The protagonists of Any Given Day are, to a certain degree, victims of their past and the environment they grew up in. This affects their mental health, and they are far from alone in their struggles with their inner demons.

For more information on the film, check out the Archive.

The film is accompanied by an impact campaign sponsored by the non-profit production company 3 Generations. By contributing to this campaign, you will support the work of organizations that help people with mental illness. Plus the protagonists will get the opportunity to travel with the film and raise awareness among audiences.

Denmark is considered one of the happiest countries in the world, yet the Danes are also having to cope with some form of a mental health condition: every tenth person in the country has been diagnosed with some form of mental disorder. The film Lovebound follows special group therapy sessions for parents whose children have developed a mental illness.

Watch the film on our VOD platform: OW online

However, you would be wrong to think that only Scandinavia offers such possibilities. In the Czech Republic, for example, the Accompaniment Centre (Centrum provázení) helps these families. It helps them cope with the difficult reality and supports them in the next steps, so that the child receives the best possible care.

Jason, the protagonist of the documentary of the same name, went through a traumatic childhood, which he is coping with thanks to intensive therapy. Had there been more consistent prevention and a better family background, his situation would not have progressed this far.

For more information on the film, check out the Archive.

Within the Czech context, the first of these is offered, for example, by the organisation Mental Health for Children, which seeks to destigmatise mental illness and help ensure that children and parents have someone to turn to.

The central character of the documentary He’s My Brother is not only blind and deaf, but also has a mild form of autism.

Watch the film on our VOD platform: OW online

NAUTIS (National Institute for Autism) has been providing support to people with autism and their families in the Czech Republic since 2003. You can support this organisation by volunteering, donating a financial or material gift, but also in other ways.

Addiction to pharmaceuticals and their overuse is one of the greatest problems of the twenty-first century. The fact is that the excessive and long-term use of certain medical drugs may lead to a heavy dependency, which not only affects the user’s health but also their ability to participate in daily life. The aim of the filmmakers of Happy Pills, as well as of the Czech Neocentrum addiction counselling centre, is to look for an immediate solution to all the problems associated with pharmaceuticals.  

The filmmakers of Keeping the Faith support the ALSA organisation, which brings together patients and professionals interested in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS is a serious disease that can affect anyone, and as yet there is no effective treatment for it. ALSA helps patients with counselling as well as guidance regarding appropriate therapies, retreats, and other activities. By supporting this organization, you can help to establish a so-far lacking specialized centre for those with the disease. 

Animal cruelty on farms is a long-standing problem that many activists are trying to raise awareness about. One of them is the protagonist of the documentary Just Animals, who is wondering how to run this type of activism.

For more information on the film, check out the Archive.

If you are asking yourself something similar, one option is to visit the Animal Equality website. You will learn a lot about current animal rights campaigns, and you can also start by making a financial contribution to help prevent animal cruelty.

Student activists successfully made climate change the theme of the 2019 Danish parliamentary elections. The country then issued one of the world’s most ambitious climate plans: a law that intends to reduce emissions by 70% by 2030.

In the film 70/30, we watch the Danish government strive to enforce laws in accordance with a sustainable way of life.

Watch the film on our VOD platform: OW online.

ACT NOW is a United Nations campaign that encourages each of us to do so through an intuitive app. The number of small but substantial acts for the good of the climate that this app has already recorded is now approaching five million. Download it too and help pass this milestone!

Climate change is not a political agenda set by elites seeking to intimidate their citizens, but a lived reality in much of the world. Two women from Malawi try to explain this to American farmers in The Ants and the Grasshopper. The entire film was shot according to principles of sustainability, and at the end, the crew published the carbon footprint it produced during filming.

For more information on the film, check out our VOD platform: OW online.

On the film’s official website you will find the Take Action section, where you can support farms and other entities that appear in the documentary.

The documentary The North Drift is based on an interesting experiment: The director decides to release a plastic bottle into the Elbe River in Dresden and use a GPS locator to track its route. Empirically, it demonstrates a familiar reality: plastics can get from anywhere in the world to virtually anywhere else, polluting the entire planet.

For more information on the film, check out the Archive.

