A selection of films for children explicitly concerning their rights or evoking them. The selection is aimed at describing such rights and giving children the opportunity to partly identify with the characters in the told stories.
The stories are about their language: words and images to be shared with children starting from the events happening to the characters, in order to reflect on life and the complex world of rights.
Iqbal - Children without fear (directed by Michel Fuzellier and Babak Payami, Italy-France, 2015)
Animated film loosely based on the novel Storia di Iqbal by Francesco d'Adamo (Emme, 2015) and promoted by Unicef Italy. The film is dedicated to the life of Iqbal Masih, a Pakistani child who became a symbol of the fight against the exploitation of child labour all over the world. He was murdered in 1995, having exposed his torturers after years of exploitation.
Iqbal, together with his companions, all marked by poverty and deprivation, succeeds with great willpower and a deep sense of justice in defeating the corruption of the adults to whom he says: "You must give us back the keys to the world. You have to give us back our future".
Horton and the World of Who (directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, USA, 2008)
"A person is a person, no matter how small", is the motto of Horton, the elephant in this animated film based on the Dr. Seuss picture book of the same name.
One day, Horton hears a faint cry for help from a tiny speck of dust floating in the air. Although his friends make fun of him, he decides to investigate and makes contact with the tiny inhabitants of the city of Whoville. The Whos ask Horton to protect them from any danger, but this attracts joking and teasing from all the other jungle dwellers, who refuse to believe what they cannot see or hear. The fable suggests that not everyone's direction is always the same, and that the small counts as much as the big.
L'isola degli smemorati (directed by Kim Hyok, Italy, 2004)
Animated film, based on the book of the same name by Bianca Pitzorno, published by the Italian Committee for UNICEF (https://www.unicef.it/pubblicazioni/lisola-degli-smemorati/)
It tells the story of children's rights through the eyes of eight children who, after being separated from their parents after a shipwreck, land on an island inhabited by eight forgetful old people who have forgotten that children and their rights exist.
The story revolves around some basic rights: to have a home, food, protection, to play, to have a say, not to do hard work, not to be separated from one's siblings, to be treated with affection, not to be held prisoner, not to be beaten, to receive an education, not to be discriminated against by other children, to preserve one's identity, to be reunited with one's parents when they are separated.