The Human Rights Watch Film Festival presents 13 timely and provocative films, from June 13-20, 2019, that shine a bright light on bravery and resilience in challenging times, with incisive perspectives on human rights issues affecting people around the world. As racism and xenophobia continue to rise within the highest echelons of power, this year’s festival presents cinematic works that expose and humanize cases of legalized and legitimized oppression of the disenfranchised that demand the world’s attention.
Now celebrating its 30th year, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival truly reflects its ethos of celebrating diversity of content and perspective, providing a public cinematic forum for voices that are either silenced or marginalized in the media. Half of the films in this year’s edition are by filmmakers with roots in the region they are covering, half were directed or co-directed by women, and the majority of this year’s selection were directed by filmmakers of color.
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival is co-presented by Film at Lincoln Center and the IFC Center. All screenings will be followed by in-depth panels with filmmakers, film subjects, Human Rights Watch researchers and special guests.
Here is the complete program of the festival:
Advocate – June 13, 2019 7:00 PM / Film at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theaterewish-Israeli lawyer Lea Tsemel and her Palestinian colleagues have been working for decades representing their clients in an increasingly conservative Israel. We meet Lea and the team as they prepare for their youngest defendant yet – Ahmad, a 13-year-old boy implicated in a knife attack on the streets of Jerusalem. Together they must counter legal and public opposition and prepare Ahmad who, like other Palestinians charged with serious crimes, will face a difficult trial in a country in which the government, court system and the media are stacked against him. To many, Lea is a traitor who defends the indefensible. For others, she’s more than an attorney – she’s a true ally.
https://vimeo.com/320517522
“I’m an Israeli occupier, no matter what I do. I ‘enjoy’ the fruits of occupation, both bitter and sweet… Who gave me the moral right to judge the people who resist my occupation?… So in that sense if the act is intended to resist the occupation, as such, I’ll take [the case] on.” – Lea Tsemel, film subject, Advocate
Official selection, Sundance Film Festival 2019 – Filmmaker(s): Rachel Leah Jones, Philippe Bellaiche
Country of Production: Israel Canada and Switzerland – Year: 2019 108m – Language(s): Arabic, Hebrew, fully subtitled in English Genre: Documentary
Rachel Leah Jones – Director / Producer
Born in Berkeley, California in 1970 and raised between Berkeley and Tel Aviv, Jones is a critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on Israel/Palestine. She has a BA in Race, Class and Gender Studies and a MFA in Documentary Media Arts. Her directing credits include: 500DUNAM ON THE MOON (2002) commissioned by France Channel 2; ASHKENAZ (2007) commissioned by Israel Channel 8; TARGETED CITIZEN (2010) commissioned by Adalah: the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel; and GYPSY DAVY (2012) commissioned by Israel Channel 8 (Sundance 2012). In addition to making her own films, Jones has produced extensively with others, e.g. WALL by Simone Bitton (Cannes 2004; Special Jury Prize Sundance 2005) and has been affiliated with progressive media outlets such as DEMOCRACY NOW! in New York.
Philippe Bellaiche – Director / Producer
Born in Paris, France in 1967, Bellaiche is an award-winning DP whose credits include BETWEEN FENCES (Berlin 2016); ONCE I ENTERED A GARDEN (Rome 2012); Z32 (Venice 2008); and AVENGE BUT ONE OF MY TWO EYES (Cannes 2005) by Avi Mograbi; THE SETTLERS (Sundance 2016) and HOTHOUSE (Special Jury Prize Sundance 2007) by Shimon Dotan; GYPSY DAVY (Sundance 2012) by Rachel Leah Jones; THE FLAT (Tribeca 2012; Israel Academy Award 2011) by Arnon Goldfinger; INCESSANT VISIONS (Jerusalem 2011), THE JOURNEY OF VAN NGUYEN (IDFA 2005) and RAGING DOVE (First Prize Doc Aviv 2002; Certificate of Merit SFIFF 2002) by Duki Dror; ROUTE 181:FRAGMENTS OF A JOURNEY THROUGH PALESTINE/ISRAEL (Second Prize Yamagata 2005) by Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi; FROM LANGUAGE TO LANGUAGE (First Prize Doc Aviv 2004) by Nurith Aviv; FORGET BAGHDAD(FIPRESCI Award Locarno 2002) by Samir Jamal al-Din. A cinematography lecturer and master class teacher, Bellaiche also received the Cinema Arts Award in 2013.
