Review: Closing films at Human Rights Watch Fest about improving life (Includes first-hand account)

Film is a powerful medium that can induce, inspire, instruct and inform. Consequently, it is an ideal means to reach a wide-ranging audience about important issues. The Human Rights Watch Film Festival embraces motion pictures’ intellectual capacity to recount extraordinary stories of struggle, survival and hope from around the world. Showcasing cinema at the forefront of the movement, the event aims to draw attention to international human rights violations through fearless films from countries including Canada, Indonesia, Sudan, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Palestine, Guatemala, the United States and Hungary.

“Cinema is a strikingly powerful medium that touches audiences around the world,” said Helga Stephenson, Chair of the Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival. “These empowering stories of survival, resilience and hope inspire and inform the compassion required for individuals on both sides of the lens to make a difference in the fight for human rights. This festival delivers a vital and compelling demand for social change.”

The final three days of the festival tells a trio of stories about challenging the status quo in the name of improved standards of living, personally and within a community. Burden of Peace chronicles one woman’s quest for justice in a sea of corruption. The Wanted 18 tells the bizarre story of rebel cows. And Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story is one person’s courageous journey of self-discovery and acceptance.

“The Human Rights Watch Film Festival is a crucial series in our programming,” said TIFF Programmer Magali Simard. “We strongly feel that film is a key generator of public dialogue, and the films in this festival are of the utmost relevance — artistically and topically.” The Human Rights Watch Film Festival runs from March 24 to April 2 at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.

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