Verzio 4 International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival was over November 11th, 2007. 42 excellent works have been screened. The 37 contemporary documentaries in the Main Program have been selected from among the 453 submissions out of which 5 films were included into the Hungarian Panorama. All films were screened in downtown cinemas - Toldi and Cirko-gejzír - in Budapest, Hungary. Verzio 4 was a success: it had the highest number of visitors so far.

Verzio is not a competition festival, however there is a Verzio Audience Award. This year the winner is Bridge over the Wadi by Barak Heymann and Tomer Heymann, Israel. The film follows the operation of a joint Jewish-Arab school meant to initiate communication and peaceful cooperation among the members of a mixed yet separated community. The film received a grade 9.78 on a 1-10 scale.

Due to the very tight voting results Verzio Film Foundation decided to award Diana Groó’s film What Lies Ahead a symbolic 300 euro special prize. The film portrays the everyday lives of disabled children living in the Pető Institute, Budapest. "I am honored, and moved. Please note, that this prize goes to all the children who made this film happen", said the director at the award ceremony.

The most viewed film was the German documentary Between the Lines: Third Gender in India. This is a film about hijras, neither men nor women members of India's society, living on the periphery.

Among the films in the Hungarian Panorama, the most attanded and most debated documentary was Bori Kriza’s Rocking the Nation, a film about a right wing Hungarian rock band called Romantic Violence.

Within the Verzio Retrospective five social documentaries of Nick Broomfield were shown, most of which were Hungarian premieres.

Out of the 42 films presented at Verzio this year, 34 were Hungarian premieres. The growing number of visitors demonstrate that there's an audience for excellent documentaries with social commitment in Hungary, too. The media showed high interest in our films as well, thus maybe some of them will actually reach larger audiences as well, said Zsuzsa Zadori, the festival director.

The educational program of the festival - special screenings followed by discussions - called Student Verzio was highly visited. It had over 700 hundred participants. The venues for student screenings were OSA Archives and the Goethe Institut. Our partner was Haver Foundation.

Verzio 4 had the honor of welcoming and hosting several filmmakers, whom the audiences could meet after the screenings and at the workshop as well. Among our guests were Christian Frei, director of the Giant Buddhas; Leo de Boer, director of The Red Years; Halil Efrat, co-director of Souvenirs; Grzegorz Pacek, director of Go to Louisa; Anna Ginesti, producer of Castells, and Jean Tsien, editor of Please, Vote for Me, Balázs Gát, director of Gipsy Side, Diána Groó director of What Lies Ahead, Edit Kőszegi and Peter Szuhay, directors of Escape into Love, Bori Kriza director of Rocking the Nation and Klára Trencsényi director of The Chance. Some films were introduced by experts among whom we had the honor to welcome Prof. Tamás Magyarics, Head of the Amreican Studies Department at ELTE; Gyula Krajczár, deputy chief editor of Népszabadság; András Schweitzer, journalist of HVG; Lóránt Stőhr film critic.

The 5th Verzio will be organized by OSA and Verzio Film Foundation in November 4-9, 2008.

Verzio 4 with outstanding selection of documentary cinema about human condition

Film program:
42 films from 26 countries - selected from more than 450 submissions
7 thematic groups
34 premiers in 6 days

Opening event | november 6, 2007, tuesday 7 pm, Toldi Cinema
Opening speech | Ferenc Köszeg, founder of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee
Opening film | Please Vote for Me (Weijun Chen , China , 2006, 55')
In an elementary school in the city of Wuhan in central China, eight-year old children compete for the position of Class Monitor. Their parents, devoted to their only child, join in and start to influence the results. An experiment with democracy in China.
Special Guest | Jean Tsien, editor of the film

Main Program:
37 contemporary documentary films from 26 countries in 7 thematic groups.
Retrospective:
5 films of Nick Broomfield
languages:
Official languages of the festival are Hungarian and English. All films are screened in original language with English subtitles and Hungarian voiceover.
venues:
Toldi Cinema | Budapest V., Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 36-38.| TEL.: + 36 1 472-0397
Cirko-gejzír Film Theatre | Budapest V. Balassi Bálint. u.15-17.| TEL.: + 36 1 2691915
OSA ARCHIVUM - GOLDBERGER HOUSE | Budapest V., Arany János utca 32.| TEL: + 36 1 327 3250
Goethe Institute | Budapest IX., Ráday u. 58.| TEL: + 36 1 374 4070
tickets:
Single tickets | 550 Forints
5-day admission pass before 6 November | 3,300 Forints
5-day admission pass starting from 7 November | 4,300 Forints
Festival passes are sold in Toldi and Cirko-gejzír cinemas starting 27 October 2007
Festival catalogue | 500 Ft
Patrons | Miklós Jancsó, film director and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee

Verzio4 Audience Award: 1.000 USD

Take part in deciding which film gets the Audience Award! Evaluate the films!

The films in the retrosopective (hommage a Broomfield) are not eligible for voting. Evaluate the films in the Main Program only.

A voting slip is attached to each entrance ticket. Please evaluate the films on a scale of 1 to 10 by tearing the slip. 1= very bad, 10=excellent. Vote on the spot or via e-mail by 7 pm, 11 November. The film which gets the highest average will be awarded the 1.000 USD Verzio4 Audience Award. In case of equal rates, the film which got more votes will win.

Come and join us to see the Verzio4 winnig film following the Award Ceremony, 8.30 pm 11 November 2007, Toldi cinema! In 2006 The Shutka Book of Records was the award winning film, do you remember?