Twenty-five years after Yusuf Abdurahman left Somalia as a refugee to begin his life anew in Minnesota, his worst fear is realized when his 19-year-old-son Zacharia is arrested in an FBI counter terrorism sting operation. Through the eyes of a father striving to understand why his young son would leave his American life behind to
“They presume that not only are these boys guilty but the whole Somali community is guilty. They are on trial but so is the Somali community. So is the black community. So is the Muslim community. So is the immigrant community.” – Community activist, Accept the Call.
Filmmaker(s): Eunice Lau- Country of Production: USA – Year: 2019 83m – Language(s): English, Somali
Eunice Lau, Director
As a screenwriter and filmmaker, Eunice seeks to bring a cinematic form to her documentary films to evoke visceral emotions in audience. Her feature documentary “A-Town Boyz” is the recipient of Spike Lee Fellowship, and her short film “Through the Fire” was a finalist at the 2013 Student Academy Awards. “Accept the Call” is a continuum of her exploration on the definition of the American identity and capturing the journey of the immigrant.
Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World – June 20, 2019 7:00 PM / IFC Center
“In citizen journalism…trust is generated not by the brand name or the glory of the institution, it’s generated through transparency.“ – Jay Rosen, film subject, Bellingcat – Truth in a Post-Truth World
Bellingcat – Truth in a Post-Truth World follows the revolutionary rise of the “citizen investigative journalist” collective known as Bellingcat, dedicated to redefining breaking news by exploring the promise of open source investigation. This highly skilled and controversial collective exposes the truth behind global news stories – from identifying the exact location of an Islamic State murder through analysis of a video distributed on YouTube, to tracking the story behind the mysterious poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in the UK – Bellingcat hunts down answers using social media, reconstruction techniques, and audio analysis. From his home in the English countryside, de facto leader Eliot Higgins and his team of volunteer truth-seekers put newspapers, networks and governments to the test, shedding light on the fight for journalistic integrity in the era of fake news and alternative facts.
Filmmaker: Hans Pool – Year: 2019 88m – Language(s): English – Genre: Documentary
Hans Pool – Director
Hans Pool is an award winning director and cinematographer, who combines a journalistic approach with intellectual depth. He masterfully conveys topics that are difficult to grasp with a cinematic language that is understood by all. Previous films include Putin’s Olympic Dream and Looking for an Icon.
Born in Evin – June 18 – 8:45 PM & June 19 – 6:45 PM at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
When she was 12-years-old, actress and filmmaker Maryam Zaree found out that she was one of a number of babies born inside Evin, Iran’s most notorious political prison. Maryam’s parents were imprisoned shortly after Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in 1979, a period in which tens of thousands of political dissidents were arrested and tortured. With Born in Evin, Maryam confronts decades of silence in her family and embarks on an exploration into the circumstances of her birth. On this vulnerable, lyrical journey Maryam considers the impact of trauma on the bodies and souls of survivors and their children, leading her to question how her generation can relate to their own history while also respecting the people they love as they prefer to heal in silence.
Winner Best Film, Perspektive Deutsches Kino Programme, Berlinale 2019
https://vimeo.com/333224456
Filmmaker(s): Maryam Zaree – Country of Production: Germany and Austria – Year: 2019 98m – Language(s): German, English, French – Genre: Documentary
Maryam Zaree – Director
Maryam Zaree was born in 1983 in Teheran/Iran. Fleeing political persecution, her mother brought Maryam with her to Germany when she was two. She grew up in Frankfurt am Main and studied acting in the renowned film school Konrad-Wolf in PotsdammBabelsberg. She has played lead roles in a dozen feature films, worked for theatre and Television and has been awarded for her performances. In 2018 she received a “Grimme Preis” for her performance in the TV show “4 Blocks.” Her first theatre play “Kluge Gefühle” received the Author’s Prize of the Heidelberg Stückemarkt and has been performed in multiple theaters. Born in Evin is her debut feature film.
