Documentary about actions for human rights protection was presented in Berlin :: Charter'97 :: News

Documentary “Can I get a Right?” dwelling on “Amnesty International“ action for human rights protection of German film director Sebastian Heintsel was presented in Berlin.

Sebastian Heintsel, young documentary director, became well known after his film “ 89 mm –Freedom in the Last Bulwark of Dictatorship in Europe”. The film dwells on the life of young Belarusians, on their personal understanding of freedom and life attitude, the Deutsche welle reports.

The documentary on the Belarusian reality attracted attention of the “Amnesty International” organization which activity is devoted to human rights protection and to support of political prisoners, to struggling against discrimination and death penalty.

“They watched the documentary “ 89 mm –Freedom in the Last Bulwark of Dictatorship in Europe” and asked me to shoot the film about the action under the title “Can I get a Right?”- a many -days campaign of protest against violations of human rights in Belarus. I enjoyed the offer: the invention of the “Amnesty International” activists was not an entertaining voyage”, Sebastian Heintsel said.

A ten- days marathon started in Amsterdam on 6 March 2006. Twenty volunteers hitchhiked through West Europe from the North Sea to Belostok, stopping in Bonn , Berlin and Warsaw.

“Our aim was to reach the Belarusian border, i.e. the line symbolizing the end of freedom. The motto of the traveling was “To attract people’s attention to violations of human rights in Belarus”, the director reports.

The activists talked to passer-bys in the streets, at gas stations and cafeteria. It appeared that in Holland and in the West of Germany not many could boast of their geographical knowledge and few of them knew where Belarus is. And only several people were aware of the coming elections, disappeared oppositional policymakers and journalists, of the acting death penalty in Belarus.

“The closer we moved to Belarus the more informed communicators we met. For example, in Berlin and especially in Poland. Just at that moment the concerts and actions of solidarity with Belarus took place in Warsaw. The “Amnesty International” activists joint them”, Sebastian Heintsel tells.

Participants of the “Can I get a Right?” action carried the petition signed by thousands of people. According to Sebastian that was the longest petition in Germany, longer than 30 meters. In Berlin the volunteers attempted to forward that long manuscript to the employees of the Belarusian embassy. But they refused to take the petition and even did not let the activists to the embassy. In the same tough way the participants of the action were turned out of the Belarusian embassy in Warsaw.

“Finally, the petition was forwarded to the activists of the Belarusian department of the “Amnesty International” organization and they carried it to Minsk. I hope, that the petition reached at last the addressee”, Sebastian Heintsel says.

After watching the documentary the audience shared their opinions. “People here do not even know the name of the capital of Belarus. Only after the scandal with gas deliveries to Germany they noticed that country. To my mind, it’s a shame not to know what is going on in Belarus. Actually, it is our neighbor”, people said.

The “Can I get a Right?” action finished in Belostok. But two volunteers decided to continue their way to Minsk. 19 March, day of presidential elections, they participated in the meeting in Kastrichnitskaya square. The documentary ends with the chanting crowd frames.