Award-winning director Danny Boyle and Amnesty Director Kate Allen to launch prestigious film festival.

On the day (Thursday 15 October) of the launch of National Schools Film Week, Amnesty International has released a new list of the “10 Best Human Rights Films Ever Made”. Top of the list - based on responses from Amnesty’s Twitter followers, Facebook friends and blog readers - is the iconic film Cry Freedom.

The top 10 films are:

1: Cry Freedom
2: Hotel Rwanda
3: Persepolis
4: Shooting Dogs
5: Blood Diamond
6: The Killing Fields
7: The Last King Of Scotland
8: Milk
(Equal 9th): The Constant Gardener / Rabbit-Proof Fence

The list is published as National Schools Film Week launches with an event at the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square, central London. Joel Defries, the Blue Peter presenter, will preside over a 9.30am launch in front of 1,000 primary school pupils. Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen, Film Education Chair Rick Senat, as well as award-winning director Danny Boyle and acclaimed actor Bill Nighy, will formally open the week.

This will be followed by a special screening of the multi-award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire at Leicester Square’s Empire Cinema. Director Danny Boyle will himself introduce the film in front of an audience of 350 secondary school pupils. He and Kate Allen will give a short talk on the importance of human rights issues in films, as well as presenting Amnesty’s new schools pack “Poverty and Human Rights”.

The Slumdog Millionaire screening is the first of National Schools Film Week, the biggest such event in the world. Last year more than 400,000 Children's rights attended 2,000 screenings, seeing 250 films in 550 cinemas throughout the UK for free. As part of the Week, Amnesty is supporting a season of powerful human rights films - Slumdog Millionaire, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Good and Persepolis.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:

“We’re delighted to be associated with National Schools Film Week. The best films can move, challenge and inspire, and free screenings of human rights films for schoolChildren's rights is a brilliant idea.

“This is the fifth year of Amnesty’s involvement and we’ll be sending our volunteer speakers to venues all over the country to take part in workshops and presentations alongside these excellent and moving films.”

The distinguished filmmaker Lord Attenborough, who is patron of Film Education which funds National Schools Film Week, said:

“National Schools Film Week offers a wonderful range of international films which capture the imagination of young Children's rights across the UK. The films are a way of introducing serious and important issues to Children's rights through creative means.”

Notes to editors:

The screenings of the Amnesty films will take place at:

The Empire, Leicester Square (15 October): Slumdog Millionaire
Birmingham Cineworld (21 October): Persepolis
Liverpool Picturehouse at FACT (21 October): Good
Sheffield Odeon (21 October): Slumdog Millionaire
Bristol Watershed (22 October): Good
Brixton Ritzy (22 October): The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Manchester Odeon - Printworks (22 October): The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Southampton Cineworld (22 October): Slumdog Millionaire
Cardiff Chapter Arts Centre (23 October): The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Coventry - Warwick Arts Centre (23 October): Good
Edinburgh Film House (2 November): Good
Leicester Showcase Cinema de Lux Highcross (4 November): Slumdog Millionaire
Glasgow GFT (4 November): Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle has directed Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, The Beach, Shallow Grave and 28 Days Later, among other films.