Human Rights Arts and Film Festival 2023

Overview

For more than a decade, the Melbourne-based Human Rights Arts and Film Festival has been exploring human-rights issues through cinema. Exactly how this annual fest covers its subject matter and where it screens has varied over the years, however. Past iterations have included stints around the country, and some fests have solely remained in the Victorian capital. Across Thursday, May 4–Tuesday, May 9, 2023's lineup is only hitting cinemas in-person in Melbourne, but has a date with viewers elsewhere thanks to its online component.

In its physical form, HRAFF opens with Kash Kash — Without Feathers We Can't Live, a documentary from first-time filmmaker Lea Najjar about her hometown of Beirut. For folks elsewhere, or for those who can't make it along on the night, it's one of the movies on the event's digital bill as well.

From a lineup that includes work from Iran, Brazil, Ireland, Lebanon, Venezuela, South Sudan, Mexico, the US, Canada and more, Melburnians can also look forward to North Circular, which highlights the importance of music in culture in Ireland; Dark Days, telling the tale of a community living in New York City's underground train tunnels in the 90s; and Uýra: The Rising Forest, about trans non-binary Indigenous artist Uýra. From Venice 2022, Alice Diop's Saint Omer is an absolute must-see, with the documentarian drawing from true events to craft a drama about a young Parisian journalist and novelist attending murder trial, then wading through the complexities it surfaces within her own family history.

In The Last Daughter, Wiradjuri woman Brenda Matthews charts her experience being taken from her family as a toddler, growing up with a white foster family, then being returned to her parents. And in closing night's Fashion Reimagined, designer Amy Powney's efforts to create a sustainable collection are in the spotlight.

Viewers watching on from home can also enjoy The Endangered Generation?, which boasts narration by Laura Dern (Jurassic World Dominion) as it explores the fight against climate change — plus the world-premiere of We Eatin' Good, which sees Matisse Laida and Nisha Hunter get recipes for food and life alike from members of Melbourne's queer community.

To take care of the 'arts' part of its name, HRAFF is hosting two exhibitions as well: Real Job, which ponders how the labour of visual artists is so often neglected; and A Wholesome Gang, a storytelling photo series by South Sudanese Dinka woman Awak Rech Kongor (and shot and edited by artist Joshua Sims).