Both projects were funded by the AHRC and address the use of deadly force by Brazilian troops and police in Rio de Janeiro and by the Brazilian-led UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti. The films question the legality of the use of lethal force in these contexts.
The films provide a platform for participants to tell their stories to an international audience so that their testimonies can be incorporated into the process of investigation and their voices heard by policy makers.
The film structures were designed with participants leading the way – their voices come first and occupy the major part of the film’s space. The participants' stories are supported by commentary from legal experts, human rights groups, and community organisations.
Right Now I Want to Scream builds on research exploring the links between MINUSTAH's law enforcement operations in Haiti and militarised policing in Brazil. Ex-MINUSTAH personnel have been influential in setting Brazilian security policy for a number of years; but this increased significantly with the election in 2019 of President Jair Bolsonaro, himself a former soldier. Five of Bolsonaro’s cabinet ministers, four of his strategic secretariats, and the special advisor to the president of the court, served with MINUSTAH in Haiti.
Brazil has explicitly used the experience of its soldiers as UN peacekeepers as justification for using troops in internal law enforcement operations and Brazil’s military leadership has demanded from its government rules of engagement and protections from prosecution, similar to those afforded UN peacekeepers.
Trailer
It Stays With You will be shown as part of the ESCR Festival.
Further information about the film and project is available at itstayswithyou.com.
The website contains information about the project’s aims and objectives, the film-making process, screenings, including international film festivals and winner of Best Director, Respect Human Rights Film Festival, panel discussions, an interview with our interpreter, reviews, and nine short videos produced and directed by residents of Cité Soleil, with support from two Haitian film-makers.
Prior screenings of It Stays With You include a UN Human Rights Council Side Event, Palais des Nations, Geneva, 3 July, 2018 and Amnesty International Film Festival France, March 2018.
It Stays With You was selected by Joseph Weiler, editor of the European Journal of International Law, for his Nine Good Reads and One Viewing, EJIL, 2018
The Northern Ireland based project research team comprises Siobhán Wills (PI, Ulster) and Cahal McLaughlin (CI, QUB). Juliana Resende is Associate Producer and Researcher, in Brazil, on Right Now I Want to Scream.