Esta Todo Bien (It’s All Good) – June 19, 8:45 PM / IFC Center – June 20 6:15 PM at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Cente
”A country’s collapse is dramatic and in hindsight seems inevitable, but when it’s experienced gradually, on a day-by-day basis, it can almost pass unnoticed, like looking in the mirror each morning and not seeing how you age.” – Tuki Jencquel, Director, Está Todo Bien
https://vimeo.com/271158162
Venezuela is a country rich in natural resources that for decades has prided itself on having one of the best public health systems in the entire region. Today, the near-total collapse of Venezuela’s health system is resulting in severe medicine shortages, a dramatic increase in infant mortality, the reappearance of once-eradicated diseases like diphtheria, and a mass exodus of doctors to hospitals overseas. In Está Todo Bien, Caracas-born Tuki Jencquel asks a pharmacist, trauma surgeon, activist and two patients to confront the same questions millions of Venezuelans are facing: protest or acquiesce, emigrate or remain, lose all hope or hang onto faith?
Filmmaker(s): Tuki Jencquel – Year: 2018 70M – Language(s): Spanish with English Subtitles – Genre: Documentary
Tuki Jencquel Director
Born in Caracas, Tuki Jencquel holds a bachelor’s degree in Film and TV from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts and an MBA from IESA, Venezuela. He is director of two short films and one medium-length documentary, Sin Ti Contigo, which won the “Premio Feisal“ at Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara in 2011. He worked as 1st AD on Secrets of the Tribe by Jose Padilha, and for many years worked as Assistant Director in film and advertising. His first feature documentary Está Todo Bien premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest and was part of IDFA Best of Fests section in 2018. He’s currently working on his next documentary, an intimate portrait of his mother, who is famous in France for her fight to legalize assisted suicide.
Everything Must Fall – June 17, 8:30 PM at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center – June 18, 2019
8:45 PM / IFC Center
”We have a responsibility not just to come here to study, but to go back in our communities and make sure that we are uplifting and empowering them.” – Shaeera Kalla, film subject, Everything Must Fall
When South Africa’s universities raised their fees, a wave of students took to the streets in opposition. Quickly gaining momentum and scope, the battle cry #FeesMustFall burst onto the political landscape and became a national conversation, bringing attention to the exclusion of poorer black South Africans from higher education, ultimately calling for the decolonization of the entire education system. Everything Must Fall features student leaders and their opposition as they unpack how a moment evolved into a mass movement. Demanding that governments be held accountable while also challenging deeper racial, gender, class and sexual identity discrimination, this group of inspiring young people demonstrate the power that comes from collective organizing that embraces intersectionality to create lasting change.
Closed Captioning and live transcription (CART) of the Q&A available.
Filmmaker: Rehad Desai – Year: 2018 85m – Language: English – Genre: Documentary
Rehad Desai Director
Rehad Desai is a South African producer and director who runs his own film and TV production company Uhuru Productions. Following his return from exile in the UK, Rehad worked as a trade union organiser, a health and safety/media officer for a chemical workers union and a director of a HIV prevention NGO. In 1997 he completed his Masters Degree in Social History at the University of the Witwatersrand. Rehad entered the TV and film industry as a current affairs journalist, and has since focused his energy on documentary productions with historical and socio –political topics, much of which has received critical acclaim. In 2000 he completed a postgraduate degree in TV and film producing through AVEA. In 2009 he completed a postgraduate diploma in documentary production through Eurodoc. He is leading activist and spokesperson of the Marikana Support Campaign.
In Search... – June 16, 3:00 PM at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center – June 17, 2019
6:30 PM / IFC Center
Director Beryl Magoko is embarking on a personal journey to courageously face her past, to accept and love herself and her own body. When Beryl learns of an opportunity for reconstructive surgery for the female genital mutilation she and her friends underwent as young girls, she has a growing community of women to consult, but ultimately, the decision is hers. Hosting frank and raw discussions with women – from friends and family in her rural birthplace in Kenya, to new friends in cities around Europe – together they uncover the beauty of collective strength and insight, examine the importance of female pleasure, and shed societally imposed shame around women’s bodies.
