New West Hollywood Human Rights Film Festival Set for November 20 and 21, With Free Admission

The inaugural West Hollywood Human Rights Film Festival is set to run on November 20 and 21, and entry to its screenings costs nothing, according to Deadline, which published the lineup on October 28, 2026.

The festival will focus on documentaries about global human rights, social justice and civil liberties. Organisers say it will include award-winning films and Oscar-contending nonfiction features and shorts, meaning documentaries and short documentaries that are in the running for Academy Awards. Civil liberties, in plain terms, are the freedoms a person holds against the state, such as speech, assembly and due process.

Two of the documentaries drew particular attention in the announcement. 14th is a film by Ava DuVernay about the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the amendment that guarantees citizenship and equal protection under the law. American Doctor, directed by Poh Si Teng, follows three American physicians who treat Palestinian children injured in Gaza. Both films have been named to the shortlist for DOC NYC, one of the largest documentary festivals in the United States, which picks the year's best nonfiction films for its final lineup.

The festival will also mark a milestone for a fiction film. It will host a 20th anniversary screening of Blood Diamond, the 2006 drama directed by Edward Zwick and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou. The film, set during Sierra Leone's civil war, follows the trade in illegal diamonds that helped fund the conflict. Its inclusion gives the program a story-driven film alongside its documentary slate.

The festival is organised by West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman, working with Bonnie Abaunza and Kathleen Rodgers of GSD Group. Its name points to the city of West Hollywood, a small municipality inside Los Angeles County, as the home of the event.

For film fans, the appeal is simple. A free weekend of documentaries that are already drawing awards attention is an easy way to see new work without buying tickets. Anyone planning to attend should check the festival's schedule for venues and session times.