Human Rights Film Festival Berlin

Eight Years of Human Rights Cinema in Berlin

Founded in 2018, the Human Rights Film Festival Berlin (HRFFB) has become Germany's most important festival for human rights films in less than ten years. It originated from an initiative by the aid organization Aktion gegen den Hunger (Action Against Hunger) and its cooperation partner Greenpeace – with the aim of showcasing international documentaries on human rights, ecological justice, migration, war, and conflict that would otherwise have little platform in German arthouse cinemas.

Structural Reform: April Format Instead of Autumn Date

In 2025, the festival moved its date: instead of in autumn, the main event now takes place in April – April 10 to 18 in 2026. Co-director Jan Sebastian Friedrich-Rust justified the move with "planning security and space for content and structural further development." For 2025, instead of a full festival edition, a special screening was held in October focusing on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, along with over 100 school screenings.

2026 Program: "Where Stories Fight Back"

The motto of the 8th edition is "Where Stories Fight Back" – a commitment to film as a tool of resistance against authoritarian tendencies and ecological destruction. 24 international documentaries have been curated, opening with:

• "Yanuni – The Voice of the Amazon" – an opening film about indigenous resistance in the Brazilian Amazon

Other film topics include climate justice, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, migration, press freedom, and post-colonial reckoning. After each screening, there will be discussions with filmmakers, activists, and civil society representatives.

Seven Venues Across the City

The main venue is the Kino in der KulturBrauerei on the grounds of the former Schultheiss brewery at Schönhauser Allee 36, Prenzlauer Berg. Additional screenings will take place at the following cinemas:

• Babylon Mitte – Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße
• Colosseum – Schönhauser Allee
• Hackesche Höfe Kino – Rosenthaler Straße
• Kant Kino – Kantstraße
• Zeiss Großplanetarium – Prenzlauer Allee
• ACUD – Veteranenstraße

This distribution makes the festival a city-wide event and allows Berliners from different districts to participate at their nearest venue.

NGO-Driven, with Berlin Cultural Partners

The HRFFB is one of the few major film festivals in Germany run by a non-governmental organization – Aktion gegen den Hunger, which works internationally against hunger and malnutrition, co-produced with Greenpeace. This structure allows for a thematic focus that festivals funded by cultural promotion programs often cannot achieve.