Watchers of the Sky

"If you act in the name of conscience you are stronger than any government in the world" – Raphael Lemkin.

Ten years in the making, Watchers of the Sky is a profoundly moving documentary about the history of 'genocide' as we know it and ongoing efforts to bring its perpetrators to justice. Among other powerful stories, we learn that of young linguist/lawyer Raphael Lemkin's invention of the term, through his long fight for its acknowledgement by international law, to further struggles for reform.

Inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning book A Problem From Hell, the film is a combination of candid interviews, archive footage and simple, dream-like animations. The use of animation won this documentary a Sundance Award and its seguing dissolves the chronology of the stories, highlighting an interconnectedness between the atrocities, as well as the individuals who have courageously fought for justice .

As well as Lemkin's own pioneering efforts for the international protection of minorities, we also learn of the work of some of the many people he inspired. Three major figures chosen for the film – edited down from 800 hours of footage – are Benjamin B. Ferencz, Luis Moreno De Campo and Emmanuel Uwurukundo.

Ferencz had faced similar formative experiences as Lemkin, witnessing the persecution of his community as an East-European jew, as well as hearing of the injustices surrounding the international treatment of the Armenian genocide. Motivated in the same direction ethically and prefessionally, soon after graduating from Harvard University he found himself Chief Prosecutor in the historic 1947 Nuremberg Einsatzgruppen trial. We see the young lawyer using the term 'genocide' for the first time in a court case – his first case, and also "the biggest murder trial in history". Ferencz later helped to found the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is now campaigning for all war to be treated as a crime – to replace "the rule of force with the rule of law" – the kind of far-sighted hope from which the film finds its title.

Luis Moreno De Campo is the brilliant, embattled ICC Chief Prosecutor, currently dealing with the heavy pressures involved with enforcing the laws and convicting powerful despots. Behind the scenes at ICC trials he is shown facing down threats from political allies of the defendants, journalistic cynicism and the inertia generated by national self-interests.

As clear as the problem of enforcement is seen to be, Emmanuel Uwurukundo's story is an example of how positive action for survivors is much more useful than the alternative of retaliation. Uwurukundo's family were murdered horrifically and his immediate and lasting, understandable urge was for bloody vengeance. Instead, as UN Refugee Agency Field Director, he has joined the struggle to rebuild and rehabilitate communities, running Darfuri refugee camps in Chad. He did this for the sake of his children and the film shows how much things have improved thanks to his decision.

Featuring original music by Nels Cline and Sean Lennon, Watchers of the Sky was screened as part of the Dochouse year-round documentary festival.