HBO Documentary Films to Receive Sidney Lumet Award for Integrity in Entertainment

New York City – Human Rights First will present its 2015 Sidney Lumet Award for Integrity in Entertainment to HBO Documentary Films for its powerful original productions that address a wide range of pressing human rights issues. Sheila Nevins, President of HBO Documentary Films, will accept the Lumet Award during Human Rights First’s annual gala on October 21 at Chelsea Piers in New York City.

“HBO Documentary Films consistently takes on some of the most important and challenging human rights issues of our time. The network’s extraordinary original programming not only has the power to entertain, but to educate and inspire action that can change lives,” said Human Rights First President and CEO Elisa Massimino.  “We are proud to honor HBO Documentary Films for their commitment to honest, thought-provoking documentary films.”

Each year, the Sidney Lumet Award honors a work of popular culture that advances understanding of pressing human rights issues. Through its documentary films focused on issues of war and peace, interrogation and torture, hate crime and discrimination, the rights of LGBT people, freedom of speech, domestic violence, and the revolutions of the Arab Spring, HBO Documentary films is motivating global audiences to demand action and solutions to some of the most dire human rights problems.

Previous winners of the Sidney Lumet Award include the motion pictures “12 Years a Slave” and “42: The Jackie Robinson Story,” as well as the TV series “Homeland” and “The Good Wife.”