Human Rights Music Video Wins Top Honors in Bulgarian Film Festival

At an awards ceremony at the “Humanitarianism in the Global World Film Festival” in Sofia, Bulgaria, top honors went to the UNITED music video, the centerpiece for the human rights campaign co-sponsored by the Church of Scientology International and Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI).

Created by 19-year-old Taron Lexton UNITED tells the story of a young boy who overcomes oppression by gaining the united support of youth around the world.

Accepting on behalf of the Church and YHRI was Mr. Martin Weightman, the Human Rights Director of the Church’s Brussels-based European public affairs and human rights office.

UNITED received three awards including the grand prize, presented by the director of the festival, for “talented and effective interpretation of the topic of violence against children and the necessity of human solidarity in action,” and an award for artistic quality, presented by the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Media Coalition.

Of all the films awarded at the festival, UNITED was the only one shown to the ceremony attendees, where it was received with the same enthusiasm that has made it popular around the world.

Mr. Weightman thanked the film festival for its initiative in forwarding human rights and tolerance. He spoke of how the success of UNITED inspired Lexton and the Church to increase their activities to reach out to youth with an educational campaign consisting of 30 public service announcements (PSAs) each of which features one of the articles of the universal declaration of human rights. The first three of these PSAs are now available in 16 languages and can be seen online on the web site of Youth for Human Rights International.