The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC India has opened the entries for its sixth annual competition for short films on human rights which has received a tremendous response so far. This year, the prize money for the three cash awards has been doubled to Rs.2 lakh, Rs.1.50 lakh and Rs.1 lakh for the best first, second and third film respectively along with the certificates. This time, the entries have been invited online only.  The last date to receive the entries is 15^th October 2020.

The aim of the award scheme is to encourage and acknowledge the cinematic and creative efforts of the Indian citizens, irrespective of their age, towards the promotion and protection of human rights. There is no entry fee and bar on the number of films sent by an individual for participation in the contest.

However, the participants will have to send each film separately with a duly filled in application form(s), which is available on the website of the Commission under the button ‘what’s new on : www.nhrc.nic.in or the link https://nhrc.nic.in/document/nhrc%E2%80%99s-short-film-award-scheme-%E2%80%93-2020.   The films and the entry forms along with the requisite documents may be sent at nhrcshortfilm@gmail.com using Google drive.

The short films may be in any Indian languages with subtitles in English. Duration of the short film should not be less than 3 minutes or more than 10 minutes. The short film could be a documentary, dramatization of real stories or a work of fiction, in any technical format including animation.

The themes of the films, having a tinge of rights perspective, could be broadly-based on various socio-economic, cultural and political rights, within the ambit of right to life, liberty, equality and dignity.  The films may cover issues specific to bonded and child labour, women & children’s rights, rights of elderly persons, disabled rights, right to healthcare, issues of fundamental freedoms, human trafficking, domestic violence, human rights violation due to police atrocities, custodial violence and torture, socio-economic disparities, rights of indigenous people, prison reforms, right to education, right to clean environment, right to work, right to equality before the law, right to food and nutritional security, rights of LGBTI etc. 

For any further queries, the office of Deputy Director (Media & Communication), NHRC can also be contacted.