This year a special section "Climate Screening" is dedicated to the relationship between human rights and the environment. Nowadays challenges in the field of environmental protection, counteracting the climate disaster and activism for the planet are a priority for all those who are not indifferent to human rights.

As the Festival Coordinator Tadeusz Strączek has stressed, "The protagonists of our documentaries embark on a heroic and unequal fight against desinformation, big business interests and raw materials giants that strive to maximize their profits at all costs."

"Current Sea", dir. Christopher Smith

In this environmental thriller, Christopher Smith follows Australian investigative journalist Matt Bloomberg and activist Paul Ferber as they fight to save a unique marine ecosystem off the Cambodian coast. Ferber used to run a diving school in the area but now leads a group of local young people who refuse to ignore the poaching destroying the local marine fauna.

"Once You Know", dir. Emmanuel Cappellin

Emmanuel Cappellin decided to dedicate his film to global warming. He visits people who have had to learn to deal with extreme weather events and their aftermath and talks to experts who are looking for practical solutions for difficult times. Sooner or later we will all have to face the tough questions posed by his film. 

"Flint. Who Can You Trust?", dir. Anthony Baxter

The American city has become a symbol of environmental disaster and authorities’ indolence. A few years ago, due to cuts in the city budget, acidic water from a nearby river seeped into the water supply and corroded old pipes. As a result, poisonous water gushed from the city’s taps straight into households, forcing authorities to prohibit its use, suggesting instead that residents use... bottled water. That's what drew the scientists, charlatans and celebrities to Flint. They all seemed to have good intentions and a clear conscience; they wanted to help, but whom? The film’s languid course of events suddenly takes on a rapid pace. Plot twists come one after another as allies switch sides, friends turn out to be enemies, and poison ceases to be poisonous... 

Films on environment and ecology will also be featured in some other festival sections.

This year in "The Discreet Charm of Propaganda" section we decided to take a closer look at the propaganda created at the request of corporations. Another two of the presented documentaries show how the big business responds to environmental problems and uses them for its own purposes. 

"The Green Lie", dir. Werner Boote​​​​​​​

Are green products a way to save the world from disaster or a clever marketing ploy to fuel consumption? Werner Boote's film analyzes the market for "green" goods - from groceries to electric cars. Traveling around the world, he looks behind the scenes of new, environmentally-friendly corporate images, exposing marketing strategies that exploit growing Western awareness of ecology to vault profits.

"The Campaign Against the Climate", dir. Mads Ellesøe​​​​​​​

Nowadays it would seem that it is impossible to convincingly question the thesis about the influence of humans on the process of global warming. And yet the big fossil fuel companies spend millions every year on “studies” to prove that climate change is just a leftist fad. Supposed think tanks—constantly featuring the same pseudo-experts—promote a climate lie that is spread mainly in conservative circles.

The third title featured in "The Discreet Charm of Propaganda" section is the shocking "Influence" (dir. Diana Neille, Richard Poplak) that shows to what extent politcs is nowadays being replaced by political marketing. The documentary follows Lord Tim Bell — one of the first to combine the worlds of advertising and high-level politics — and his agency specializing in agressive electoral campaigns and whitewashing corrupt regimes.