Human Rights Watch Film Festival


Last March, Human Rights Watch held their 10th film festival in London, cramming 22 films into 10 days of screenings within five different cinemas. It was not possible, or advisable for that matter, to try and see all 22 films – not only because of the logistics of what was showing where but also in anticipation of the constant barrage of harrowing subject matter. In an attempt to create some sort of cross-section of what was on offer from different parts of the globe, I managed to see Iraq in Fragments, Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon (South Africa), La Dignidad de los Nadies (Argentina), and Source/Zdroj (Azerbaijan).

Human Rights Watch have defined their selection criteria for the festival as “fiction, documentary and animated films and videos with a distinctive human rights theme”.

Iraq in Fragments was carefully constructed over two years by American filmmaker James Longley who brought the situation in Iraq and the lives of the average Iraqi to a new level of empathy. He concentrated on three distinct areas and individuals, focusing on the divisions within Iraqi society, now exacerbated by the looming civil war. Also bringing issues such as education, during and post wartime, in which a country’s deterioration of literacy is embodied in 11-year-old Mohammed, who speaks eloquently of security and beauty, yet cannot write his name.

The following day I saw Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon, which it turns out is not really about South Africa but set there. The obscure beginning introduced elements of dramatic prose which somehow led the main character on a journey through Johannesburg in search of a Somali woman. The main character stops people along the way and begins interviewing them on their stories of immigration. Although with some entertaining accounts, not much is taken from this movie apart from the obvious: that each person has his or her own history and story to tell. This was definitely a divergence in documentary style, which was refreshing to see but not all that interesting to watch.

La Dignidad de los Nadies and Source/Zdroj both fell somewhere in between these two. While they were not as aesthetic as Iraq in Fragments, their subject matter spoke for itself in upholding the merits of their inclusion. La Dignidad de los Nadies, or the Dignity of the Nobodies, was an overall look at the state of affairs in Argentina as a result of the economic crisis in December 2001. The numerous stories of poverty, corruption and deaths were compelling not only in their severity but also in the over-riding sense of community and positivism displayed by those in need. One of the most uplifting and positive points from the films I saw came from this documentary, about a group of women who regularly attend public government auctions of land whose owners have failed to meet the absurd loan payments. Their relentless singing of the Argentine national anthem results in each auction being negated due to disruption.

Source/Zdroj was another more amateur production undertaken by three Czech friends who were curious about Azerbaijan, the 125th, out of 133, most corrupt nation in the world. Their tactics for fooling the authorities with concealed cameras and fake agendas was all the more entertaining. The way they innocently interviewed a head honcho at BP was an ingenious way of exposing the reality in which the shady deals that allowed the creation of the BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) crude oil pipeline were buried.

Along with the screenings additional events were organised, with some directors present after the film to field questions, short plays preceding the viewings and world music nights at the Ritzy Cinema, making this into a well thought-out production. Human Rights Watch is certainly on the right track in promoting and raising awareness of their undertaking and London is definitely a good place to do so. It was difficult not to leave the screenings without a tinge of guilt – considering even the cost of the Tube journey home in relation to the earnings of those just witnessed on screen.

Of the festival’s success, I am unsure about box office sales and if the proceeds were going to any cause other than the cinemas themselves. As succinctly put by James Longley in his answer to the question from the audience, “will any of the money you make from this film be sent back to the families you met in Iraq?” To which his only response could be, “Money? What money?” LH