Welcome to the online home of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival
For customer service issues please email filmfestival@hrw.org
Accessibility
Subtitles and closed captions must be manually turned on when playing a film. Select the “CC” logo at the bottom of your play window in order to turn on English subtitles or captions. Captioning + subtitle availability is articulated on each film’s page on this site along with the film description.
Ticketing/ Rentals How-To
There are a limited # of tickets available for each film on our platform. If you would like to enjoy the full catalog of films, we suggest that you reserve your tickets in advance. Once a film sells out, it will no longer be possible for audience members to rent the title on our platform and the ability to purchase will be turned off.
Here’s how to reserve a film ticket + view a film festival title:
Find the film that you want to purchase a ticket for (or rent) on our homepage.
Select the button that reads “Ticket” for the title. (or Film Festival pass)
Follow steps to check out and submit payment through our secure platform, Stripe. If you have a promo code, be sure to select the checkbox that reads “I have a promo code” and enter the code into the text box before checking out. If the film ticket is free you will not be charged or asked for payment information.
Once a ticket for the film has been reserved it will sit in your “library” on the website. To find your library, sign in on the website using the orange button in the top right corner. Once signed in, you will see a pink button in the top right of your screen. Select this pink button and then select “My Library” from the drop-down menu that appears. Your films will be there waiting for you.
When the film goes live at the listed date on the film’s page - the films you have reserved a “ticket” for will become available to view.
View Window Timing: The way this festival works is like an on-demand video “rental” service. Be sure to complete viewing a the time of expiration on your rental (see your library for the expiration date/time.) Films will simply stop playing at that time on our player, and we will no longer have a license to show the film when the time of expiration takes place. Note: Once you begin to play a title, you must complete viewing within 48 hours from the first time you pressed “Play”.
Resetting your password If you need to reset your password, go to the login page and click the pink link under the words “Sign In” that read “Forgotten your password?” to reset.
Note on re-renting a title: There is a technical glitch on the site that will not allow users to rent the same title again and play. We don’t suggest renting a title twice at this time until this issue is resolved. With any issues please email filmfestival@hrw.org and use the chat box on the homepage of our website here and our customer support team will help you to complete your viewing.
Frequently asked questions:
Does my ticket purchase support Human Rights Watch?
Ticket sales support the festival, and the work that we do at Human Rights Watch, as well as our cinema partners, however ticket purchases are not considered tax-deductible. As part of a non-profit organization, our festival does not break even after the cost of ticket sales when factoring in the costs of paying filmmakers for their work, running the event, and Human Rights Watch does not earn any “profit” from the festival. The Covid-19 crisis has had a dramatic impact on small businesses, films and arts organizations around the world. This year, as always the film festival is splitting our ticket income with our cinema partners, to help support them through this challenging year.
OK, but how can I support Human Rights Watch work?
We would be grateful if you would also consider making a tax-deductible donation to Human Rights Watch to support our work. Donations will go a long way to ensuring Human Rights Watch has the capacity it needs to expose human rights violations and push for change.
Can I watch these films on a TV?
Yes! You can watch:
- Using AirPlay to an Apple TV, or.
- Connecting an HDMI cable.
You can cast from the browser on your device (from Safari on iOS).
We hope that you will follow us on @hrwfilmfestival on Twitter + Instagram to hear of upcoming digital screenings worldwide.