HCLU Films Portfolio 2009

2009 has been a busy year of video advocacy work. The vast majority of our films dealt with drug policy issues, within the framework of the European Drug policy Initiative (EDPI) program. We filmed in Vienna at the protest organized by HCLU against the global drug war in front of the UN building, investigated the issue of drug tourism in Dutch border towns, introduced the upcoming heroin program in Denmark, showed the history and failure of strict Swedish prohibitionist drug policies and campaigned for the introduction of a needle exchange program in Stockholm. We successfully helped Russian NGOs who turned to the Global Fund after the Russian government denied the funding of needle exchange, and promoted the successful harm reduction programs that Kyrgyzystan introduced to stop the HIV epidemic. Our Hungarian language films in 2009 were used to strengthen the HCLU’s other programs. With the “HCLU Reports” series, we explained our position on various issues like the harmful criminalization of holocaust denial, the missing regulation of giving birth at home, or the future of disability policies. We produced 17 short films on discrimination issues for the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI). Our most popular Hungarian film is titled "Without Rights" and shows the rights violations of Romani people living around Ózd in the Eastern part of Hungary. This film was the main film on the 10th of December, Human Rights Day, on the leading online news portal, Index in Hungary. It received 13176 views until the 29th of December.