Watani – My Homeland
The Human Rights Film Festival Berlin presents a sobering primer in social injustice.
Spearheaded by the NGO Action Against Hunger, and with Ai Weiwei serving as its honorary president, this inaugural festival follows in the footsteps of the city’s existing human rights film showcase, One World Berlin. The core programme of 23 feature documentaries inevitably fixates on armed conflict and the migrant crisis. Opener Watani – My Homeland begins as an eye-opening account of the perilous daily routine of a Free Syrian Army commander and his family in a decimated Aleppo. You perhaps wouldn’t expect nerve-shredding thrills to be high on the agenda at a human rights festival, but that’s what The Deminer delivers, as it charts the exploits of a daredevil Kurdish army officer clearing landmines in Mosul in the early 2000s. As a primer in recent Iraqi history it’s a little thinly-sketched, but it’s a slick and heart-wrenching cinematic experience. There will also be panels about Afghan returnees and humanitarian aid in Syria.
Babylon, Hackesche Höfe, Sputnik, humanrightsfilmfestivalberlin.com