Skip to main content

Festival coverage

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

9 March – 18 March 2016

Opening film Among The Believers
Opening film Among The Believers

This international film festival notches up its 20th year in 2016. 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.

This year's London arm of the festival ran from March 9 to 18 at the Barbican, British Museum, Curzon Soho, Picturehouse Central and Ritzy Picturehouse. To celebrate this 20th anniversary edition the festival included four additional Special Programmes combining visual media with in-depth discussions about filmmaking and human rights between Human Rights Watch experts and independent human rights advocates including Charif Kiwan, spokesman for a Syrian film collective, the filmmakers Kim Longinotto, and James Brabazon, and photographers Giles Duley and Zalmaï.

The festival opened with a UK premiere benefit gala showing of Among The Believers.

View complete schedule

Other years (17)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Among The Believers
    Review preview for Among The Believers

    Naqvi and Trivedi achieve a fine balancing act, giving no ground either to the fundamentalists or to the Islamophobes.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    An exploration into the spread of the radical Islamic school Red Mosque, which trains children to devote their lives to holy war, from a very young age.
  • Hooligan Sparrow
    Review preview for Hooligan Sparrow

    The sheer volume of evidence Nanfu has amassed - material she had difficulty smuggling out of the country - is difficult to argue with.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A portrait of women's rights activist Ye Hainan, detailing her struggles with the Chinese authorities.
  • The Hard Stop
    Review preview for The Hard Stop

    Two docs for the price of one? Both would have been better on their own

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 2.5 out of 5
    Documentary about the death of Mark Duggan and the difficulty of finding work for young black men in Tottenham
  • Sonita
    Review preview for Sonita

    There's often a question mark over how involved a documentarian has become with their subject and here Ghaemmaghami confronts the issue head on, showing how she becomes not just a recorder of what happens but a catalyst for change.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    The story of an aspirational young Afghan rapper whose family plan to sell her into marriage.
  • Mustang
    Review preview for Mustang

    The director and her co-writer Alice Winocour side with their young protagonists, drawing on their boundless energy to tell their story in the spirit of a fable and in a way that makes it accessible to younger audiences.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Coming of age story about five Turkish girls.

Features

News