Director Edet Belzberg ambitiously tackles the topic of genocide in her latest documentary Watchers of the Sky. With subject matter so inherently vast in size, and a depressing amount of examples to pick from the past and present, it would be difficult to even find where to begin. Belzberg decides to start her film with the word itself, and the man who coined it. Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer, created the word in the 1940s, spending his life tirelessly fighting to prevent another genocide from occurring. Belzberg profiles Lemkin’s life and career, giving him a deserving tribute for his contributions to human rights, and observes four people around the world following in Lemkin’s footsteps today. Belzberg creates a terrific example of documentary filmmaking, passing on a hopeful message by looking at those persistently fighting what looks like the impossible.

Watchers of the Sky takes its inspiration from Samantha Power’s book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. Power, currently serving as the US Ambassador to the United Nations, acts as the film’s guide. She primarily narrates Lemkin’s story, along with explaining examples of mass exterminations over the 20^th and 21^st centuries, from the Armenian genocide to recent situations like Darfur and Syria. Power tells the story of Soghomon Tehlirian, an Armenian man who watched his family get brutally massacred by Ottoman soldiers. He survived, and years later he assassinated an Ottoman Interior Minister for his part in orchestrating the deaths of millions. Tehlirian was tried for the murder, and Lemkin acknowledged the absurdity of the situation: “Why is the killing of a million a lesser crime than the killing of an individual?”

Lemkin’s life goal was to ensure that genocide would be considered a crime, and that those responsible would have to face justice for their actions. After fleeing to America during World War II, and losing his entire family when they didn’t leave, Lemkin intensely lobbied the United Nations to pass the Genocide Convention. His efforts were a success, leading to the creation of the International Criminal Court. One of Belzberg’s subjects in the film is Luis Moreno Ocampo, the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC. At the time of filming, Ocampo was building a case against the president of Sudan over the massacres in Darfur.

If Power’s purpose is to give information and context, and Ocampo’s to show Lemkin’s theories put into practice, then UN worker Emmanuel Uwurukundo presents a perspective from the front lines. Uwurukundo shines a light on the refugee problem that inevitably happens during acts of mass murder. He oversees camps holding thousands of people fleeing from Sudan to neighboring country Chad, but new obstacles seem to present themselves with each day. At one point he states that he, and the other UN workers, are close to getting pulled out of the area, leaving the refugees with no one to protect them. The last subject, Ben Ferencz, was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials. Today he’s the closest thing to Lemkin, spending his days lobbying UN members to declare war-making as a crime against humanity. Watching Ferencz walk around the United Nations, handing out Hershey’s Kisses to delegates, serves as a reminder of how doing the right thing isn’t reason enough for those in power.

All four subjects, like Lemkin, have their own experiences with genocide. At 22-years-old, Power hopped on a plane to Kosovo to former Yugoslavia to report on mass killings from leaders like Ratko Mladić; Ocampo prosecuted members of the military dictatorship in his home country of Argentina for their war crimes; Ferencz helped liberate concentration camps, getting a first-hand look at the horrors of the Holocaust; and Uwurukundo, a Rwandan, lost his entire family in his country’s 1994 genocide. Belzberg introduces each individual story with ease, letting her subjects explain in their own words. Learning their backstories showcases the strength of each individual’s character, as well as the way all of them refuse to succumb to intense resistance from larger interests.

Editors Jenny Golden and Karen Sim weave together Lemkin’s story, the subjects’ profiles, the historical content and Belzberg’s other strands into a tight, cohesive movie. With most of the film relying on Lemkin’s work, animations showing off archival footage and excerpts of Lemkin’s writings. The animated segments flow perfectly with the content, complementing the film’s graceful tone. The way the film smoothly transitions from live-action to animation, from today’s struggles to Lemkin’s past, shows how much of Lemkin’s experiences, including what he fought against, remain tragically relevant to this day.

Lemkin died at 59, broke and without any notoriety (less than a dozen people showed up to his funeral). Belzberg repeatedly displays disheartening information about the lack of compassion from others, especially the international community (Power relates a quote from an US official during the Rwandan genocide saying they determined “each American life is worth about 80,000 Rwandan lives”). But Belzberg provides a glimmer of hope amidst the surrounding negativity. In the final scene, Ferencz explains the meaning of the film’s title. It’s a truly moving moment that beautifully sums up why people like Ferencz keep fighting. They may not see results in their lifetime, but their efforts will help clear the way for a brighter future.

