Mamoun Hassan will be taking part in a panel discussion following the screening of Wojciech Smarzowski’s ‘Rose’ as part of Refugee Week at BFI Southbank, London, June 18th.
The film was awarded the Tahrir Square prize for a human rights film at the Cairo Film festival in December 2012. Mamoun was part of the judging panel for the competition and believes Rose is a worthy winner of this important prize which stands for revolution, resistance and human rights: He says, “Films about history are really films about today. There is a kind of cruelty and mindlessness countered by an obstinate fight for humanity through one or two characters who hold on to an idea of civilisation and kindness.”
‘Rose’ dramatises the value of human rights in a tragic tale of war from a little-known period of Polish history: the post-WW2 persecution of the Masurians, indigenous residents of the region that is now Poland.
The screening was organised by David Somerset of the BFI as a complement to Refugee Week: it explores the universal condition of war which remains the main cause of refugees. It also marks a period of history that gave rise to the 1951 Convention relating to Refugee Status.
The other members of the panel are Roland Schillin (UNHCR, UK representative), and Anita Prażmowska (historian). Chair: Tim Finch (Dir. Comms IPPR, Pol. Journalist)
Book tickets online at the BFI website.
