Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2012
Where Do We Go Now? Where Do We Go Now?
Where Do We Go Now? and Into The Abyss: A Tale Of Death, A Tale Of Life
5 Broken Cameras (Five Broken Cameras) (Country: Palestine, Israel, France; Year: 2011; Director: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi)
A Palestinian journalist chronicles his village’s resistance to a separation barrier being erected on their land and in the process captures his young son’s lens on the world.
Opening night
Black Block (Year: 2011; Director: Carlo A. Bachschmidt; Writer: Carlo Bachschmidt, Carlo A. Bachschmidt; Stars: Lena Zuhlke, Chabi Noqueras, Michael Gieser, Niels Martensen, Daniel McQuillan, Chabi Nogueras, Ulrich Reichel, Mina Zapatero)
Through gripping testimony of those who experienced the raid on the Diaz school at the 2001 Genoa G8 Summit, Black Block provides a case study of police violence and arbitrary detention that could happen anywhere.
UK premiere
Brother Number One (Year: 2011; Director: Annie Goldson; Stars: Rob Hamill), Official Site
Through New Zealander Rob Hamill’s story of his brother’s death at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, Brother Number One explores how the regime and its followers killed nearly 2 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979.
UK premiere
Colour Of The Ocean (Die Farbe Des Ozeans) (Country: Germany, Spain; Year: 2011; Director: Maggie Peren; Writer: Maggie Peren; Stars: Álex González, Hubert Koundé, Nathalie Poza, Sabine Timoteo)
Two refugees arriving in the Canary Islands meet a sympathetic tourist and a suspicious police officer.
UK premiere
Even The Rain (También la lluvia) (Country: Spain, Bolivia, Mexico, France; Year: 2010; Director: Icíar Bollaín; Writer: Paul Laverty; Stars: Luis Tosar, Gael García Bernal, Juan Carlos Aduviri, Karra Elejalde, Raúl Arévalo, Carlos Santos, Cassandra Ciangherotti, Milena Soliz, Leónidas Chiri, Ezequiel Diaz, Pau Cólera, Vicente Romero, Antonio Mora, Daniel Currás, Glenda Rodriguez), Official Site
A movie crew shooting a film about Columbus find themselves caught up in modern-day protests.
Putin's Kiss Putin's Kiss
Putin's Kiss and Even The Rain
Family Portrait In Black And White (Country: Canada; Year: 2011; Director: Julia Ivanova), Official Site
A middle aged Ukrainian woman raises twenty seven children in a crumbling rural house, whilst racial prejudice threatens the security of many of the adoptees.
Habibi (Habibi Rasak Kharban) (Country: Palestine; Year: 2010; Director: Susan Youssef; Writer: Susan Youssef; Stars: Maisa Abd Elhadi, Kais Nashif, Yosef Abu Wardeh, Amer Khalil, Jihad Al-Khattib, Basel Husseini, Najwa Mubarki, Suhell Nafar, Tamer Nafar, Firas Nour, Sami Said), Official Site
A couple face societal problems because the one of them is considered 'too poor' for the other.
UK premiere
Into The Abyss: A Tale Of Death, A Tale Of Life (Country: USA; Year: 2011; Director: Werner Herzog; Writer: Werner Herzog; Stars: None)
Werner Herzog's powerful exploration of violence and its consequences, told through Death Row inmates and others close to their crimes.
The Island President (Year: 2011; Director: Jon Shenk; Stars: Mohamed Nasheed), Official Site
The story of President Mohamed Nasheed, of the Maldives, and his attempts to save the country by brokering global agreement on climate change.
UK premiere
Little Heaven (Country: Belgium; Year: 2011; Director: Lieven Corthouts; Writer: Lieven Corthouts), Official Site
Documentary focusing on the daily routines at the Little Heaven orphanage for children living with HIV.
UK premiere
5 Broken Cameras 5 Broken Cameras
5 Broken Cameras and The Island President
Love Crimes of Kabul (Year: 2011; Director: Tanaz Eshaghian), Official Site
Jailed for running away from home to escape abuse, for allegations of adultery, and other “moral crimes,” the women of Afghanistan’s Badum Bagh prison band together to fight for their freedom. This documentary charts their story.
UK premiere
Pink Ribbons, Inc. (Country: Canada; Year: 2011; Director: Léa Pool; Writer: Nancy Guerin, Patricia Kearns, Léa Pool), Official Site
Pink Ribbons, Inc. focuses on the increased involvement of corporations in fundraising campaigns—which goes as far as outright ownership in some cases — and the impact it has had on breast cancer ‘culture’ and media messages about women with breast cancer.
UK premiere
Putin's Kiss (Country: Denmark; Year: 2011; Director: Lise Birk Pedersen; Stars: Oleg Kashin), Official Site
A leading light of Russia's nationalist youth movement, begins to question what they really stand for.
UK premiere
The Price Of Sex (Year: 2011; Director: Mimi Chakarova; Stars: Mimi Chakarova), Official Site
Feature-length documentary about young eastern European women who have been drawn into a world of sex trafficking and abuse.
UK premiere
Raising Resistance (Country: Germany / Switzerland; Year: 2011; Director: Bettina Borgfeld, David Bernet; Writer: David Bernet, Bettina Borgfeld, Christin Stoltz)
RAISING RESISTANCE delivers a sensitive and visually impressive survey of humans in a global hot spot and shows us that even weeds can become resistant to pesticides.
UK premiere
Salaam Dunk (Year: 2011; Director: David Fine)
A tale of hope and inspiration, courtesy of one winning group of Iraqi women basketball players at the American University in Sulaimani, Iraq.
UK premiere
Saving Face (Country: US; Year: 2004; Director: Alice Wu; Writer: Alice Wu; Stars: Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, Lynn Chen, Jin Wang, Guang Lan Koh, Jessica Hecht, Ato Essandoh, David Shih, Brian Yang, Nathanel Geng, Mao Zhao)
Romantic comedy about a young woman keeping her lesbianism a secret because of conflicts with Chinese tradition.
UK premiere
Special Flight (Vol Spécial) (Year: 2011; Director: Fernand Melgar)
A documentary that explores issues surrounding underground immigrants in Switzerland.
Where Do We Go Now? (Et maintenant, on va où?) (Country: Lebanon; Year: 2011; Director: Nadine Labaki; Writer: Rodney Al Haddid, Jihad Hojeily, Nadine Labaki; Stars: Kevin Abboud, Claude Baz Moussawbaa, Julian Farhat, Ali Haidar, Leyla Hakim, Nadine Labaki, Yvonne Maalouf, Claude Moussawbaa, Antoinette Noufaily)
A group of Lebanese women try to ease religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in their village.
Closing night
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