HOW DO FILM AND TECHNOLOGY ADVANCE HUMAN FREEDOM?

This year alongside SXSW, the Moving Picture Institute co-hosted a public screening and masterclass panel focused on human rights issues at the Violet Crown Theater. The evening included screenings of the mini-documentary Go To Where the Light Is: Escaping North Korea, and the Moving Picture Institute-supported feature-length documentary State of Control, which follows two American filmmakers as they travel undercover documenting Tibetan activists’ human rights struggle against the Chinese government’s police state. 

A post-screening masterclass panel will included State of Control director, Christian Johnston, and the Moving Picture Institute’s co-founder and president of the Human Rights Foundation, Thor Halvorssen. The panel considered questions about the role of film and technology in advancing human rights around the globe, as well as how activists and filmmakers alike can remain courageous while confronting or documenting oppressive regimes.