Festival Preview: Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2012

In Brother Number One, a Kiwi athlete, Rob Hamill, gets a rare opportunity to speak as a witness at the war crime trial against one of the Pol Pot's henchmen, now a born again Christian, Commander Duch. In 1978, Hamill's older brother was captured by Khmer Rouge when his sail boat went off course, accused of spying, sent to the infamous S-21 Prison camp in Cambodia. There he was tortured and killed along with the countless others. An unofficial death toll under Pol Pot regime is estimated at 2 million. Filled with first hand interviews, testimonies, the documentary is a gut wrenching experience to say the least.

In Mexico's narco-traffic war, the horrendous acts of violence are inflicted on the criminals and ordinary citizens alike. Kidnappings, drive-by shootings and beheadings are common occurrences. It's no exception for the journalists. A Tijuana based weekly Zeta have been running independently without influences from the government or corporations for the last 30 years. Then as they start reporting on drug-wars, they've become a target as well. These are truly brave individuals.

The Invisible war tells the staggering number of rapes and the systematic coverup in the US military. The government's pathetic response in the new training video is "Hey, wait 'til she is sober." What's more heartbreaking is most of the service woman featured in Invisible War were true believers of the military system, thinking they could serve the country best being soldiers, but fell victim to the forever masculine culture.