Traversing southern China, a group of activists led by Ye Haiyan (aka Hooligan Sparrow) protest a scandalous incident where six schoolgirls were allegedly sexually abused by their principal. Sparrow becomes an enemy of the state, but detentions, interrogations, and evictions can’t stop her human-rights efforts from going viral.

Two young veterans, haunted by their combat experiences, take a 2,700-mile trek on foot across America seeking redemption, acceptance, and a way to close the moral chasm opened by war. This intimate, vérité film documents their journey and the healing lessons they learn along the way.

After serving eight years in prison, reformed gang leader S. Lance Ingram re-enters society and struggles to adapt to a changed Harlem. Living under the tough supervision of a parole officer in a halfway house, he is forced to deal with racism, gang violence, and the gentrification of the historic New York City neighborhood in which he was raised.

The Crossing takes us along on one of the most dangerous journeys of our time with a group of Syrians fleeing war and persecution, crossing a sea, two continents, and five countries—and shows us the lengths to which people go to find safety and forge their own destiny. Screening with Malak (Dovana Films, 5m) and Mustapha (Dovana Films, 5m).

Winner of Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Do Not Resist depicts an array of stories that collectively detail the disturbing realities of American police culture.

Growing Up Coy follows a landmark civil-rights case in Colorado, where a 6-year-old transgender girl named Coy has been banned from the girls’ bathroom at school. Coy’s parents hire a lawyer to fight against discrimination, and the family is thrust into the international media spotlight, causing their lives to be changed forever.

Inside the Chinese Closet lays bare the challenges that confront gay people in China today as they struggle to satisfy social and familial expectations of heterosexual unions. Andy devotes his days and nights to looking for a lesbian wife of convenience who could bear his child; Cherry has already married a gay man, but the quest for a baby proves to be a far more challenging.

What is life like in a place where the anti-abortion movement has made access to legal abortion almost impossible? Set against the backdrop of the fight over the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, Maisie Crow’s Jackson takes a close look inside the issues surrounding the right to choose.

Danae Elon, daughter of Israeli intellectual and writer Amos Elon, weaves a deeply personal documentary from her family’s decision to return to Jerusalem in search of a place they can call “home” and exposes a complex and painful portrait of the city today.

Solitary tells the stories of several inmates sent to Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison, one of over 40 supermax prisons in the U.S., which holds inmates in 8-by-10-foot solitary confinement cells, 23 hours a day. Profoundly intimate, this immersive film weaves through corridors and cells, capturing the chilling sounds and haunting atmosphere of the prison.

After fighting the Iranian authorities for seven years, director Mehrdad Oskouei was finally granted permission to film an imprisoned population, otherwise hidden from the public eye. The result is an incredibly personal documentary about the dreams, nightmares, and hopes of the 18-year-olds in this all-female rehabilitation center for juvenile delinquents in Tehran. Starless Dreams won prizes at the Berlinale, Full Frame, and the True/False Film Fest.

Two women, their voices echoing over the landscape and highways of Mexico from North to South, tell how official corruption and injustice allowed violence to take control of their lives.

The award-winning The Uncondemned tells the gripping and world-changing story of a group of young international lawyers and activists who fought in Rwanda to have rape recognized as a war crime, and the women who came forward to testify and win justice where there had been none.

Set against the backdrop of a global recession and climate crisis, When Two Worlds Collide, winner of a World Cinema Documentary special jury prize for Best Debut Feature at Sundance, reveals the human side to the battle of conflicting visions and political wills working to shape the future of the Amazon Rainforest, and of an already debilitated global ecosystem.

Virtual Reality (VR) is an expanding arena for immersive and interactive content. Creators are exploring ways to use a variety of technologies to project participants into new worlds and experiences. Join us for a panel discussion with creators, journalists, and human-rights experts to discuss this exciting and evolving intersection of VR and human rights.

Right now, more than 80,000 people are in solitary confinement in the U.S.—locked in tiny concrete boxes where every element of their environment is controlled. This powerful VR piece invites you to experience first-hand what life is like in solitary confinement.

Over the past year, photographer Zalmaï accompanied teams of Human Rights Watch researchers carrying out on-the-ground investigations in multiple countries and documented Europe’s refugee crisis as it was unfolding.