Beiruting News

After holding events around the world, the Human Rights Watch film festival will in June reach its final destination, New York.

This year the annual festival, which was founded in 2009, features 16 films from different parts of the globe. Films cover a wide range of topics, including violence, gender discrimination and racism.

The selection of films includes a number of entries from Egypt and the Middle East.

One of the featured films, The Trials of Spring, which is directed by the Academy Award-nominee Gini Reticker, explores the intersection of politics and gender in revolutionary Egypt. For 76 minutes, the film walks the audience through a woman's role in Egyptian society and during the 2011 revolution, following the stories of three Egyptian women: a women's right's activist, a female protestor who was arrested, tortured and sexually assaulted in 2011, and a widow who gives guidance to young revolutionaries.

Francois Verster's The Dream of Shahrazad, also featured in the festival, draws inspiration from the Arabian Nights story, in which Queen Shahrazad saves lives through storytelling. Featuring several initiatives in South Africa, France, The Netherlands, Jordan and Egypt, the film discusses how storytelling and music can play an important role amid political instability.