Human Rights Watch Film Festival Kicks Off In SD

SAN DIEGO, CA – The ninth annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival will begin Thursday at the Museum of Photographic Arts.

This year's film festival will kick off with a screening of "TransMilitary," a documentary about transgender military personnel. The film, adapted from a 2015 Emmy-nominated short film, follows four men and women who come out to Pentagon officials in an attempt to exercise their equal right to serve. "TransMilitary" premiered at last year's South by Southwest Film Festival, where it won the audience award for a documentary.

After the screening, two of "TransMilitary's" subjects, U.S. Army Cpl. Laila Villanueva and retired Army Mjr. Veronica Zerrer, and LGBT rights researcher Kyle Knight will participate in a panel discussion about the film.

The festival's other four films, which will screen Friday and Saturday, focus on topics such as masculinity, sexual assault, climate change, poverty and high school students in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

"Over the years we've seen how the power of the documentary films helps drive important conversations," said Deborah Klochko, the festival's executive director and chief curator. "It allows the public to pay close attention to issues that would otherwise be scrolled away. It's the arduous investigative work of these filmmakers, human-rights advocates and journalists that inspire us to take action."

An opening night reception for the festival will be held at 6 p.m., with the screening beginning at 7 p.m. The museum is located at 1649 El Prado.

Tickets are available at the door or online at mopa.org/hrwff. Single-screening tickets start at $6 and festival passes, which grant admission to all five films, start at $25.

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