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Human Rights Watch Film Festival · 2012

Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2012

Complete Schedule

Programme

19 films · 7 reviews

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5 Broken Cameras (Five Broken Cameras)

Review preview for 5 Broken Cameras

This is a deeply personal account of life in Palestine, and also one which sends out a strong political message.

Val Kermode · 4 out of 5
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.

(Country: Palestine, Israel, France; Year: 2011; Director: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi)

Full review

Opening night

Black Block

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.

(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)

UK premiere

Brother Number One

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.

(Year: 2011; Director: Annie Goldson; Stars: Rob Hamill) , Official site

UK premiere

Colour Of The Ocean (Die Farbe Des Ozeans)

Two refugees arriving in the Canary Islands meet a sympathetic tourist and a suspicious police officer.

(Country: Germany, Spain; Year: 2011; Director: Maggie Peren; Writer: Maggie Peren; Stars: Álex González, Hubert Koundé, Nathalie Poza, Sabine Timoteo)

UK premiere

Even The Rain (También la lluvia)

Review preview for Even The Rain

The film's heart is certainly in the right place, but its narrative is more of a scattergun affair.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A movie crew shooting a film about Columbus find themselves caught up in modern-day protests.

(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

Full review

Family Portrait In Black And White

Review preview for Family Portrait In Black And White

Despite the fantastic image this family first presents, the film's best trick is to reveal the ways in which it resembles any other.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
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.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2011; Director: Julia Ivanova) , Official site

Full review

Habibi (Habibi Rasak Kharban)

A couple face societal problems because the one of them is considered 'too poor' for the other.

(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

UK premiere

Into The Abyss: A Tale Of Death, A Tale Of Life

Review preview for Into The Abyss: A Tale Of Death, A Tale Of Life

An intriguing if uneven journey into a strange, violent and very sad part of modern America.

Owen Van Spall · 3.5 out of 5
Werner Herzog's powerful exploration of violence and its consequences, told through Death Row inmates and others close to their crimes.

(Country: USA; Year: 2011; Director: Werner Herzog; Writer: Werner Herzog; Stars: None)

Full review

The Island President

Review preview for The Island President

Shenk gets almost unfettered acccess to Nasheed, who is refreshingly honest about the tactics he is employing to get other countries onside

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The story of President Mohamed Nasheed, of the Maldives, and his attempts to save the country by brokering global agreement on climate change.

(Year: 2011; Director: Jon Shenk; Stars: Mohamed Nasheed) , Official site

Full review

UK premiere

Little Heaven

Documentary focusing on the daily routines at the Little Heaven orphanage for children living with HIV.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2011; Director: Lieven Corthouts; Writer: Lieven Corthouts) , Official site

UK premiere

Love Crimes of Kabul

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.

(Year: 2011; Director: Tanaz Eshaghian) , Official site

UK premiere

Pink Ribbons, Inc.

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.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2011; Director: Léa Pool; Writer: Nancy Guerin, Patricia Kearns, Léa Pool) , Official site

UK premiere

Putin's Kiss

Review preview for Putin's Kiss

There are complex machinations at work here - but there's always a sense of the surface being skimmed in favour of telling Drokova's story.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A leading light of Russia's nationalist youth movement, begins to question what they really stand for.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2011; Director: Lise Birk Pedersen; Stars: Oleg Kashin) , Official site

Full review

UK premiere

The Price Of Sex

Feature-length documentary about young eastern European women who have been drawn into a world of sex trafficking and abuse.

(Year: 2011; Director: Mimi Chakarova; Stars: Mimi Chakarova) , Official site

UK premiere

Raising Resistance

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.

(Country: Germany / Switzerland; Year: 2011; Director: Bettina Borgfeld, David Bernet; Writer: David Bernet, Bettina Borgfeld, Christin Stoltz)

UK premiere

Salaam Dunk

A tale of hope and inspiration, courtesy of one winning group of Iraqi women basketball players at the American University in Sulaimani, Iraq.

(Year: 2011; Director: David Fine)

UK premiere

Saving Face

Romantic comedy about a young woman keeping her lesbianism a secret because of conflicts with Chinese tradition.

(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)

UK premiere

Special Flight (Vol Spécial)

A documentary that explores issues surrounding underground immigrants in Switzerland.

(Year: 2011; Director: Fernand Melgar)

Where Do We Go Now? (Et maintenant, on va où?)

Review preview for Where Do We Go Now?

Labaki manages to get across a view of life that is not predominant in cinematic stories, without making it seem like an agenda.

Lindis Kipp · 5 out of 5
A group of Lebanese women try to ease religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in their village.

(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)

Full review

Closing night