Human Rights Arts & Film Festival 2017

Overview

After shining a spotlight on films that engage with social justice and human rights issues for the past decade, the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival is back for another packed lineup of topical titles for 2017. Screening in Melbourne from May 4 to 18 before touring a selection of highlights to Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart, HRAFF's tenth anniversary program boasts 32 features, 31 shorts, four forums and eight events in the festival's arts-focused component.

HRAFF 2017 will open with The Opposition, the debut effort from Australian filmmaker Hollie Fifer — and a film tackling content so controversial that legal disputes and injunctions have attempted to block its release. Also screening at the Sydney Film Festival after its HRAFF berth, the documentary steps through the struggles of Papua New Guinea's Paga Hill community. In 2012, their homes were bulldozed by developers to make way for a luxury resort, sparking a battle of David vs Goliath proportions.

Highlights from the rest of the program include closing night's Quest, which heads to HRAFF from Sundance to chronicle the efforts of the Rainey family to create a musical sanctuary for their North Philadelphia community, as well as the world premiere of the Australian-made, Manilla-set documentary Happyland, about street artist Kaff-eine and her team's attempts to turn slums into something creative. Elsewhere, Nowhere to Hide takes a paramedic's-eye view of Iraq, An Insignificant Man follows the politician becoming known as "the Bernie Sanders of India", Plastic China tells the tale of the recycling workshop workers and their families that literally live in mountains of plastic, and Tempestad goes on a road trip to explore the victimisation of women in Mexico. For those after a piece of gripping fictional filmmaking, War Book delves into British civil servants practising crisis protocol for a fictional nuclear attack on Mumbai.

HRAFF also gives audiences the chance to catch up with other festival standouts that have already done the rounds, such as Berlinale's 2016 Golden Bear winner Fire at Sea, Cannes Film Festival's 2015 Palme d'Or recipient Dheepan, and the crowd-pleasing, Afghan rapper-focused Sonita. Going local, Australia's freshly minted best foreign language Oscar nominee Tanna, rousing documentary Zach's Ceremony and magical realist fable Satellite Boy also feature.

With arts also part of the program, attendees can hear discover the experiences and knowledge of Koorie Elders, hear accounts from people detained while trying to seek asylum in Australia, and view portraits of the persecuted Rohingya people in Western Myanmar.

Image: Zach's Ceremony.