Do you want to help prevent this? Share and support the international Rethink Plastic campaign, which encourages EU citizens to change their approach to plastic materials.

From its place of origin in Great Britain, the Extinction Rebellion movement has gradually spread to various parts of the world. The roots of the movement based around the charismatic but ambiguous leader Roger Hallam are mapped by the documentary Rebellion.

After watching it, you can assess how the Czech version of the movement compares to the original. If you want to help or join these activists, take a look at their website and think about ways to encourage the Czech Republic to improve its approach to climate issues.

For more information on the film, check out our VOD platform: OW online.

Czech documentary filmmaker Martin Trabalík travelled to Bolivia to capture the efforts of volunteer firefighters to prevent the burning of the Chiquitano dry forest. Despite the efforts of environmentalists, this dry forest is still suffering in the name of industrial and agricultural interests.

If the film Incendios had an impact on you, you can contribute to the FCBC – Foundation for the Conservation of the Chiquitano Forest. Since 1999, this foundation tries to protect this dry forest on many levels.

Watch the film on our VOD platform: OW online here.

The makers of the documentary Delikado state that their film is a film for change. The topic of illegal logging and its lobby's close connection to the highest echelons of politics is current in more places than just the Philippines, where the film is set. Environmental activists and farmers who defend forested land, sometimes even with their own bodies, need support. This impact campaign is built on three pillars: defending the defenders, protecting the planet, and increasing transparency and accountability in public affairs.

Based on the story of two brothers living in New Delhi, the award-winning film All That Breathes thematizes the co-existence of humanity and nature, as well as nature’s struggle to find its place in the human-dominated Anthropocene Era. The wounded black kites that the brothers tirelessly rescue are not the only species to suffer because of human activity. Each year, the documentary’s protagonists and their fellow workers treat more than 2,500 waterfowl and birds of prey. Support given to their organization – Wildlife Rescue – offers a clear and transparent form of assistance. 

Small-scale farms offer quality products, but often the necessary awareness is lacking amongst consumers. As in the Austrian film The Farmer and the Hipster, Czech farmers often find themselves on the edge of an existential crisis. And in just the same way, there is a great dividing line between the countryside and the city in our country. The Lovíme.bio initiative (which can be translated as Hunting.for.bio) collects interesting facts, news and information from the world of ecological farming, organic and local food, and helps people find their way to quality, local, and healthy food.

Every year more than 200 environmental protectors are killed, and thousands more face death threats. Not only ecology, but also the indigenous people of the Americas and the injustices they often face, are the subject of the documentary The Illusion of Abundance. This film is currently in the middle of an international impact tour, during which its creators are working with dozens of non-profit organizations. Their objective is to improve the position of the individual in the battle against exploitation by European and North American corporations.

We were born with it, and it surrounds us just about all the time. Our dependence on oil and the oil industry has led the filmmakers of The Oil Machine to ask an important question: can humanity break free from its grip, and if so, at what cost? At the moment, the film crew is collaborating with prominent individuals from the fields of economics and science, as well as with experts from many other professions, in order to transform the hypothesis presented in this documentary into reality. The further they progress with their research, the more tangible the idea of taming the oil industry becomes. 

Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad experienced the horrors perpetrated by ISIS on the Yazid minority. A magnificent recapitulation of these events is provided by the film Angels of Sinjar, one of whose protagonists is Nadia’s brother.

Watch the film on our VOD platform: OW online here.

The Nadia Murad Foundation is tasked with helping the Yazidi community, which has been forcibly uprooted from its homeland and whose members have suffered unimaginably. Your financial gift will help future generations to live better.

The ambient, dark documentary So Foul a Sky conveys to viewers in a non-leading but all the more authentic way a picture of the situation in which Venezuela finds itself today. Poverty, huge inflation, and mass migration – are among the many problems the country is facing today.

Through the Venezuela Relief Fund, mediated by World Vision, you can help stabilise the collapsing health system and improve the overall situation in a country facing a crisis like few others today.

