The facts testifying to the involvement of the European Parliament in the defence of human rights and elementary freedoms behind the Iron Curtain are not well known. They are presented in a film A place to stand by Anna Ferens.
The Polish documentary filmmaker Anna Ferens spent hundreds of hours reviewing archive material.
She contacted the participants of events from the 1980s - oppositionists from the former Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Poland, Romania and Hungary - and recorded conversations with them.
She also interviewed on camera the MEPs, who, back then, initiated resolutions on Eastern European issues.
That's how the film A place to stand („Punkt oparcia”) came about.
First elected in general elections in June 1979, the European Parliament has, since its inception, attached great importance to the issue of human rights.
In the 1980s the European Parliament, within its realm of competence and capability at the time, was involved in the defence of oppressed people in Soviet bloc countries.
It also supported democratic opposition, anticipating the groundbreaking events of 1989 and the process of integration between the two parts of Europe.
Between 1980 and 1989, the European Parliament adopted 87 resolutions on human rights, including 54 related to the eastern part of the continent.
A place to stand directed by Anna Ferens.
Producers: National Centre for Culture and the May 77 Society