(Photo: Still from The Dream of Shahrazad)
After holding events around the world, the Human Rights Watch film festival will in June reach its final destination, New York.
Since January, the festival has been holding its events in Europe, Canada and the United States, and between 11 and 21 June, the festival will take place in New York, where the human rights watchdog is based.
This year the annual festival, which was founded in 2009, features 16 films from different parts of the globe. Films cover a wide range of topics, including violence, gender discrimination and racism.
The selection of films includes a number of entries from Egypt and the Middle East.
One of the featured films, The Trials of Spring, which is directed by the Academy Award-nominee Gini Reticker, explores the intersection of politics and gender in revolutionary Egypt. For 76 minutes, the film walks the audience through a woman's role in Egyptian society and during the 2011 revolution, following the stories of three Egyptian women: a women’s right’s activist, a female protestor who was arrested, tortured and sexually assaulted in 2011, and a widow who gives guidance to young revolutionaries.
Francois Verster’s The Dream of Shahrazad, also featured in the festival, draws inspiration from the Arabian Nights story, in which Queen Shahrazad saves lives through storytelling. Featuring several initiatives in South Africa, France, The Netherlands, Jordan and Egypt, the film discusses how storytelling and music can play an important role amid political instability.
Other featured Middle Eastern films include Beats of the Antonov (Sudanese/South African), The Wanted (Canadian/French/Palestinian), No Land’s Song (Iranian/ German/French), What Tomorrow Brings (Afghani/American) and the Israeli/French film This is My Land, which looks at how teachers are promoting tolerance among the next Palestinian and Israeli generations.
Last year Oscar-nominated documentary The Square was featured at the festival. The film explored the Egyptian revolution, following four main characters with differing political views.
Programme:
11-21 June
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater, IFC Center, New York.
Short link: