10th Human Rights Film Festival
It’s that time of the year again. Where important stories get told through film. The 10th Human Rights Film Festival is back for a revival.
This year’s festival was so successful. You might have remembered our festival last year- three nights at the end of March, with a good turnout. But this year? We expanded our festival for a whole week (the first week of February), and it was a resounding success. Here are the films we watched:
Human Flow: (Ai Weiwei)– perhaps the most famous living Chinese artist, whose outspokenness led to multiple arrests by Chinese authorities and worldwide pressure for his release – directed and co-produced this 2017 documentary film about the global refugee crisis. Weiwei, who was forced from his Beijing home during China’s Cultural Revolution, has a strong empathy for refugees. His film takes viewers to more than 20 countries to bring to light both the scale and personal impact of the massive human migrations taking place today.
The True Cost: This documentary examines less attractive aspects of the fashion business, including the poverty wages, dangerous working conditions, restrictions on their rights, and beatings at the hands of employers that are suffered by clothing workers abroad. The effects of genetically modified cotton, river and soil pollution, and the health impacts of pesticide contamination also come under scrutiny. The documentary, directed by Andrew Morgan, also looks into the marketing of clothing to America’s teens, who often discard items after short use, leading to a dramatic increase in clothing consumption.
One Child Nation: Winner of the 2019 Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize Documentary Award, this film by Chinese-born directors Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang investigates the effects of China’s one-child policy, which lasted from 1979-2015 and featured forced abortions and sterilizations. Wang, who had moved from China and earned a degree at NYU majoring in filmmaking, later returned to her home village and interviewed family members and neighbors as part of this documentary.
A Suitable Girl: Winner of the Tribeca Film Festivals Albert Maysles New Documentary Award, this film, directed by Sarita Khurana and Smriti Mundhra, follows three young women in India struggling to maintain their identities and follow their dreams amid intense pressure to get married. Documenting the arranged marriage and matchmaking process in verite over four years, the film examines the women’s complex relationship with marriage, family, and culture as traditional and contemporary values mix.
Beasts of No Nation: The only non-documentary in this year’s Human Rights Film Festival, Beasts of No Nation is based on the novel by Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala, telling the story of a child soldier torn from his family to fight in a civil war. Distribution rights were purchased by Netflix, and the film had a limited run in theaters in addition to online distribution. Idris Elba won the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) award for best supporting performance, making him the first actor to win a SAG without being nominated for an Oscar. The film’s lead, Abraham Attah, won the Venice International Film Festival’s Marcello Mastroianni Award, and director Cary Fukunaga won the Cinema for Peace award.
The first four films are all available on Amazon Prime, and BoN is on Netflix.
Happy Watching.