The Amnesty International Award brings in contact two institutions that share a strong sensibility and similar goals: they both operate on a complementary level, with the Festival promoting and screening films by documentarians that reveal the brutal violation of human rights, and with Amnesty International then taking on the difficult task of mobilizing, exerting pressure and raising public awareness. Receiving recognition by a humanitarian institution such as Amnesty International within the context of a cinematic institution such as the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival is doubly important for a filmmaker, since his/her work is honored both on an artistic and a humanitarian level. The experts on human rights issues comprising the jury are Eleni Sideri, Assistant Professor, Department of Balkan, Slavic & Oriental Studies – University of Macedonia; Fay Katsari, A/V producer; Eftichia Voutira, Professor Emeritus, Department of Balkan, Slavic & Oriental Studies – University of Macedonia; and Marianna Leontaridou, Member of Amnesty International Greece, film critic.
