UNESCO presents an award to the film festival One World

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) decided to award the Czech film festival One World with an Honourable Mention for Peace Education. The festival was nominated by Vaclav Havel. Prizes and Honourable Mentions for Peace Education have been awarded by UNESCO every two years since 1978 (30th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). In 1990, Vaclav Havel, then the Czechoslovak President, was awarded the prize. “The UNESCO Prize and the Honourable Mention are very well-known in the world of human rights; it is a prestigious award, one of the most outstanding for UNESCO, and it will help the image of the Czech Republic in this field. By receiving the award for the festival, the Czech Republic became one of the few countries to have received the award for the second time.  The winner is usually a personality or a human rights institution. In the case of One World, it is the first ever time the award was given to a film festival,” explains the ambassador Petr Janyska, the Permanent Delegate of the Czech Republic to UNESCO.
 
The One World international festival of documentary films on human rights took place for the first time in 1999. Plzensky Prazdroj, a.s. has been its general partner since 2003. During last year’s festival, 120 films from 40 countries were shown in Prague and in another 13 Czech cities.  32,000 people in Prague and 28,800 people in other cities saw screenings of the festival films, including 14 world premieres. This year of the festival will take place in Prague from 28 February to 8 March and after that it will be held in 16 cities all over the Czech Republic. “We are very pleased by the UNESCO award. I knew we were nominated but it didn’t occur to me – even in my wildest dreams – that we would be chosen from the large number of candidates. I suppose that the main reason was the fact that One World is a pioneer in the field of human rights enforcement because it uses film to achieve its aims, which is a medium that is generally connected more to entertainment than to enlightenment or education.  I see it not only as an award for our work but also as further evidence that engagement in the field of human rights is something that makes the Czech Republic respectably visible on the international scene. After our exceptionally successful year last year, for us this award means a further obligation to increase the quality of the programme and accompanying events. This year, almost 1,400 films from around the world were signed up for the festival. I find it relatively encouraging that we chose quite a few of films from them that turn out very positively in the end.  It is a strange paradox.  At a time when you feel from TV and other news that every day is worse than the last you can learn from a number of encouraging films shown at One World that in many places around the world, normal people in difficult situations – much more difficult situations than we are in – become involved, they defend their rights, their identities and dignity… and they are successful,” says Igor Blazevic, the founder of the festival.

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• With total sales of more than 10.2 million hectolitres at home and abroad in the calendar year 2005, and with exports to more than 50 countries worldwide, Plzensky Prazdroj, a. s., is the leading beer producer in Central Europe and the largest exporter of Czech beer.
• Plzensky Prazdroj, a. s., is a subsidiary of SABMiller plc, by volume the second largest global brewing company worldwide with brewing interests or distribution agreements in over 60 countries across five continents. The group’s brands include premium international beers such as Pilsner Urquell, Miller Genuine Draft and Peroni Nastro Azzurro, as well as an exceptional range of market leading local brands. Outside the USA, SABMiller plc is also one of the largest bottlers of Coca-Cola products in the world.

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