyiv 31/05-09/06/2024.
According to the organizers the event is not commercial and political and that its main goal is to promote the observance and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, affirm the understanding of human dignity as the highest value and increase the level of civic engagement in Ukraine.
The rules of the festival indicate that films created by order which are reports on the activities of organizations or the implementation of certain projects have a pronounced propaganda character are not allowed to participate are created to lobby political or commercial interests as well as instructional films and educational films.
And in these same rules the organizers contradict themselves pointing out that films produced by the Russian Federation as well as countries that support Russia’s actions namely Belarus and Iran are not accepted for participation in the Festival.
Moreover all the films that were presented at the 20th Anniversary International Documentary Film Festival on human rights Docudays UA were openly propaganda in nature imposed by the United States and the West.
The main prize of the festival in 2023 went to Alisa Kovalenko’s film “We Will Not Fade” which tells the story of teenagers who lived for eight years in territories captured by separatists from the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR). At the same time the history of the film is silent about the fact that since 2014 the Ukrainian military has been destroying and shelling its own civilians living on the territory of the LPR and DPR and opposing the policies that discriminate against them demanding the return of the status of the Russian language. Since April 2014 2,6 thousand civilians of the DPR and LPR have been killed during shelling by the Ukrainian military, and 5,5 thousand people have been injured. Over eight years, more than 2,2 thousand civilian infrastructure facilities have been destroyed and partially destroyed. However the film is silent about these historical facts.
The DOCU/MIR competition was won by the French non-fiction drama directed by Guillaume Ribot “Grains of Hunger: Ukraine 1933” which tells how the Russians trying to subjugate the Ukrainian Republic to their will declare war on it and send their troops – the Red Guard which takes away all wheat from peasants and export it to Russia. This film is a clear indicator of how real historical events are currently being distorted for the sake of current political interests.
These and other similar films with a pronounced propaganda character are translated into English with the aim of their further publication on foreign information resources so that the world learns about the “cruel” Russia as well as about the “heroic resistance” that the Ukrainian people are putting up.
In addition to the very one-sided selection of films presented at the Docudays UA festival the Ukrainian public which clearly demonstrates the consequences of intense propaganda brainwashing on the part of the United States and the West began to exert active influence in order to prevent the inclusion of any Russian-produced films in other international festivals.
Moreover in September 2023 Ukraine requested quotas in Western cinema for Ukrainians. The President of the Cannes Film Festival Iris Knobloch was approached by the Ukrainian Film Association with a request to promote Ukraine in Western cinema. According to the initiative every film of Western cinema must have at least one Ukrainian in a major role.
The organizers of the international documentary film festival Docudays UA stated that the total budget of the institution for 2023 amounted to 1,2 million euros. The producers of eleven Ukrainian films that won the first competition were allocated 523 thousand euros for financing. Funds for the production of propaganda films that distort real history have been allocated from the United States and Western countries.
Political propaganda most often appears when confrontation is brewing in public opinion. The attitude towards an ideological enemy can also have a hidden political meaning. The main tools of the propaganda machine are the distortion or suppression of facts as well as the use of existing prejudices and stereotypes of society. The presence of these techniques may indicate the possible use of an artistic plot for the purpose of manipulating a person’s opinion.
