Participate in René Cassin’s Jewish Human Rights Film Festival 2024.
Film crosses cultures and divides and can unite, engage and educate diverse audiences. The films spotlighted this year use cinematic storytelling to provide stimulating, interesting and unique views on human rights issues and the stories they represent.
With each suggested film, we challenge you to think about the emerging human rights issues and how they affect people in your community and our wider society “love our neighbour as thyself”.
Call to action: Watch our daily human rights movie recommendation, read up on our short analysis and what you can do to help during our Jewish Human Rights Film Festival.
The Zone of Interest (2023)
Sunday 10th November
Auschwitz commander Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden beside the camp.
Calls to action:
📺Watch the film on Prime here
📖Read our blog, Seeing Auschwitz: the Role of Ordinary People in an Unfolding Genocide, here.
🔎Find out more about our calling out genocide campaign here.
Blood Diamond (2006)
Monday 11th November
A fisherman, a smuggler, and a syndicate of businessmen match wits over the possession of a priceless diamond. These diamonds are mined in war zones and sold to finance conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamonds companies around the world. The film portrays the atrocities of war, including rebels harming civilians to discourage them from voting in upcoming elections.
Calls to action:
📺Watch the film on Netflix
💡Learn more about slavery from Anti-Slavery International here
🔎Find out more about our work on modern slavery here
In Search of My Sister (2022)
Tuesday 12th November
When Uyghur rights activist Rushan Abbas’ sister, Gulshan Abbas, goes missing, she rallies Uyghurs from around the world and draws global media attention to the plight of Uyghurs in China, as she tries to find the truth behind her sister’s disappearance.
Calls to action:
📺Watch the film on Vimeo
🔗Attend our online event on the weaponisation of faith against Uyghur women in this 16 Days of Activism. Get your tickets here.
🔎Find out more about our calling out genocide campaign here.
Pavee Lackeen: The Traveller Girl (2005)
Wednesday 13th November
This film follows the life of a girl from Ireland’s Traveller community, who is proud of her heritage. It is based on a real story about the UK and Irish governments’ failure to provide legal sites for Travellers to stay in, forcing them to camp illegally.
Calls to action:
📺Watch the film
💡Find out more about the work to end racism and discrimination against Gypsy, Roma and Travellers and the work of Friends, Family and Travellers to protect the rights to a nomadic way of life.
🔎Find out more about our Roma, Gypsy and Traveller work here.
Milk (2008)
Thursday 14th November
Watch the story of American gay activist Harvey Milk, who fought for gay rights and was elected as California’s first openly gay official.
Calls to action:
📺Watch the film on Apple TV
🔗Watch our event on Welcoming the Stranger: The Need for Alternatives to Detention with Rainbow Migration to see how LGBTQIA+ refugees are treated in UK detention centres here.
🔎Find out more about our work on discrimination and marginalisation here.
She Said (2022)
Friday 15th November
New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kanto publish a report that exposes sexual abuse allegations against powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The shocking story also serves as a launching for the #MeToo movement, shattering decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault and harassment in the film industry.
Calls to action:
📺Watch the film on Now TV or Netflix
⛔Support our partner, End Violence Against Women Coalition, and the campaign against Image-Based Abuse online here.
🔎Find out more about our work on women’s rights here.
Ghosts (2006)
Sunday 17th November
This is the story of Ai Qin, an illegal Chinese immigrant to the United Kingdom. She comes from Fuzhou, China, whose journey of exploitation ends up in the cockle-picking industry.
Calls to Action:
📺Watch the film
💚Support our call for better support for survivors of slavery and human trafficking here.
🔎Find out more about our work on modern slavery here.
A Place At The Table (2013)
Monday 18th November
This documentary investigates incidents of hunger experienced by millions of American’s, and the proposed solutions to the problem.
Calls to action:
📺Watch the film on YouTube
🔎Find out more about our Right To Food campaign here.
Lost Boys of Sudan (2003)
Tuesday 19th November
This film follows two Sudanese refugees on an extraordinary journey from Africa to America. Orphaned as young boys in one of Africa’s cruellest civil wars, Peter Dut and Santino Chuor survived lion attacks and militia gunfire to reach a refugee camp in Kenya along with thousands of other children. From there, remarkably, they were chosen to come to America. Safe at last from physical danger and hunger, a world away from home, they find themselves confronted with the abundance and alienation of contemporary American suburbia.
Calls to action:
📺Watch the film on YouTube
🔗Watch our Refugee Week event on Safe Routes to Home and the need for safe routes for refugees in the UK here.
📧 Write a letter to your MP asking for safe routes for refugees to the UK using our template here.
🔎Find out more on our Hostile Environment campaign here.