One well can change hundreds of lives for the better. The film Above Water follows twelve-year-old Houlaye, who has to walk several kilometres every day to fetch water, even though her region is located above abundant underground springs. The compelling film is followed by the Amman Imman campaign, which aims to make sustainable and lasting water resources available to more people than just the half a million inhabitants of the Azawak region. Through it, you can support the basic human right to water. 

You will find a large number of organizations supporting migrants. An offshoot of the non-profit organization Doctors Without Borders specifically aims to help those in need from South Sudan, whose national identity and pride is the focus of the film No Simple Way Home. By donating to its activities in Africa’s youngest nation, you can support the universal human right to a home.

On the relatively remote Algerian-Moroccan border lies a 2,700-kilometre-long wall lined with seven million landmines. Although it was not built until the international conflict of 2020, it is more or less a direct legacy of European colonialist ambitions. The documentary Wanibik: The People Who Live In Front of Their Land tells the story of the Algerian students who chose this “wall of shame” as the subject of their graduation film project. If they have inspired you, you can support one of the non-profit organizations active in this area.

Protests for Hong Kong’s autonomy have moved the world in a similar way to the protests that followed the presidential election in Belarus. The documentary When a City Rises captures them through the lens of the individual stories of several protesters, primarily students.

There are several campaigns in support of Hong Kong, and solidarity can easily be expressed, for example, thanks to Hong Kong Watch. You can go through the current campaigns on their website and make a financial donation, thus becoming a member of this "watch" yourself.

Watch the film on our VOD platform: OW online.

Investigative journalists are the watchdogs of democracy, so they say in every journalism department. The documentary Behind the Headlines shows how their work is done in the 21st century. It is also proof of how important this profession is for the health of society.

Investigace.cz deals with large investigative cases beyond the Czech borders. Part of a prestigious international network of investigative journalists, they worked on the story of the Panama Papers together with the protagonists of the above-mentioned documentary, among many other cases. If you want quality journalism to flourish in the Czech Republic, support it with a financial gift.

Chile is fighting for democracy and the documentary Primera captures these protests through the eyes of activists, especially female activists, right in the centre of events. It is the women’s movement that is the focus of the impact campaign linked to the film. 

The campaign has clearly defined goals: to establish partnerships with organisations that will help improve conditions for indigenous peoples, establish international contacts and raise awareness about the situation in Chile around the world. Help them and share the information gained from the film with those around you!

Belarus is considered the last surviving dictatorship in Europe. The protagonists of the film Voice, who took part in the protests after the presidential election know this first-hand.

The easiest way to show empathy and solidarity with the Belarusian people is to sign a petition for a free Belarus. Add your own to more than 90,000 signatures!

Czech investigative journalism has long been struggling with underfunding. It relies on the support of civil society, just as civil society relies on the activities of investigative journalism. The story of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová, which is presented at the festival in the film The Killing of a Journalist, underlines the considerable influence of this aspect of journalism. In the Czech Republic, the Investigace.cz website provides information about original investigative cases of cross-border crime – you can support the work of the editorial team on their website. 

The internationally acclaimed documentary While We Watched, portrays the battle for the future of independent journalism in India. The non-profit organization New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) plays a central role, and you can support it. One of the goals of its uphill struggle is to report on cases of malnutrition and to help the millions of children who lack access to basic food. 

The Czech documentary film Leaving Beginnings Behind focuses on the shortcomings of the system for helping young adults upon leaving children’s homes, who often find themselves without work, or proper housing and ill-prepared for what awaits them in their lives at home. Watch the film on our VOD platform: OW online. (with AD, SDH)

The Give Kids a Chance (Dejme dětem šanci) organisation is there to prevent such scenarios. Thanks to individual contributions, children have a chance to save money for the future, gain better study opportunities and be in touch with the outside world. Every bit of support counts!

The film Ruthless Times – Songs of Care presents an unorthodox testimony from the world of caring for the elderly. However, the songs of anonymous medical staff from Finland also stimulate thoughts about how the ageing population is treated in the Czech Republic. In contrast with the state apparatus’s passivity in relation to the elderly, the Association for the Care of the Elderly (APEOS) is one organization that stands out, bringing together clients and carers, offering education on the care available, and helping to navigate the state bureaucracy. 

