Browse previous selections from the Human Rights Watch Film Festival
![Photo of a group of people in tshirts and shorts, standing in a jungle path looking at camera.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_teaser_380x240/public/2022-04/Pic%204_Karl%20Malakunas_DELIKADO.jpeg?itok=8VX9LU-q)
Delikado
In Delikado, three environmental defenders are tested like never before in their battle to save their home, Palawan, an island in the Philippines, from the illegal destruction of its forests, fisheries, and mountains.
![Illustration by Doaa el-Adl, depicting a woman in a purple dress with eyes all over it, running from giant hands.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_teaser_380x240/public/2023-04/DFC_EG_still10.jpg?itok=n-bpPolw)
Draw Me Egypt - Doaa El-Adl, A Stroke of Freedom
Doaa el-Adl is one the most prominent of the very few female cartoonists in the Arab world. Draw me Egypt - Doaa El-Adl, A Stroke of Freedom creatively blends documentary, cartoons and animation to bring to life this courageous artist’s thoughts on politics and feminism as she uses her talent to advocate for women’s rights.
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Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
“Despite the ongoing brutality, the nation is not on its knees. The movie’s essence is singing, hugging, volunteers bearing gifts, and children drawing pictures for the soldiers who are keeping them safe. That's beauty: People who know how to laugh and love.” – filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky
![Image of a reflection in a window. A man in a wheelchair is looking downwards and holding a camera. In the background is a giant red circus tent.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_teaser_380x240/public/2023-02/ididntseeyouthere_still_01.jpg?itok=Z03d-vxn)
I Didn't See You There
When a circus tent is put up outside his apartment, filmmaker Reid Davenport, a wheelchair user, reflects on the corrosive legacy of the “freak show” and the paradoxical spectacle and invisibility of disability.
![Photo of a crowd of people in a circle on a London street, watching a young Black man doing a trick with his bike.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_teaser_380x240/public/2023-02/Screenshot%202023-02-05%20at%2012.46.58%20PM.png?h=f6be379b&itok=QPH2Ar9S)
If the Streets Were on Fire
In the UK, years of austerity have pushed people to their limits and youth violence has been on the rise. BikeStormz, a movement of young bikers, attempts to offer a safe and welcoming space. However, new forms of conflict arise when police and “concerned citizens” threaten arrest for their very existence.
![Photo from film INTO MY NAME featuring four Trans masc film participants sitting together on a hill smiling, in front of an open blue sky.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_teaser_380x240/public/2023-04/HIKING02269641.jpg?itok=JyefxvGf)
Into My Name (Nel Mio Nome)
Nic, Leo, Andrea and Raff are four trans masculine friends from Italy on a journey of self-discovery as they seek to determine their own gender identities while together dealing with society’s imposed physical, legal, and social boundaries, and the labyrinthine process of navigating the medical system.
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Koromousso, Big Sister
Canada-based co-directors Habibata Ouarme and Jim Donovan capture personal stories and deep moments of support in a small community of women from West Africa, who are confronting social norms and embracing the inherent power in pleasure and love for their own bodies.
![Image of a coach bus full of African young men - some smiling at the camera.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_teaser_380x240/public/2022-04/%5BLEAD%20IMAGE%5D%202.Inside%20the%20bus.jpeg?itok=dz_1KyXm)
No U-Turn
No U-Turn by celebrated Nigerian director Ike Nnaebue takes us on a journey with Nigerian citizens leaving their country, traveling north through Africa and beyond in search of work and opportunity to build a future, despite the known and unknown challenges lying ahead.
![Image of a man in a basketball cap wearing a shirt that says along the back "Long Live Al" Looking up at fireworks.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_teaser_380x240/public/2023-04/PIC1_SCOTTALEXANDERRUDERMAN_PAYORDIE.jpeg?itok=G8YLMmfg)
Pay or Die
The US healthcare system is the most expensive in the world; almost half of all Americans reportedly struggle to pay for health care. Pay or Die explores the crushing financial reality for millions of insulin dependent Americans living with diabetes, as pharmaceutical companies push the price of this life saving medication to exorbitant levels, making record breaking profits. This is only further bolstered by the government’s lack of regulation.
![Photo of a young Black boy with short hair smiling and looking to the right. Behind him a housing structure sits, at the hour just before sunset.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_teaser_380x240/public/2023-04/Razing_Liberty_Square_Joshua_HECTOR%20DAVID%20ROSALES.jpg?h=feaddb9a&itok=aHtRCF0B)
Razing Liberty Square
When residents of the Liberty Square public-housing community in Miami learn about a $300 million revitalization project, they know that the sudden interest comes from the fact that their neighborhood is located on the highest and driest ground in the city. Now they must prepare to fight a growing form of racial injustice—climate gentrification.
![Photo of white woman with blonde hair looking out in distance. Behind her a woman with short hair looks over her shoulder as well.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_teaser_380x240/public/2023-02/SL%20%281%29.jpg?itok=04J2Efj5)
Silent Love
Silent Love is a coming-of-age and a coming-out story. Aga, 35, is legally adopting her teenage brother, Milosz, after their mother’s death – a process that invites intense probing into her lifestyle. However, there’s something she can’t share in their conservative Polish village: her long-term relationship with her girlfriend Maja.
![Image of journalists in ETILAAT ROZ newsroom in Afghanistan](/sites/default/files/styles/large_teaser_380x240/public/2023-04/ETILAAT_ROZ_2.jpeg?itok=wX4LdggD)
The Etilaat Roz
In August 2021, staff at the most widely read newspaper in Kabul, ‘Etilaat Roz’, are left with an impossible choice after the Taliban seize power: stay and continue reporting—risking torture, imprisonment, and death—or join thousands of others attempting to flee the country. ‘Etilaat Roz’ staff member Abbas Rezaie films his colleagues as they navigate the days that changed their lives and the direction of the country.