Established in 1999 by
Igor Blaževič and the Czech NGO
People in Need, the One World Festival presents over a100 documentary films during nine days in Spring from around the world. It is a founding member of the Human Rights Film Network, which brings together 33 festivals around the world. In 2006, the festival received a Special Mention from
UNESCO for its contribution to human rights and peace education. Three years later, in 2009, One World published a handbook entitled
Setting Up a Human Rights Film Festival, which offers practical advice as well as case studies of prominent human rights events. In 2018, the One World Festival was in its 20th year and took place from 5–14 March, presenting 128 documentaries and 9 virtual reality projects from more than 40 countries around the world. In the same year, the festival and the NGO, People In Need, published the handbook,
Explore Impact: How To Reach New Audiences And Boost impact, that should serve as an important guideline for the festival (or other cultural events) organizers who care about the social dimension and impact of their work. One World was held under the auspices of
Václav Havel, the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Karel Schwarzenberg, the Minister of Culture
Jiří Besser, and the Mayor of Prague
Bohuslav Svoboda. The 2020 edition of the festival was postponed due to rising concerns over
COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. ==Competitions and awards==