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2026 Theme

Stupor & Uprisings

Stupor: a state of physical and mental numbness, close to paralysis, caused by shock or profound fear / Uprising: a mass movement of revolt.

Today, it is not uncommon to feel stunned by current events. In the most ordinary conversations, as in the most informed analyses, the same observation emerges: something leaves us speechless. The rise of security-driven rhetoric, the normalisation of war, and the erosion of fundamental rights confront us with such force that they tend to produce inertia. As though shock, through sheer repetition, ultimately disarms us.

How did we get here? How do entire societies come, little by little, to surrender freedoms in the name of security? And what becomes of our capacity to act when stupor takes hold?

History is not written in a state of bewilderment. Between the lines of paralysis, movements emerge. Everywhere, resistance takes shape, boundaries shift, and acts of refusal assert themselves. Nothing is set in stone. Democracy endures only through those who take hold of it, challenge it, and push beyond the limits imposed upon them.

The 2026 Festival des Libertés takes a stand. It chooses to confront what leaves us stunned, in order to bring into view what is rising up. To shed light on acts of rupture, disobedience and risk-taking. To circulate stories that awaken, analyses that equip us, and experiences that give us something to hold on to and act upon.

Not to promise simple answers, but to reject paralysis and reopen the realm of possibility.