Free Speech Film Festival
American INSIGHT’s Free Speech Film Festival celebrates the passionate innovations of independent filmmakers, and champions the ideas, perspectives and voices that prove vital to the future of Free Speech, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law around the world.
Students taking American Free Speech Online Course, Make History Every Day!, get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making a powerful Free Speech FilmTM and learn to use professional judging criteria to evaluate films from around the world.
If they choose to submit their posts to our editorial team, students may have a bylined post about their Free Speech Hero published on American INSIGHT’s Free Speech Spotlight Blog. They also have the opportunity to talk to and engage with Free Speech Film Festival Award-Winning directors during our SPEAK EZ online gatherings!
Designed to highlight prominent voices in today’s powerful Human Rights Movement, American INSIGHT’s Free Speech Film Festival invites filmmakers from around the world to submit films that present their unique perspectives in the fight against injustice, and engage the global community in deeper conversations about Free Speech, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law.
Free Speech Award Winners
2022
Jazz in China
“Jazz in China: The Documentary” chronicles the 100-year story of how jazz—a democratic form of music through improvisation—exists and thrives in China—a country with a long tradition of adherence to central authority.
2021
Footsteps on the Wind
Footsteps in the Wind is an animated short film to Sting’s song “Inshallah.” Based on the harsh and intense reality of refugees around the world, this film is a narrative journey told through the eyes of children who never give up on their dreams.
2020
Boxed
A documentary by Wanjiru Njendu based on the true story of an enslaved man who mailed himself to freedom in Philadelphia in 1849.
2019
Suppressed: The Fight to Vote
Suppressed: The Fight to Vote, the documentary by Robert Greenwald weaves together personal stories from voters across the state of Georgia to paint an undeniable picture of voter suppression in the 2018 midterm election.
2018
Team ENOUGH
A movement of mobilization, Team ENOUGH encourages young people to change the gun violence landscape in America by engaging them in conversation and action.
2017
Free Speech Fear Free
Free Speech Fear Free examines the lurking threat of surveillance while asking the question, “What is the meaning of free speech, and how does it affect us as individuals and as human beings.”
2016
I Will Not Be Silenced
Chronicling a journalist’s seven-year battle for justice and capturing the stories of women finding their own strength to fight back, I Will Not Be Silenced exposes and challenges the system which strived to keep Kenyan women powerless.
2015
Honor Diaries
Engaging the global community in a dialogue about gender equality, Honor Diaries breaks the silence on ‘honor violence’ against women and girls.
2013
Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview
Exploring the depths of the current human condition, Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview urges viewers to challenge their own assumptions about who we are and why we do the things we do.
2012
Free China: The Courage to Believe
Sharing a story of courage and freedom, Free China: The Courage to Believe exposes profound abuses of religious and human rights in China and other repressive regimes throughout the world.