Browse previous selections from the Human Rights Watch Film Festival
Tacheles -The Heart of the Matter
Three generations removed from the Holocaust, Yaar is a young Jewish Berliner desperate to leave the past behind.
The Hamlet Syndrome
The Hamlet Syndrome depicts the young Ukrainian generation scarred by war and political breakthroughs.
The New Greatness Case
The New Greatness Case offers remarkable access to a group of young Russians entrapped by the secret service, resulting in unjust trials and prison sentences – echoing the intensified crackdown on dissent and free expression in Russia we see on the news every day.
You Resemble Me
This Spike Lee and Spike Jonze executive produced drama tackles one of the darkest issues of our time - radicalization - in an unmissable story of cultural and intergenerational trauma on the outskirts of Paris.
Reunited
A story of love across borders, and the compromises a family must make when it is torn apart by circumstances beyond its control. When Rana and Muhkles are forced to flee the war in Syria in a desperate search for stable and secure futures for their family, they are separated from their children.
The 8th
Capturing a crucial moment for women's rights, The 8th tells the incredible story of how Ireland overturned one of the world's most restrictive laws on abortion.
The Lesson
At the age of 14 every school child in Germany is taught about the atrocities that occurred under Nazi rule. Filmmaker Elena Horn returns to her small hometown in rural Germany to follow four children as they first learn about the Holocaust.
Wake Up On Mars
Two teenage sisters, Ibadeta and Djeneta, lie in a vegetative state in the small Swedish home of their Kosovar family. Their mysterious illness is known as “resignation syndrome,” a condition that can affect asylum-seeking children, often following a threat of deportation. Their youngest brother, Furkhan, imagines a life beyond the snowy expanse of his temporary backyard—and into the far reaches of space.
Welcome to Chechnya
This searing documentary, directed by acclaimed writer and Oscar® nominated director David France (How to Survive a Plague, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson), shadows a group of brave activists risking their lives to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ campaign in the Russian Republic of Chechnya.
Bellingcat - Truth in a Post-Truth World
Following the revolutionary rise of the “citizen investigative journalist” collective known as Bellingcat, dedicated to redefining breaking news by exploring the promise of open source investigation.