The K.V. (knopka vyzova – call button) festival brought together 
young movie makers from Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania and Ukraine. Besides the festival screenings, the event also included seminars and master-classes with popular Lithuanian and Belarusian film theorists and directors. Many important issues were raised during the festival: why some films are popular and others are not, how one can defend his or her own rights without violating the rights of others, how to stop wanting and to start making movies, how to stop making movies and a whole variety of other issues.
The festival was organized by the initiative group of the LitPro project and the European Humanities University in partnership with the Belarusian Human Rights House in Vilnius. It is the first festival of this format not only for Belarus, but for the whole region. The event has become possible due to the support of Lithuanian and Norwegian foreign ministries and Human Rights House Foundation (Norway).
“It might seem that a festival of visual statements on inconvenient topics has nothing to do with human rights. But in Belarus human rights is one of the most inconvenient topics. Many things are inconvenient in Belarus, there are inconvenient topics, inconvenient organizations, inconvenient universities, inconvenient people,” Anna Gerasimova, the director of Belarusian HRH, notes. “We are happy that this festival provides different people with a possibility to have a say and to realize their right to freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom to spread information”.
One of jury members and film critic from Minsk, Belarus, Maksim Zhbankou, looks at the importance of the festival from a different perspective. He comments, “There is no Belarus in the Belarusian films. Our life and our film industry exist in totally different dimensions. At the same time, we live in an extremely interesting historical period, so let us film the Belarus of today, the real Belarus. Today cinema becomes more independent: more or less anybody can make a film using a laptop and thus express himself and demonstrate his own vision of the world. It is strange that there are not so many films of the kind yet, but I truly hope that the new generation will begin to talk.”
The festival program included 16 new films. The first prize was awarded to “Messages” (author: Mikhas Kastou, Ukraine), the second prize — to “Horadnia. New world.” (authors: Paval Mitskevich, Darja Alizarevich, Belarus), and the third prize — to “Extras” (author: Natallia Holava, Belarus). Film “No ocean” (author: Gabriele Labanauskaite, Lithuania) received a special mention. Awards from the organizers were given to the youngest participants, Linas Steponavicius (film “City story”, Lithuania) and Maksim Karpovich (film “To drink or not to drink. Coffee”, Belarus). The winners in the nomination “Precision of form” were two films, “I am different” (authors: Julia Jakubovich, Dzianis Sheko, Aliaksandra Davydzienka and Aliaksandr Martyniuk, Belarus) and “Good morning, star light” (author: Aliaksei Marozau, Belarus).
A special prize from the Bealrusian HRH was awarded to “Perception” (author: Jauhen Sidarau, Belarus). “This movie is the shortest one in the festival program,” Anna Gerasimova commented. “However these 1.5 minutes make you think about the most important human right of all. This is the right to life, without which realization of other rights would be impossible.”
“Take a camera and your voice will be heard!” the festival participants say and invite everyone to this event next year.
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