The festival opened with Overcoming the Darkness, made by a team of Ukrainian filmmakers during the first weeks of the war. The narrative mosaic by the Kinodopomiha collective bears chilling testimonies of the Ukrainian people facing the Russian invasion. The screening will take place at Kino Lucerna´s Great Hall at 8 PM and will host a debate with Jan Lipavský, minister of international affairs.

In the evening, the opening ceremony of the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of One World took place at the Prague Crossroads. It included the presentation of the Homo Homini Human Rights Award. This year's laureate is Venezuelan activist Javier Tarazona. One World 2023 brings the traditional competition sections (International Competition, Czech Competition, You Have the Right to Know), to which a new competition category for VR films, One World Interactive, has been added. In addition, the program will also group the films into seven thematic categories: New Gods, Female Power, Ukraine, Sustainability, Relationships, Uprooted, and Social Media.