O’meme International Film Festival for Human Rights in Mauritania
The second edition of the O’meme International Film Festival for Human Rights was held from June 23 to 26, 2023, despite the lack of resources and the absence of support for cultural and artistic activities, in a challenge and overcoming of difficulties and obstacles. This festival comes to contribute to collective and independent work in order to build a culture of rights, justice, equality, and dignity, and to contribute to the education of the Mauritanian people to respect themselves and others and their country.
The organization of this edition in its simplest form was nothing more than an attempt by the festival team to promote cinema, highlight the importance of human rights, and defend them, in addition to their quest for the flourishing of cultural and artistic activity and support for young talents and providing them with the opportunity to convey their voice.
The festival included screenings of films from many countries, where nine international films from different film categories competed, with competition for several national films discussing human issues. In cooperation with the Advertising Regulatory Authority, a special competition for commercial advertisements was also established. The jury was chaired by the filmmaker Abdelrahman Lahi and included the director Lalla Kaber, who won the first prize for the first edition of the festival for the national competition, and the Moroccan director and cinematographer Karim Taghout, who won the first prize for the international competition. It is worth noting that the artist Abdelrahman Lahi is one of the founding members of the ANHAR Network and was present at the network’s meetings in its early stages of establishment.
The opening was attended by representatives of civil society, with the presence of Ms. Fatima bint Abdul Malik, Vice President of the Nouakchott Region, in addition to artists and media professionals.
