The 21st edition of the Cinema, Human Rights and Advocacy summer school opened on 31 August 2026 with 25 young activists from 21 different countries.
The programme has a cross-cutting focus on environmental rights within the broader framework of human rights protection and promotion, emphasizing its impact on younger generations and local communities. Set against the backdrop of the Venice International Film Festival, participants attend screenings and engage with film industry professionals and leading experts in the human rights field.
The opening day set already the tone by hosting the screening of the Emmy nominated investigative documentary “Delikado”: a timely, emblematic film about the struggles land defenders are undergoing while trying to save natural resources from being plundered by corporations and governments. Palawan is in fact the most biodiverse part of the Philippines and home to two UNESCO World Heritage-listed natural wonders; Delikado follows Bobby, Tata and Nieves, three magnetic leaders, as they risk their lives in David versus Goliath-style struggles trying to stop politicians and businessmen from destroying the Philippines’ “last ecological frontier”.
The screening was followed by a Q&A with film director and journalist Karl Malakunas, impact producer Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala and Nini Oñate, 2024 CHRA alumna and former Managing Director of DAKILA, a Filipino artistic collective active in audience engagement for human rights and environmental films, through DAKILA’s Active Vista Human Rights Center. Active Vista is in fact an educational initiative that works for the promotion of human rights and democracy by providing education platforms and resource materials, including the organisation of thought-provoking film screening and debates. Active Vista and Nini have worked on Delikado’s impact distribution and audience engagement, particularly facilitating screenings of Delikado in Palawan, at the presence of the local community.
The topic of environmental rights is a fil rouge throughout the school and the second key appointment will take place on Friday with our students meeting the delegation of Solwata, a mixed reality installation premiering at the 2026 Venice Film Festival that puts viewers inside the slow-motion catastrophe as Solomon Island communities contemplate uncertain futures and reconstruct home. Solwata invites audiences not only to understand the challenges relocating communities face, but to stand alongside them and consider what responsibility the rest of the world has to communities facing climate relocation.
Our students will have the possibility to meet with representatives of all the 3 partners who made this project possible: Human Rights Watch, who realised the 2025 research and firsthand testimony from people whose homes and communities are already being reshaped by the worsening climate emergency, as well as the technical partners NowHere Media and Agog, specialised in immersive media, storytelling and social change.