Festival debut for Bardem film

Javier Bardem (left) was Oscar nominated for best actor

Oscar-nominated movie Before Night Falls has received its UK première, launching a week-long festival of films focusing on human rights.

The film - which earned its star Javier Bardem an Academy nod for best actor - tells the story of gay Cuban writer and political dissident Reinaldo Arenas who ran afoul of the Castro regime in the 60s.

Its gala screening in London on Thursday night was the first of 22 movies in the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (HRWIFF), highlighting human rights issues from around the world.

Bamboozled is a satire of the way race is covered on TV

Other high points of HRWIFF include the UK première of Bamboozled, from US director Spike Lee.

British director Ken Loach will also show his new movie Bread and Roses.

Human Rights Watch International is a US-based charity dedicated to upholding political freedom and protecting people from discrimination and inhumane conduct.

Each year, its festival committee comes up with a range of films and videos to create a programme that represents a range of countries and issues.

It then travels to 20 cities in the US before coming to the UK.

Oppression

Julian Schabel, US painter and director of Before Night Falls, was at the gala screening and discuss the issues raised.

Schnabel adapted Arenas's posthumously published autobiography for the film.

It shows how the writer was harassed, imprisoned and physically abused - all the more so because he managed to smuggle out and publish his works abroad.

Bread and Roses is the latest film from Ken Loach

Bamboozled stars Damon Wayans in a satirical look at how the issue of race is handled by a small TV station desperate for higher ratings.

Loach's Bread and Roses, on the other hand, deals with the oppression of illegal Mexican immigrants in contemporary Los Angeles.

Also part of the film's schedule is George Washington, the debut movie from David Gordon Green.

Green's film tells the story of a small group of children in a rural South Carolina town as they band together to cover up the accidental death of one of their friends.

Girl in the Sneakers from Iran is an example of the Middle East's burgeoning film industry and can be described as a modern-day take on Romeo and Juliet.

Closing the festival on 5 April is the world première of the British documentary film Injustice.

It recounts the story of David Oluwale who in 1969 became the first black person to die in police custody in the UK.

The HRWIFF runs until 5 April at the Ritzy Cinema, Brixton, London.