The winners of the third Students-Film-Competition received their awards at the Vienna International Centre on 6 December 2011. The film Every Human Being has the Right to Food by students of the Clemens-Hochmeister school in Landegg (Tyrol) won the first prize.
The first Austrian film festival for Human Rights This Human World (THW) organized the competition in cooperation with the United Nations Information Service in Vienna (UNIS), the Media Literacy Award of the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (BMUKK), and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Austria. Under the patronage of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Commission in Austria, students 10 to 20 years old were asked to make short films on the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted on 10 December 1948.
"Human rights belong to all of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values," said Anne Thomas, Information Office at UNIS in Vienna, when she inaugurated the ceremony. Ruth Schoeffl from UNHCR explained that her organization speaks up for those who are being denied their Human Rights, including millions of refugees and stateless people around the globe.
The first prize went to students from the Clemens-Hochmeister school in Landegg (Tyrol), the second prize to the film Human Rights produced by students of the commercial college of Amstetten (Lower Austria) , and the jury awarded the third prize to the film Step by Step, shot by students from the secondary school in Lehen (Salzburg). Asked what Human Rights meant to them personally, the winners responded: "It is important for all people to know that everyone has the same rights, no matter where someone comes from or where someone goes to."
In association with THW Film Festival, UNIS Vienna additionally announced the competition in Georgia, Armenia and the Ukraine for the first time this year. The two best films from each country were screened at the ceremony as well..
Another film Strudel, was also shown at the event which was particularly popular with the young audience. It shows how children of different mother tongues work together to cook an intercultural dish. One student remarked "Watching the movie I understood everything that was said in German and Turkish, because my parents are originally from Turkey while I was born in Austria. And my friend understood what was said in Serbian as well, because her parents are originally from Serbia."
