Human Rights Watch Film Festival

A still from Pamela Yates's documentary 500 Years: Life in Resistance, which is about the struggle for indigenous rights among the Mayan people of Guatemala. (Photo courtesy of Human Rights Watch Film Festival).

This is a festival I cover every year for Film Journal International. While HRWFF's films are not always easy to watch, the commitment and courage of human rights filmmakers and, often the people they profile, are inspiring.

A strong line-up this year will introduce audiences to the travails of those living in Chile, China, Guatemala, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Turkey and Qatar. Two documentaries, one about racism and another about a First Amendment rights struggle, are set right here at home. My overview of HRWFF is here: http://www.filmjournal.com/human-rights-watch-film-fest-exposes-injustice-across-globe

An interview with the winner of HRWFF's Nestor Almendros Award for courage in the filmmaking, Zaradasht Ahmed for Nowhere to Hide, which is about an Iraqi nurse whose city falls to Islamic State, can be found here: http://www.filmjournal.com/taxonomy/term/188

An interview with Tiffany Hsiung for The Apology, which about three women who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II, is here: http://www.filmjournal.com/apology-examines-painful-legacy-asias-comfort-women

Check back on Monday for an interview with Cristina Herrera Borquez for No Dress Code Required, that portrays the struggle of a gay couple in Mexicali, Mexico against institutionalized homophobia: http://www.filmjournal.com/no-dress-code-required-follows-quest-two-men-marry-mexicali