Human Rights Arts and Film Festival 2013

Overview

In 2007, a wave of albino murders swept across Tanzania. Their slaughter was at the command of witch doctors, who believe that albino limbs deliver prosperity and good luck. Horrified, British filmmaker Harry Freeland flew to Tanzania, where he spent spent six years following Josephat Torner, an albino who had left his family home and was travelling from village to village, risking his life to confront superstition.

The resulting documentary, In the Shadow of the Sun, is just one of the films in the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, in Melbourne from May 9-23. Screening on closing night, it will make sure this a month of movies you won't forget in a hurry.

Jamie Meltzer's Informant, a portrait of fanatical humanitarian-turned-FBI bedfellow Brandon Darby, is a highlight, as is Alex Meillier's Alias Ruby Blade. It's the story of Australian activist Kirsty Sword, who left for East Timor to make documentaries and found herself working as an underground operative for the imprisoned Xanana Gusmao.