 Friday, June 20 students from numerous parts of the globe had their films showcased at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at Lincoln Center in New York. The theme of the film festival was called youth producing change. The documentaries that these young individuals produced centered on issues that ranged from immigration to sweat shop labor. These films exposed numerous things that are going on in society such as slavery that is still practiced in many countries to the effects of Cashmere on the environment. The documentary I Want My Parents Back, focused on the impact of U.S immigration policies on undocumented immigrants. The film specifically focused on the deportation of the undocumented parents of the Mu–oz family, leaving their three American-born children behind. Towards the end of the film, advice was given on how to deal with deportation agents when they come to your home. The film Playing With The Other Tigers tells the story of two childhood best friends, Amir who is Muslim and Zach who is Jewish. The documentary reveals how their friendship became stronger after 9/11 due to the harassment that Amir had to deal with. I made the film to show what my friend, Amir, and me went through after 9/11 said Zach.  Slave Rebel, an extraordinary film produced by a group of philosophy students from Queens Elizabeth School in partnership with Whitewood & Fleming from the United Kingdom exposed the horrors of sweatshops and modern-day slavery. It began with two girls that were curious about where their pants were produced. They found out that sweatshop laborers produced their pants. They also discovered that large conglomerates such as Nike and Wal-Mart were two of the many companies that use this kind of labor. Moreover, it was exposed that many of these companies are not aware of the conditions that the workers are forced to work under. However, a large percentage of these workers are forced laborers. The students that produced these magnificent documentaries wanted to disclose issues that they are dealing with. Some of these students had to complete a school assignment such as Sofia Snow, spoken word artist from The Countdown while others wanted to expose an issue that have been affecting their community and their relatives such as the producers of The True Cost Of Coal from Kentucky. Some people came to the film festival for the first time and many said they would take something with them from these documentaries. I learned a lot about what coal is doing to the communities in Kentucky and the effects of cashmere on the Gobi desert. I learned something from every film, said Austin from New York. 
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