Rights on Reel: Exploring Human Rights Through Film
In this episode, students delve into the complex relationship between film and human
rights. The conversation explores how films have been used as a medium to convey and
conceptualize stories related to human rights, shedding light on issues, injustices, violence, and
violations. Students examine the power of film to connect and empathize with individuals
whose human rights have been violated and to critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of
this approach.
References:
Specific Film Examples:
‘The Whistleblower” (2010)
‘Selma’ (2014)
‘On the Basis of Sex’ (2018
Snowpiercer (2014)
The Swimmers (2022) **
Schindler’s List (1993)
Hotel Rwanda (2004) **
Triangle of Sadness (2022)
Persepolis (2007)
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
A Woman in Berlin (2008)
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
The Life and Death of Marsha P Johnson (2017) doc
Gandhi (1982)
The Hunting Ground (2015) American doc
Localized sexual violence (university campuses)
13th (2016) American doc **
Scholarly Support:
- Nash, Kate. 2022. Knowing through human rights films. Human Rights Quarterly, 44(1),
pp.193-209. ISSN 0275-0392 [Article]
- Tascon, S. (2012). Considering Human Rights Films, Representation, and Ethics: Whose Face?
Human Rights Quarterly, 34(4), 864-883. © 2012 by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Michelle Brown, Nicole Rafter, Genocide Films, Public Criminology, Collective Memory, The
British Journal of Criminology, Volume 53, Issue 6, November 2013, Pages
1017–1032,https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azt043
- Derrick Alan Everett, Public Narratives + Reparations in Rwanda: On the Potential of Film as
Promoter of International Human Rights + Reconciliation, 7 Nw. J. Int'l Hum. Rts. 103
(2009).http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njihr/vol7/iss1/4
- Stoddard, J., Marcus, A. S., & Hicks, D. (2017). Teaching difficult history through film. Taylor &
Francis.
- Hamblin, S. (2016). The Form and Content of Human Rights Film. The Radical Teacher, (104),
38-47.
- Swimelar, S. (2014). Making human rights visible through photography and film. The SAGE.
Handbook of Human Rights: Two Volume Set, 413.
rights. The conversation explores how films have been used as a medium to convey and
conceptualize stories related to human rights, shedding light on issues, injustices, violence, and
violations. Students examine the power of film to connect and empathize with individuals
whose human rights have been violated and to critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of
this approach.
References:
Specific Film Examples:
‘The Whistleblower” (2010)
‘Selma’ (2014)
‘On the Basis of Sex’ (2018
Snowpiercer (2014)
The Swimmers (2022) **
Schindler’s List (1993)
Hotel Rwanda (2004) **
Triangle of Sadness (2022)
Persepolis (2007)
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
A Woman in Berlin (2008)
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
The Life and Death of Marsha P Johnson (2017) doc
Gandhi (1982)
The Hunting Ground (2015) American doc
Localized sexual violence (university campuses)
13th (2016) American doc **
Scholarly Support:
- Nash, Kate. 2022. Knowing through human rights films. Human Rights Quarterly, 44(1),
pp.193-209. ISSN 0275-0392 [Article]
- Tascon, S. (2012). Considering Human Rights Films, Representation, and Ethics: Whose Face?
Human Rights Quarterly, 34(4), 864-883. © 2012 by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Michelle Brown, Nicole Rafter, Genocide Films, Public Criminology, Collective Memory, The
British Journal of Criminology, Volume 53, Issue 6, November 2013, Pages
1017–1032,https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azt043
- Derrick Alan Everett, Public Narratives + Reparations in Rwanda: On the Potential of Film as
Promoter of International Human Rights + Reconciliation, 7 Nw. J. Int'l Hum. Rts. 103
(2009).http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njihr/vol7/iss1/4
- Stoddard, J., Marcus, A. S., & Hicks, D. (2017). Teaching difficult history through film. Taylor &
Francis.
- Hamblin, S. (2016). The Form and Content of Human Rights Film. The Radical Teacher, (104),
38-47.
- Swimelar, S. (2014). Making human rights visible through photography and film. The SAGE.
Handbook of Human Rights: Two Volume Set, 413.