Midwives are presented as activists and inconspicuous heroines in the film Sheroes through the strong central figure of Chantal Birman. Watch the film on our VOD platform: OW online here.

In the Czech Republic, the Aperio organisation deals with the topic of safe childbirth and prenatal care. Among other matters it offers a counselling centre for expectant parents, various courses for professionals and the public, and has prepared a detailed guide to maternity hospitals in the Czech Republic. You can support them and have a look at the services they offer here.

The documentary Belly of the Beast helped draw significant attention to a reprehensible practice in Californian prisons: the involuntary sterilisation of female prisoners, often women of colour.

The film helped bring the issue into the public debate, and the impact campaign that linked to it then helped bring about compensation for women who had been sterilised and betrayed by the system. This film can not only present a powerful theme, but also offer possible solutions and help.

There are still far too many countries that significantly restrict women’s right to abortion. The fact that Germany is one of them due to a law dating from the mid-19th century is especially surprising, as uncovered by the documentary Choices/Voices.

However, there are several initiatives through which you can contribute to improving the overall situation around the world. Whether it is a group of Polish women living in the Czech Republic who call themselves Ciocia Czesia, the Irish Abortion Rights Campaign or the worldwide Safe Abortion campaign. All you need to do is choose.

The anonymization of the internet constantly presents us with new challenges and dangers. And this applies not only to the women who are the subject of the Canadian film Backlash: Misogyny in the Digital Age. The film’s directors are battling hate speech on social media and in the digital environment through the #StopCyberviolence campaign, which aims to support victims and their loved ones. 

Themes associated with consent and the abuse of power in the Czech Republic are raising concern in many more areas than just the university environment. However, it is students in particular who are the most vocal about the urgency and relevance of this issue, often at the cost of becoming the target of intimidation or humiliation from those in higher places. The struggle of those who have spoken out is the same struggle faced by the victims who have chosen to remain silent. The film After the Silence Was Broken relates to the activities of the You Don’t! Have To Endure It initiative, as well as the inner life of its founder.

Iran is undergoing tumultuous social change, spearheaded by the struggle of local women for their rights. These are explored in detail in One World’s programme in the film Sānsūr. Among the many extreme manifestations of injustice is the demonization of women who refuse to cover their faces. Women’s rights defenders Yasaman Aryani and Monireh Arabshahi are currently imprisoned for that particular “offence”. You too can help secure their release by signing a petition from the non-profit organization Amnesty International.

In addition to being set in Ukraine, the films Beyond Revolution – Fighting for Democracy, Outside, We Will Not Fade Away, Overcoming the Darkness, and Eastern Front are linked by the complicated background associated with their making. Bringing up-to-date accounts to a global audience from a country tormented by Russian aggression is increasingly necessary, but given the situation also more difficult. DOCU/HELP, which is an initiative of the Ukrainian Docudays Festival, supports Ukrainian filmmakers, and through it you too can support them.

The protagonist of the longitudinal documentary A Happy Man is going through a transition. The opportunities he enjoys and the social acceptance of his marriage to Ivan, the biological father of their two children, are radically different in the Czech Republic as compared to the situation in Sweden. The organization Trans*parent strives to promote rights and positive social changes in favour of transgender, non-binary and intersex people on a social and legislative level. It also helps the media to build a realistic image of trans people and their lives.  

The American documentary Liquor Store Dreams provides evidence of the complicated relationship that exists between the Asian and African-American communities in the USA. The film’s director and protagonist So Yun Um together with the protagonist Danny Park launched an awareness campaign based on the film. Its goal is to combat racism, support intergenerational and social integration, and promote progressive activism in the Asian community living in the United States. You can support their efforts directly on the film’s website. 

As a British-Czech Roma citizen, Štefan Pongo had a clear goal: to unify the initiative of Roma activists across the spectrum of opinion and geographical boundaries, and to give strength to their voice. He travelled thousands of kilometres across Europe and met with members of the Roma community. The legacy of the self-sacrificing protagonist of Pongo Calling lives on with the Czechoslovak Roma Union, which helps Roma in need throughout the Czech Repubilc and Slovakia. You can support the Union on its website.