Human Rights Video “UNITED” wins International Film Festival

The prestigious award was accepted on behalf of UNITED’s director, Taron Lexton,  and Youth for Human Rights International, by Mr. Martin Weightman, Human Rights Director of the European Human Rights Office of the Church of Scientology International, located in Brussels.

The “Grand Award of the Organization Committee and Director of the Festival for Humanitarianism in the Global World” and the honorary medal, “Partners for a Human World” were awarded to UNITED and to Youth for Human Rights International for “Talented and Effective Interpretation of the Topic of Violence Against Children and the Necessity of Human Solidarity in Action.”

The award ceremony was led by Mr. Georgi Naydenov, Director of the Film Festival, and by Dimitar Sotirov, Executive Director of Bulgarian Media Coalition, who presented Mr. Weightman with the awards.

“I am very proud and particularly happy to receive this prestigious award in Sofia. I consider it the start of a broader human rights education campaign for the Bulgarian youth” stated Martin Weightman. The Human Rights Department of the Church of Scientology International is ready to launch this campaign in this country and to cooperate with the local authorities and like-minded organisations to make it happen.

This new award is the last one of an incredible series. It has been officially selected by twenty film festivals around the world and has won four awards: the  Spirit of Moondance  award at the Moondance Festival in Colorado; Best Human Rights Film  at the Taglia Corto Human Rights Film Festival in Florence (which is co-organised by UNESCO);  Honorary Youth Film Maker and Best Family Film, short  awards from the Big Bear Film Festival in California; and the Prestigious Grand Jury Award for Best Short Film at the New York Independent Film Festival in New York. More recently it has been officially named as an Academy Award Qualifier.

UNITED is the centrepiece of the Human Rights Education Campaign launched last year by Youth for Human Rights International, in conjunction with the Church of Scientology International Human Rights Department. As inferred by the title of the music video, the campaign is grounded in the belief that by acting in a united fashion, young people can make a difference and create a better world.

It was first shown inside the United Nations Headquarters in New York in August 2004, where it earned praise from the Deputy Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as a huge step forward for human rights education.