“When you cut the roots of a tree, it will never blossom. It will wither. That is what happens when you chop off the genitals of a woman. You silence her. You suppress her.” – Beryl Magoko, Director, In Search…
Winner of the 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival Nestor Almendros award for courage in filmmaking
Filmmaker(s): Beryl Magoko – Country of Production: Germany – Year: 2018 90m – Language(s): German, English, Kikuria, Swahili
Genre: Documentary
Beryl Magoko Director
Beryl Magoko is a Kenyan filmmaker. Her first film “The Cut” received several international awards. After her B.S. from KU in Uganda, she moved to Germany to improve her film making skills at the KHM in Cologne. She has finalized her diploma film “In Search…” which was premiered in Leipzig and won the “Audience Award – Leipziger Ring” and “Best Student Documentary at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam”. Filmography „Fred Fish Frying“ (2010, short) „The Cut“ (2012, medium length) „Water for Janet and Felicitas“(2013, short) “In Search…”(2018) “Othermothers”,(not released yet, medium length)
No Box for Me. An Intersex Story (Ni d’Eve ni d’Adam. Une histoire intersexe) – June 19, 2019
6:30 PM / IFC Center – June 20 – 8:30 PM at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
Deborah, 25, and M, 27, are living in bodies that Western medicine—and often society—deems too taboo to discuss publicly. Like an estimated 1.7 percent of people, they were born with variations in their sex characteristics that were different from classical understandings of male or female. For M, growing up intersex has also meant grappling with the fact that she underwent medically unnecessary surgeries to “normalize” her body as a very young child. But when M finds Deborah online, she is introduced to new voices, language, and representations that allow her to expand her understanding of who she is, beyond medical terms. This beautifully crafted, poetic documentary joins brave young people as they seek to reappropriate their bodies and explore their identities, revealing both the limits of binary visions of sex and gender, and the irreversible physical and psychological impact of non-consensual surgeries on intersex infants.
Filmmaker(s): Floriane Devigne – Country of Production: France – Year: 2018 58m – Language(s): French with English Subtitles – Genre: Documentary
Floriane Devigne Director
Floriane Devigne was born in Lausanne, in Switzerland. She studied both at the INSAS and at the Fémis film school in Paris. Soon after she directed Les Mots Claire which was selected at the festival Traces de Vies in Clermont Ferrand (France) and La Boit à Tartines which was awarded in many festivals such as DOK Leizig, RIDM (Montréal). Her film feature film La Clé de la Chambre à Lessive, co-directed with Fred Florey, won the SSR-SRG prize at the Vision du Réel festival and the diversity prize at Traces de Vies among others. It also was selected to more than 20 festivals such as Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, Doc Buenos Aires (Argentine) and at the RIDM Montréal. Then she directed Dayana Mini Market for the TV channel Arte. The got the SCAM award in 2014 and was also awarded at the festival Filmer le travail (Poitier, France). She has also directed several short films for Arte and France 2.
On the President’s Orders – June 15 – 8:30 PM at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center – June 17, 6:15 PM / Film at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte announced a “war on drugs” in the Philippines, launching a wave of violence and murder targeting thousands of suspected drug dealers and users. With unprecedented, intimate access both to police officials implicated in the killings and the families destroyed as the result of Duterte’s deadly campaign, On the President’s Orders is a shocking and revelatory investigation into the extrajudicial murders that continue to this day. Entering a murky world of crime, drugs and politics, the filmmakers have managed to capture the clear trajectory of what depths those who wield excessive power can reach, when attacking those who have the very least.
