The Conversation: Human Rights Watch Film Festival

ABC's Bill Weir talks with the director of a festival with a powerful message.

ByABC News
June 18, 2010, 12:13 PM

June 18, 2010— -- Most summer blockbusters feature mind-blowing special effects but come up short of a message that makes you think. A film festival going on right now features a different breed of summer movies that raise all sorts of provocative questions about the world around us.

Human Rights Watch is currently hosting its International Film Festival at New York's Lincoln Center. The festival features 30 films from over two dozen different countries on themes like justice, economic development and societies in conflict.

The festival also shows short films created by young filmmakers around the world, like Slovenian teenage director Martina Hudorovic, whose 8-minute documentary tells the story of a Roma grandmother and the persecution her people have long suffered.

Another short film, "Hands of Love," was created by teenagers from Kenya, depicting the struggles of life in Kibera, the largest slum in the country.

In today's Conversation, ABC's Bill Weir talks with the director of the Human Rights Watch film festival, John Biaggi, about one young filmmaker about their work and their message for the world.

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