Experiences at EIUC Summer School and Venice Film Festival

The EIUC Summer School on Cinema and Human Rights, held simultaneously with the Venice International Film Festival, is one of the best programs on cinema and human rights. It brings the two fields of study together for a better purpose.

Through this program people from both fields—the film industry and human rights activism—shared their ideas on how to use cinema as a tool for humanitarian purposes.

In addition to the modules taught in this summer school, participants got the chance to meet with different filmmakers, including famous ones such as Ken Loach and Penny Woolcock. It was useful to get to know in-depth their thoughts and very personal experiences in the industry.

Overall the summer school and the festival were very good experiences, especially for the young filmmakers and human rights activists of the countries participating.

Representing Afghanistan’s Deedenow Cinema, Amin Wahidi has learned so much from his summer school and has made many contacts with filmmakers attending the festival.

Deedenow Cinema is thankful to those devoted individuals and organizations that have facilitated Amin Wahidi's participation in the program, namely Robert and Kathryn Maier, George Eimemermann, and the Bayat Foundation.

The summer school was held from August 23 to September 12. The program included participants from Afghanistan, America, Bahrain, Bangladesh, France, Italy, Libera, Nepal, Sweden, Turkey, and Zambia.

At the end of the summer school the participants were given certificates.

Yours sincerely,

M. Amin Wahidi