Filmmaker(s): James Jones and Olivier Sarbil – Country of Production: United Kingdom and USA – Year: 2019 72m – Language(s): English, Tagalog – Genre: Documentary
James Jones
Director / Producer
James Jones is an award-winning British director who makes documentary films for international television and theatrical release. His documentaries tackle important issues through powerful personal stories told in a filmic style and narrative. He has made films about police shootings in America, suicide in the military, wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and undercover investigations in Saudi Arabia and North Korea. His background in current affairs investigations means the films still have a hard journalistic edge while using the craft techniques of documentary. His films have won two Emmys, three DuPonts, a Grierson, a Rory Peck, a Frontline Club, a Royal Television Society, a Broadcast Award, two Overseas Press Club of America, two Golden Nymphs, and a Venice TV Award, as well as being nominated five times at the BAFTAs. Recently, he co-directed the Emmy-winning Mosul with Olivier Sarbil.
Olivier Sarbil
Director / Cinematographer
Olivier Sarbil is an award-winning French documentary director and Emmy-winning cinematographer based in London. Over the past decade, Olivier has covered conflicts and critical social issues across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America. With strong visual storytelling, Olivier’s films are intimate and human, conveying emotions through beautiful and cinematic imagery. His work has been recognised with awards from a variety of organisations, including, Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography, DuPont, Royal Television Society, One World Media, Overseas Press Club of America, Broadcast Awards, Bayeux-Calvados for war correspondents (twice), Golden Nymph, Rory Peck, Venice TV Award, Frontline Club, Grand Award and Gold Medal at the New York Festivals International TV & Film. His imagery has also garnered a BAFTA Nomination for Best Cinematography.
One Child Nation – June 14, 2019 9:00 PM and June 15, 3:30 PM at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
“‘We are fighting a population war’ was a common slogan used by the government during the One Child Policy. China started a war against population growth, but it became a real war against its own people.”
– Nanfu Wang, Co-director, One Child Nation
From Academy Award-nominated documentarian Nanfu Wang, Hooligan Sparrow (HRWFF, 2017) and Jialing Zhang, One Child Nation explores China’s One Child Policy, which made it illegal in most circumstances for couples to have more than one child. Nanfu digs fearlessly into her own life, using her experience as a new mother and first-hand accounts of her family members, along with archival propaganda material and testimony from victims and law-enforcers alike, composing a revelatory record of China’s drastic approach to population-control. The severe law that led to forced sterilizations and abortions, abandoned newborns, and government abductions may have ended in 2015, but the process of dealing with the impact of its enforcement is only just beginning.
US Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2019 – Grand Jury Award, Full Frame 2019
Filmmaker(s): Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang – Country of Production: USA and China – Year: 201985m
Language(s): English and Mandarin Genre: Documentary
Nanfu Wang
Director
Nanfu Wang is an Emmy-nominated and Peabody-winning filmmaker based in New York City. Wang’s feature debut Hooligan Sparrow was shortlisted for the 2017 Academy Award for best documentary feature. Since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2016, it has won over twenty awards internationally including two Emmy Nominations, a Peabody Award, a Cinema Eye Honor award, the George Polk Award, an IDA award, and an Independent Spirit Award. Her second feature documentary I Am Another You premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in 2017, won two special jury awards at the festival, and opened theatrically in September 2017.
Jialing Zhang
Director
Jialing Zhang is an independent filmmaker based in Beijing and Massachusetts. She is co-director and editor of Complicit, a feature documentary that follows the journey of a benzene-poisoned Chinese migrant worker who takes on the global electronic manufacturing industry. The film premiered at HRWFF in London in Mar. 2017. Lynn also freelances as a local producer for various programs and media including Vice on HBO, Fusion TV, the New York Times, and independent documentary projects.
Screwdriver (Mafak) – June 16, 8:00 PM and June 16, 8:00 PM at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
Young Ziad is the star of the Al-Amari Refugee Camp basketball team in the Ramallah outskirts of Palestine. When his best friend is shot and killed in crossfire, his teammates seek revenge, with results that will impact Ziad’s life forever. Shot entirely on location in the West Bank with a largely Palestinian crew, award-winning director Bassam Jarbawi’s debut feature follows Ziad as he returns home after 15 years in an Israeli prison. Hailed as a hero, with high expectations to settle back quickly into work and love, he is lost in a world he barely recognizes. Effectively capturing this unsettling inability to distinguish reality from hallucination and the haunting of memory, Screwdriver immerses us in a distinctly Palestinian story while addressing the universal trauma of reintegration after incarceration.
