March 24th to April 2th, 2015 atToronto Bell Lightbox, (Reitman Square, 350 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario). Click the link HRWFF for the full schedule on this year’s festival.
Dedicated to defending and protecting human rights in all its forms by speaking and filming truth to power, Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s foremost independent rights organizations. Bearing witness to human rights atrocities and establishing a forum for courageous individuals on both sides of the lens to educate and empower audiences is what this film festival is all about. This year’s program chronicles themes of accountability, justice, family history, security, art, oppression and LGBT rights. And it is through the craft of storytelling that we as a society garner a greater understanding of the world around us and the challenges faced in our quest for justice.
The Salt of the Earth
The Salt of the Earth – PHOTO CREDIT – courtesy of Mongrel Media.
The photographer Sebastião Salgado was a refugee in the 1970s, fleeing the military dictatorship in Brazil. He became a global wanderer, photographing epochal events of violence and displacement, including Rwanda, Bosnia, and the war in Iraq. This film, made by Salgado’s son Juliano and the award-winning director Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire), follows the photographer across continents as he builds a new masterwork on climate change, one breath-taking image at a time. Salgado’s eye as an artist is second to none in the world of photojournalism. This film explores the fascinating journey that gave Salgado his unique perspective.
2015 Academy Award Nominee® for Best Documentary Feature. Courtesy of Artificial Eye
March 28, 2015
7:00 PM / TIFF Bell Lightbox
Presented with: Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story
Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story – PHOTO CREDIT – courtesy of Human Rights Watch Film Festival Press Site.
Former US Navy SEAL Chris Beck embarks on a new mission as Kristin Beck. Kristin’s journey in search of the American ideals that she protected: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have a whole new meaning as she lives her life truthfully as a transgender woman
April 2, 2015
6:30 PM / TIFF Bell Lightbox
Introduction and Q&A by Kristin Beck, with guest speaker Graeme Reid, Director, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program , Human Rights Watch
Presented with: Inside Out LGBT Film Festival
The One That Got Away
The One That Got Away – PHOTO CREDIT – courtesy of Lawlor & Pollock Films.
In 1944, teenagers Thomas & Edith were interned by the Nazis in Budapest. Alone and afraid, they fell in love. One day Thomas snatched a chance at escape. He spent a year running and never knew what became of Edith. A lifetime later Thomas retraces his wartime journey. On the other side of the globe, from her home in Melbourne, Edith recalls her own path to survival. The two begin corresponding. The documentary weaves the divergent stories of their past with their crystallizing friendship in the present.
March 24, 2015
8:00 PM / TIFF Bell Lightbox
Burden of Peace
Burden of Peace – PHOTO CREDIT – courtesy of Framewerk Productions.
Burden of Peace follows Guatemala’s first female attorney general, Claudia Paz y Paz. After taking office, Paz y Paz obtains spectacular results, including the arrest of a former head of state charged with committing genocide. But her determined efforts encounter strong resistance from powerful elites that have typically felt above the law. With extraordinary access to Paz y Paz from the beginning of her term, we witness her battle to bring to justice powerful criminals and corrupt politicians. Burden of Peace is an epic tale of personal sacrifice, hard-fought change, and hope.
March 31, 2015
6:30 PM / TIFF Bell Lightbox
With guest speaker Liesl Gerntholtz, Executive Director, Women’s Rights Division.
The Look of Silence
The Look of Silence – PHOTO CREDIT – courtesy of TIFF Film Reference Library
Through Joshua Oppenheimer’s work filming perpetrators of the Indonesian genocide, a family of survivors discovers how their son was murdered and the identity of the men who killed him. The youngest brother is determined to break the spell of silence and fear under which the survivors live, and so confronts the men responsible for his brother’s murder – something unimaginable in a country where killers remain in power.
March 25, 2015
6:30 PM / TIFF Bell Lightbox
Featuring a special video introduction by the filmmaker
Presented with: Jayu
Beats of the Antonov
Beats of the Antonov – PHOTO CREDIT – courtesy of TIFF Film Reference Library.
Over two years, Sudanese filmmaker Hajooj Kuka lived alongside farmers, herders, and rebels displaced to the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountain regions, filming their lives within hillside hide-outs and refugee camps. Destructive air-raids are but occasional moments in an unexpected film, which instead focuses on the vibrant musical heritage of the region: pulsing lifeblood of cultural resilience in the face of everyday conflict. After a raid, it is not unusual to hear the sound of laughter and music signaling that a strike is over. Young women exert a powerful agency through ‘Girls Music’, and improvised compositions become a wry commentary on the daily injustices of war. Winner of the People’s Choice Award at Toronto International Film Festival, Beats of The Antonov is a celebration of defiant cultural expression and a unique perspective on the complex realities of a divided Sudan
March 27, 2015
6:45 PM / TIFF Bell Lightbox
With guest speaker Bill Frelick, Director, Refugee Program, Human Rights Watch
Uyghurs, Prisoners of the Absurd
Uyghurs, Prisoners of the Absurd – PHOTO CREDIT – courtesy of National Film Board.
October 2001: As US-led forces invade Afghanistan in search of Osama Bin Laden, 22 members of China’s Uyghur minority happen to be in the country. These Turkish-speaking Muslims are fleeing repressive authorities in Beijing, which view them as dangerous terrorists. They are about to be drawn into an unbelievable odyssey, becoming pawns who are mercilessly manipulated on the chessboard of international politico-economic interests. Sold to US forces, they are illegally detained at Guantánamo for years. Patricio Henríquez’s film focuses on three of these “survivors of the absurd.” Edited like a thriller, with multiple twists and turns, the film reveals their stories, by turns fascinating and painful. Guiding the viewer through the labyrinth of contemporary geopolitics, the filmmaker lays bare the worrisome drifts in the global economic war and the fight against terrorism.
March 26, 2015
6:30 PM / TIFF Bell Lightbox
Introduction by Michelle Shephard, national security reporter for the Toronto Star
The Wanted 18
The Wanted 18 – PHOTO CREDIT – courtesy of TIFF Film Reference Library.
Through a clever mix of stop motion animation and interviews, The Wanted 18 recreates an astonishing true story: the Israeli army’s pursuit of 18 cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared “a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.” In response to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, a group of people from the town of Beit Sahour decide to buy 18 cows and produce their own milk as a co-operative. Their venture is so successful that the collective farm becomes a landmark, and the cows’ local celebrities—until the Israeli army takes note and declares that the farm is an illegal security threat. Consequently, the dairy is forced to go underground, the cows continuing to produce their “Intifada milk” with the Israeli army in relentless pursuit. Recreating the story of the “wanted 18” from the perspectives of the Beit Sahour activists, Israeli military officials, and the cows, Palestinian artist Amer Shomali and veteran Canadian director Paul Cowan create an enchanting, inspirational tribute to the ingenuity and power of grassroots activism.
April 1, 2015
7:00 PM / TIFF Bell Lightbox
Live intro by co-director Paul Cowan via Skype
Presented with: Toronto Palestine Film Festival
