Edet Belzberg frames her story around the career of lawyer-turned-human-rights-advocate Raphael Lemkin - a Polish Jew born in 1900, who coined the term ‘genocide’, which became a crucial instrument for mobilizing international law to address such crimes, laying the groundwork for the Nuremberg trials and the International Criminal Court. The film follows five contexts of genocide in recent global history: Armenia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan and the rise of the Third Reich. Belzberg connects Lemkin’s legacy with the work of four modern-day, visionary humanitarians, as they fight to prevent future atrocities: Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the U.N.; Luis Moreno Ocampo, ICC chief prosecutor; Benjamin Ferencz, Nuremberg prosecutor; and Emmanuel Uwurukundo, U.N. refugee officer. The monochrome ink, watercolor-styled animation used to illustrate Lemkin’s biography and vision – which brought the film a special jury prize at Sundance – makes Watchers of the Sky a both artful and substantial cinematic work, able to inspire through insight and formal elegance. The final emphasis of the film is on the collective effort needed to establish a global framework able to ensure the prosecution of those guilty of such acts of genocide.