''Zero Impunity'' is a multimedia documentary film by

Nicolas Blies and Stéphane Hueber-Blies Nicolas Blies, born on 26 September 1981 in Mulhouse (France), and Stéphane Hueber-Blies, born on 18 August 1976 in Mulhouse (France), also called the Blies brothers, are two French filmmakers, producers and artists who create their works togethe ...

( the Blies brothers). Animation was co-directed with Denis Lambert. The film explores the systematic occurrence of

wartime sexual violence Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during an armed conflict, war, or military occupation often as War looting, spoils of war, but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomen ...

and assault. The film premiered at the

Thessaloniki International Film Festival The Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) is a film festival held every November in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is organized by the Thessaloniki Film Festival under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture. It features internationa ...

, and was subsequently released in international film festivals such as

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival (), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South Ame ...

(Mostra),

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 19 ...

Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara The Guadalajara International Film Festival () is a week-long film festival held each March in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Guadalajara since 1986. The presence in Guadalajara of delegates from other important festivals from around t ...

and

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (, Transliteration, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is a film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to ...

Production

''Zero Impunity'' was developed and conceptualized by Marion Guth and the director duo

(a.k.a. the Blies Brothers) on the basis of investigative reports commissioned by the directors into the issue of sexual violence in several countries, carried out as part of the film. Investigations have been entrusted to the French journalists' collective YouPress. ''Zero Impunity'' was launched on January 3, 2017 with the publication of six investigative reports on Médiapart. (France) and 10 media partners in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The production of the feature-length documentary ran throughout 2017. New sequences were shot between September 2017 and December 2017 in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Synopsis

The film is based on six investigative reports by eleven female journalists on the impact and occurrence of sexual violence and systemic abuse in wartime. The events covered include instances of abuse of civilians in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

during Operation Sangaris, sexual abuse and torture of prisoners under the Bush administration, sexual slavery and assault by the forces of

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

in Syria, and sexual violence in

. The film also criticizes the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

. The reports are conveyed through both animated segments and live-action film segments with survivors, psychologists, whistleblowers, and investigators.

Release

The film made its world premiere in March 2019 at the

before being in official competition at the

in June 2019. The film is scheduled to make its US premiere at

Palm Springs International Film festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 19 ...

in January 2020. The film was planned to be released in theaters in France on June 11, 2020. The release of the film was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reception

The film received mainly positive reviews. Jordan Mintzer of

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

gave the documentary a mostly favorable review for calling attention to the widespread indifference to sexual assault and sexual abuse by both terrorist organizations and sanctioned governmental organizations such as the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

and the United Nations peacekeepers. However, Mintzer criticized the film for trying to cover too many separate stories in its runtime, and for relying on "heavy-handed aesthetics ..to make a point that didn’t need to be so overemphasized". Allen Hunter of

ScreenDaily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned ''Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involve ...

praised the film for giving a voice to sexual assault victims and for calling attention to the international issue of sexual violence in wartime. The French newspaper

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

gave it a positive review, calling it "''a punching film''" that "''left Annecy speechless''". Amber Wilkinson of Eye For Film was mostly positive, although she also noted that the film was dense in places and could have benefited if "perhaps less icon situations already heavily documented, such as Syria and Abu Ghraib, would have allowed them more time to focus on under-discussed topics, such as the alleged indifference of the UN".

Nominations and awards

Zero Impunity won the FIPA D'OR 2017 SmartFipa in Biarritz. In 2019, the film also won the audience award at Festival du Film Politique Porto-Vecchio and the Best Feature Film Award at the Bucharest International Animation Film festival in 2020.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Documentaries about politics Documentary films about rape Wartime sexual violence 2019 films Documentary films about war crimes Documentary films about women in war