At a time when hard-won rights to equa­li­ty and self-deter­mi­na­ti­on are being rol­led back again in many places, film—like hard­ly any other medium—can shi­ne a spot­light on social inju­s­ti­ces: whe­ther in rea­li­stic social dra­mas, explo­si­ve coming-of-age sto­ries or ani­ma­ted works with a poli­ti­cal mes­sa­ge. This moving and high­ly topi­cal the­me dri­ves the »Young European Cinephiles« to explo­re cau­ses and pos­si­ble solu­ti­ons in the inte­rest of a fai­rer future. 

“Movies are a good medi­um to show how peo­p­le suf­fer under oppres­si­on whe­ther it comes from the govern­ment, socie­ty or even their fami­ly”, says Sophia from Germany. “Film and art ser­ve as powerful tools to denoun­ce inju­s­ti­ce and mistre­at­ment”, says Martin from France. 

The group has been explo­ring “Justice” in depth sin­ce spring through inten­si­ve online dis­cus­sions and rese­arch. Their aim is to cura­te a film sel­ec­tion that reflects their inter­pre­ta­ti­on and per­spec­ti­ve on the topic. When put­ting the pro­gram­me tog­e­ther, they place spe­cial empha­sis on hid­den gems bey­ond main­stream cine­ma and on loo­king at dif­fe­rent dimen­si­ons: per­so­nal, social and poli­ti­cal justice. 

They see a par­ti­cu­lar pro­blem in ent­ren­ched patri­ar­chal struc­tures, espe­ci­al­ly when it comes to the lack of gen­der equa­li­ty and dis­cri­mi­na­ti­on against que­er peo­p­le. “Many free­doms we take for gran­ted still do not exist ever­y­whe­re, espe­ci­al­ly for women”, says Samuel from the Czech Republic. “We also wan­ted to shed light on the glo­bal strugg­le for que­er rights and the chal­lenges faced by the­se com­mu­ni­ties”, adds Martin. 

The group is also moved to take a cri­ti­cal look at social insti­tu­ti­ons with sup­po­sedly good inten­ti­ons in order to high­light struc­tu­ral inju­s­ti­ces: “Systems with a lack of resour­ces and empa­thy that cla­im to help but often harm”, says Bérénice from France.

But despi­te bleak pro­s­pects, they want their sel­ec­tion to car­ry a sen­se of hope—“even in the dar­kest situa­tions, peo­p­le still try to hold on to hope”, explains Nina from the Czech Republic—and they belie­ve in the trans­for­ma­ti­ve power of cine­ma. “Good films lea­ve space for us to think, ques­ti­on our own views and some­ti­mes even chan­ge them”, Samuel sums up.