CONCEPT
HRFF Zurich's home is the cinema Riffraff in Zurich's district 5. The 11th edition will take place from 26th March until 1st April 2026 at Riffraff and the nearby Zollhaus as well as some other small locations. We will once again create an inspiring meeting place for people who want to engage with a complex world and gain foresight through films and debates.
Born in 2015, the Human Rights Film Festival Zurich takes place every year. Over seven days, we show artistically strong feature-length documentaries and fiction films that explore human rights issues – avoiding stereotypes or moralistic finger-pointing. Afterwards there are discussions with directors, protagonists and experts. In this way, what we have seen can be placed in a larger context. The programme reflects a variety of human rights themes in different geographic and social contexts. Topics include flight and migration, the war in Syria, women’s rights, LGBTI-rights, responsibilities of multinationals as well as the relation between resources, energy and human rights. Panel discussions after the screenings widen the scope of the programme and offer the possibility to contextualize and discuss the films. The festival thus offers a platform for passionate dialogue between films and human rights. We believe in the power of cinema as an art form and in the film festival as a meeting place for people who want to deal with a complex world.
