INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL - NEW YORK JUNE 11-25, 2009

  • From June 11-25 the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival celebrates its 20th Anniversary in New York. Tickets are now on sale.

    Please join us June 23 and 24 for a special screening of TAPOLOGO
    "Filmmakers Gabriela and Sally Gutiérrez Dewar peer into the wounded heart of a region where 50 percent of women are infected with HIV and a courageous network known as Tapologo tries to bring dignity to lives that have known none."- Village Voice
    Discussion with filmmaker Sally Gutierrez Dewar to follow.

    Also, not to miss: REMNANTS OF A WAR, a powerful documentary on the Lebanese citizens trained to remove unexploded cluster munitions from their land after the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

    View Festival Calendar here or download the program as a PDF file (4 Mb).

    Check out HRWIFF's new PODCASTS featuring interviews with filmmakers Joe Berlinger (CRUDE), Paco de Onis (THE RECKONING) and a 2009 film festival preview.

  • After 30 years of war and the Taliban’s repression, Afghan Pop Idol is taking the nation by storm. But this is more than just a TV show. In Afghanistan you risk your life to sing.

    Director:
    Havana Marking
    Year of Production:
    2008
    Running time:
    87m
  • The story of a group of unforgettable children who embark on a transformational journey with photographer Zana Briski as they learn to photograph their own lives.

    Director:
    Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman
    Year of Production:
    2003
    Running time:
    85m
  • The inside story of the “Amazon Chernobyl” case in the rainforest of Ecuador, the largest oil-related environmental lawsuit in the world.

    Director:
    Joe Berlinger
    Year of Production:
    2009
    Running time:
    101m
  • Master filmmaker Costa-Gavras crafts an epic story of our times — the journey of an emigrant in search of a better life — full of heart, humor, and wondrous complexities.

    Director:
    Costa-Gavras, Director; Michele Ray-Gavras, Producer
    Year of Production:
    2009
    Running time:
    111m
  • A portrait of the day-to-day reality of a Ramallah taxi driver caught between checkpoints and politics.

    Director:
    Hany Abu-Assad
    Year of Production:
    2002
    Running time:
    80m
  • With a broad scope and intimate style, GOOD FORTUNE portrays surprising stories of human perseverance in the face of projects that may be doing more harm than good.

    Director:
    Landon Van Soest and Jeremy Levine
    Year of Production:
    2009
    Running time:
    73m
  • A unique take on Putin’s Russia as seen through the experiences of chess champion turned activist Garry Kasparov.

    Director:
    Masha Novikova
    Year of Production:
    2008
    Running time:
    113m
  • A film that illuminates post-war Iraq in three acts, building a vivid picture of a country pulled in different directions by religion and ethnicity.

    Director:
    James Longley
    Year of Production:
    2006
    Running time:
    96m
  • A tour de force look at a surgeon and a war correspondent who join forces to set up a hospital to deal with the humanitarian consequences of war in Afghanistan.

    Director:
    Alberto Vendemmiati and Fabrizio Lazzaretti
    Year of Production:
    2000
    Running time:
    114m
  • Barmak Akram’s incisive look at daily life in Kabul follows the adventures of a taxi driver and his new-found ward.

    Director:
    Barmak Akram
    Year of Production:
    2008
    Running time:
    94m
  • Is anti-Semitism a buzz-word for all kinds of real or imagined slights? Is it an arcane expression that should be retired, or is there legitimacy to outcries worldwide that anti-Semitism is again on the rise?

    Director:
    Naftaly Gliksberg
    Year of Production:
    2008
    Running time:
    80m
  • MRS. GOUNDO'S DAUGHTER tells the moving story of one Malian mother’s fight for asylum in the US to protect her two-year-old daughter from female genital cutting.

    Director:
    Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater
    Year of Production:
    2009
    Running time:
    60m
  • When peace comes, how do you make it right again? An epic emotional journey in search of coexistence in Rwanda.

    Director:
    Anne Aghion
    Year of Production:
    2009
    Running time:
    80m
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    Year of Production:
    Running time:
  • One filmmaker's personal odyssey to Vietnam, where her husband died and where she discovers an unexpected sisterhood of widows from the ‘other side’.

    Director:
    Barbara Sonneborn
    Year of Production:
    1998
    Running time:
    72m
  • When the war ends, the work to save the land begins.

    Director:
    Jawad Metni
    Year of Production:
    2009
    Running time:
    76 mins
  • A stunning debut feature depicting the drama of life in a post-war Bosnian village.

    Director:
    Aida Begić
    Year of Production:
    2008
    Running time:
    99m
  • A moving story of women in South Africa who have turned their tragedy into a tool.

    Director:
    Gabriela Gutierrez Dewar and Sally Gutierrez Dewar
    Year of Production:
    2008
    Running time:
    88m
  • Why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

    Director:
    Franny Armstrong
    Year of Production:
    2009
    Running time:
    89m
  • An insightful documentary that follows two riveting dramas—the prosecution of unspeakable crimes and the International Criminal Court’s fight for justice.

    Director:
    Pamela Yates, Paco de Onis, and Peter Kinoy
    Year of Production:
    2009
    Running time:
    95m
  • The screwball true story of a couple of activists who infiltrate the world of big business and pull off outrageous pranks to expose corporate greed and its impact on society.

    Director:
    Mike Bonanno, Andy Bichlbaum, and Kurt Engfehr
    Year of Production:
    2009
    Running time:
    87m
  • Young people are on the frontlines of many of the world’s human rights crises, but it’s all too rare that we get to hear their point of view.

    Special discounts available for students and groups. Email ypclondon@hrw.org

    Director:
    Year of Production:
    2009
    Running time:
    71m