Now that I’ve seen over a dozen of Hot Docs’ selections so far, I can see patterns begin to emerge between films. The three films profiled in today’s piece, all of which are the best documentaries I’ve seen so far at the festival, share a common narrative. The subjects in The Overnighters, Watchers of the Sky and The Creator of the Jungle are all people wanting to do what’s right for them or others, and despite constant resistance from everyone else they never stop fighting. These narratives form in different ways; a pastor tries to “love thy neighbour,” even if it destroys his life; a group of people try to prevent genocide, and bring those responsible to justice; and one man refuses to give up his childlike sense of imagination and creativity even as outside forces give him no choice.

Three different stories, all of them containing a fundamentally strong narrative. These are the kinds of films deserving a bigger audience, and the reason why festivals like Hot Docs exist. To learn more about the three films, including how to get tickets, go to www.hotdocs.ca.

The Overnighters

“I don’t say ‘no’ very well…so it’s easier to say ‘yes’ and live with the consequences.”

Virtue is a burden in Jesse Moss’ The Overnighters. Taking place in Williston, North Dakota, Moss begins his film by exploring the town’s increase in popularity as oil companies in the area hand out high-paying jobs to anyone willing to work. This leads to an influx of people from all over America, arriving with the hope of getting a job. Pastor Jay Reinke starts allowing dozens of new arrivals to sleep in his church (or in their cars in the church’s parking lot) until they can get back on their feet. Moss then shifts the focus of his film to Reinke’s battle with the town, as their hostility to the out-of-towners (fueled in part by the murder of a local teacher) begins a campaign to shut down Reinke’s program.

Moss clearly has one hell of a story to tell, and watching Reinke’s world fall apart as he stubbornly continues to help new arrivals is riveting. Sometimes The Overnighters feels like Moss is forcing what he has into fitting the narrative he wants to tell (some moments feel rehearsed or set-up, giving a reality TV vibe), but for the most part Moss does an excellent job weaving his footage into a gripping drama. And if the insanity Moss captures from Reinke’s battle with his town isn’t enough, a devastating last-minute revelation ends up redefining everything that came before it. The Overnighters is a roller coaster, and will most likely end up being one of the best documentaries this year.

Watchers of the Sky

Raphael Lemkin was a Polish lawyer who spent his life trying to make the crime of genocide punishable by law. Lemkin actually coined the term genocide, and his own experiences (deportation in WWI, losing his entire family to the Nazis in WWII) fueled his desire to see that people responsible for mass killings would face justice for their actions.

Director Edet Belzberg uses Lemkin’s story to examine how society still remains apathetic to acts of genocide occurring around the world, using a narrow focus to address a topic of such a large scale. US Ambassador Samantha Power (whose book inspired the doc) tells Lemkin’s life story while detailing recent examples of atrocities; Rwandan Emmanuel Uwurukundo tries to help refugees in the current genocide occurring in Darfur; Ben Ferencz tries to continue Lemkin’s legacy, lobbying the UN to consider war-making a crime against humanity; and Luis Moreno Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Belzberg uses her four subjects well, with Power covering history/context and the other three showing their difficult battles to continue in Lemkin’s footsteps. The result is a beautiful tale of people fighting valiantly for what they know is right, even if they might never live to see any results. The film’s moving ending (and one of my favourite moments of the year), where Fenecz explains the title’s meaning, is a perfect summation of the grueling hopefulness these four people put themselves through. All these people can do is hope that, if they don’t succeed, their work will make it easier for the person who does.

The Creator of the Jungle

The Creator of the Jungle is the kind of story that needs to be seen. Garrell has spent 45 years of his life building his own world in a forest near his house, only to see it repeatedly attacked by others. The documentary chronicles over 2 decades of Garrell’s life, as he continues destroying and rebuilding his creations just so he can keep playing on his own. It’s a can’t miss title at Hot Docs, and one of the more delightful films of the year so far.

Read our full-length review of The Creator of the Jungle HERE and stay tuned for an interview with director Jordi Morató.