Skip to main content

Festival coverage

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

2009

A special screening of Eden Is West opens the festival
A special screening of Eden Is West opens the festival

This international film festival aims to showcase the stories of activists and survivors from across the globe. Now in its 13th year, it brings together documentary and fiction films with the intention of galvanising those who watch them to join those taking action against injustices many face every day.

The festival runs in London from March 18 to 27 and then travels on to New York, where it will run from June 11 to 25. It will also tour several other cities. Among the films screening is Tribeca award-winning film Pray The Devil Back To Hell.

View complete schedule

Other years (17)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • The Reckoning: The Battle For The International Criminal Court
    Review preview for The Reckoning: The Battle For The International Criminal Court

    This is no talking heads documentary. Cameras take us into the displacement camps of Uganda, where local survivors talk of their babies beaten to death.

    Val Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A battle of monumental proportions unfolds as International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo faces down warlords, genocidal dictators and world superpowers in bringing perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice.
  • Firaaq
    Review preview for Firaaq

    Both the style and the quality of the acting are somewhat uneven, giving the impression that more time and care was taken with some story strands than others.

    Val Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    The story of how the Hindu-Muslim riots that ravaged Gujarat in 2002 altered the lives of a number of different characters.
  • Burma VJ
    Review preview for Burma VJ

    A Japanese journalist is shot dead in the street. Gunfire can be heard everywhere. Crowds run in panic.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
    Burmese journalists risk life imprisonment to report from inside their sealed-off country.
  • Back Home Tomorrow
    Review preview for Back Home Tomorrow

    An observational and utterly uncompromising document of the lives of two children touched by war.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    The lives of two children touched touched by war.
  • Kabuli Kid
    Review preview for Kabuli Kid

    Both a straight forward narrative and a metaphor for a country whose future is as easily damaged as the abandoned child.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A Kabul taxi driver finds himself looking after an abandoned baby.
  • Afghan Star
    Review preview for Afghan Star

    Although not breaking new ground in terms of the way it is shot and edited, this is a compelling story and features some excellent archive footage.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Four hopefuls compete to become pop idols in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
  • Pray The Devil Back To Hell
    Review preview for Pray The Devil Back To Hell

    Although filling the watcher with the same sort of outrage that inspired the women to stand up and be counted, this is, at heart, a testimony to the power of solidarity and sisterhood through a single purpose.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    The story of the Liberian women who came together to bring peace to their country.
  • In The Holy Fire Of Revolution
    Review preview for In The Holy Fire Of Revolution

    It is impossible not to admire Kasparov’s courage as well as his outrage at what is happening to the motherland.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
    A year on the campaign trail in Russia with the world's greatest chess player.
  • Eden Is West
    Review preview for Eden Is West

    This fable for our times manages to be touching, comedic, and poignant.

    Adam Micklethwaite · 4.5 out of 5
    Odyssey of a migrant in search of 'paradise'.
  • Crude
    Review preview for Crude

    In airing the opposing viewpoint, through the use of the petroleum giant's videos and spokesmen, he gives Chevron just enough rope to hang itself with.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    The inside story of the “Amazon Chernobyl” case in the rainforest of Ecuador, the largest oil-related environmental lawsuit in the world.

A–Z of Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2009 reviews