The Broken Promise is a feature-length documentary film that exposes re-emergent patterns of genocide, as well as the political and institutional failures that are allowing it to occur. This documentary from Marin filmmaker Gayle Donsky and Gravitas Docufilms premieres at the Smith Rafael Film Center and at the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley School of Law in November. 

With insights from genocide survivors and their children, members of Congress, legal scholars, and human rights activists, The Broken Promise takes a hard look at humanity’s worst moments, and how they occur. It shines a light on the ways society can oppose authoritarians, and defend itself from these atrocities. The film ends with a message of hope and inspiration. 

Why does genocide keep happening? What makes people dehumanize one another? And how do the things we buy enable it? From the Armenian Genocide to Darfur to China to Ukraine, the message is painfully clear: genocide is not a once-in-a-generation event humanity can witness, wring our collective hands over, and consign to the history books. It is a tool authoritarians wield all too easily – and big business is complicit in its use. 

The Broken Promise confronts the urgent issues of genocide and the unfulfilled promise to protect human rights — and finally ensure that “never again” is now.

Director: Kurt Norton (US 2022) 55 min.