“Solitary prisoners’ reliance on fantasy as a technique for survival captured my attention, and largely influenced the story of Screwdriver. This stagnant ever-waiting hopelessness pervades [the] Palestinian psyche. The result is an inability to define self without occupier, to organize and feel life without restriction.” – Bassam Jarbawi, director, Screwdriver
Official Selection, Giornate Degli Autori 2018 – Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival 2018
Filmmaker(s): Bassam Jarbawi
Country of Production: Palestine/USA/Qatar – Year: 2018 108m – Language(s): Arabic, Hebrew with English Subtitles – Genre: Drama
Bassam Jarbawi
Director
Bassam Jarbawi was born in Palestine and studied film at Columbia University in New York. He has worked as a production manager, editor, and writer. His previous credits include the short film Chicken Heads (09). Screwdriver (18) is his latest film.
The Sweet Requiem (Kyoyang Ngarmo) – June 18, 6:15 PM and June 19, 8:45 PM at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
At age 8, Dolkar and her father fled their home in Tibet, escaping Chinese armed forces in an arduous journey across the Himalayas. Now 26, she lives in a Tibetan refugee colony in Delhi, India, where an unexpected encounter with a man from her past reveals long-suppressed memories, propelling Dolkar on an obsessive search for the truth. With stunning cinematography and skillfully subdued tension, The Sweet Requiem, from the filmmaking team behind Dreaming Lhasa (HRWFF, 2006) and The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s Struggle for Freedom (HRWFF, 2010), is an unforgettable reflection on an ongoing but too often forgotten refugee crisis.
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival 2018 – Filmmaker(s): Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam – Year: 2018 91m – Language(s): Tibetan with English Subtitles – Genre: Drama
Directors
Indian-Tibetan filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam have been working together for more than 30 years. They have made award-winning documentaries, video installations and two feature films. Their documentary, The Sun Behind the Clouds (2009), won the Vaclav Havel Award at the One World Film Festival in Prague. Their feature films, Dreaming Lhasa (2005) and The Sweet Requiem (2018) both premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Ritu and Tenzing are also the directors of the Dharamshala International Film Festival, which they founded in 2012 and is now one of India’s leading independent film festivals.
When We Walk – June 14, 6:30 PM at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center – June 18, 2019
6:30 PM / IFC Center
New Yorker Jason DaSilva is facing the life-changing decision of whether to relocate to Austin, Texas to be closer to his young son who has moved with his mother following their recent divorce. Facing a rapidly progressing form of multiple sclerosis and experiencing a swift decline in his motor skills, Jason soon learns that the harsh restrictions of the US Medicaid system would prevent him from accessing the services he needs to live life as fully as possible, and from being the dad he wants to be for his young son. Left with this heart-aching choice, When We Walk, the follow-up to DaSilva’s Emmy Award-winning film When I Walk, reflects on Jason’s own childhood and relationship with his father, making his fight to keep his son resonate even more powerfully.
Closed Captioning and live transcription (CART) of the Q&A available.
Filmmaker(s): Jason DaSilva – Country of Production: USA – Year: 2019 78m – Language(s): English – Genre: Documentary
Jason DaSilva
Director
Jason DaSilva has been a prolific filmmaker for the past 15 years. He has directed four short films (Olivia’s Puzzle, A Song For Daniel, Twins of Mankala, First Steps) and two feature length-documentary films (Lest We Forget and When I Walk). Olivia’s Puzzle premiered at the 2003 Sundance Festival. Three of his films have had national broadcasts on PBS, HBO, and CBC. DaSilva’s latest film, When I Walk, won a 2015 Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming, was an Official Selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and won Best Canadian Feature at Hot Docs 2013. In 2014, Jason also won three awards: AAPD Mobility Magazine’s Person of the Year, the Paul E. Hearn Leadership Award, and the Christopher Award for Excellence in Film. Currently he is working on a new feature film When They Walk and on AXS Map, a website and accessibility database to find disability friendly places around the world.