Breaking the Rule of Thumb
A film by Andrea K. Elovson

Combining powerful interviews with documentary footage, this timely and compelling videotape takes a comprehensive look at the issues still confronting battered women twenty years after the beginning of the domestic violence movement. Featuring the stories of three women - one a police officer - who went through the Philadelphia family courts to ensure their safety, BREAKING THE RULE OF THUMB examines contemporary domestic violence in terms of changing historical definitions of abuse. Incorporating individual stories into a strong argument for legal reform, filmmaker Andrea Elovson exposes how domestic violence's seemingly personal gender issues are inextricably tied to flawed ideas of civil justice. More

Calling the Ghosts
A Story about Rape, War and Women
Executive Producer: Julia Ormond
Directed by Mandy Jacobson and Karmen Jelincic

An extraordinarily powerful documentary, CALLING THE GHOSTS is the first-person account of two women caught in a war where rape was as much an everyday weapon as bullets or bombs. Jadranka Cigelj and Nusreta Sivac, childhood friends and lawyers, enjoyed the lives of "ordinary modern women" in Bosnia-Herzegovina until one day former neighbors became tormentors. Taken to the notorious Serb concentration camp of Omarska, the two women, like other Muslim and Croat women interned there, were systematically tortured and humiliated by their Serb captors. More

The Children We Sacrifice
A film by Grace Poore

Shot in India, Sri Lanka, Canada and the United States, and screened in 18 countries, this evocative, visually powerful documentary is about incestuous sexual abuse of the South Asian girl child. By interweaving survivors' narratives, including the producer's own story, with interviews with South Asian mental health professionals, and with statistical information, as well as poetry and art, THE CHILDREN WE SACRIFICE discloses the many layers of a subject traditionally shrouded in secrecy. Insights into the far-reaching psychological, social and cultural consequences of incest are accompanied by thoughtful assessments of strategies that have helped adult women cope with childhood trauma. More

	2000 Rosebud Award
	2001 Creating a Voice Award

The Day You Love Me
El Dia Que Me Quieras
A film by Florence Jaugey

A close-up look at the varieties and complexities of domestic violence, THE DAY YOU LOVE ME takes us into the daily life of policewomen and social workers in one of the Police Commissaries for Women and Children in Nicaragua's capital city of Managua. Women of different ages, as well as children and young adults, come there seeking help against abusive husbands, lovers and parents. They also talk freely about their experiences and their sometimes conflicting desires for change. The men in their lives come to the station to respond to the charges against them by defending themselves, justifying their actions, arguing their own grievances, or even admitting their wrongs. More

Dreams of Jagodina
A film by Nora Malone

Scripted from interviews with Serbian émigré Suzana Jeremic, DREAMS OF JAGODINA merges experimental, dreamlike visuals and documentary storytelling to intimately explore the mother-daughter relationship within the context of domestic violence. Using the motif of Suzana’s vivid, recurring nightmares, her haunting family history unfolds. Even as a young girl, Suzana recognizes her own inner goodness and an “outside world” which differs dramatically from her own. She makes passionate attempts to end her family’s suffering—pleading with her mother to run far away with her, and plotting to kill her stepfather. More

	Columbus Int'l FF, Best Overall Student Production
	Expresión en Corto, Mexico, Experimental Selection

God Sleeps in Rwanda
A film by Kimberlee Acquaro and Stacy Sherman, Narrated by Rosario Dawson

** Emmy Winner for Best Documentary and Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Short!** More

	Emmy Award for Best Documentary
	Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Short

Honoring Our Voices
A film by Judi Jeffrey

Sharing their stories about recovery and healing, six Native women of different ages and backgrounds talk about the choices they have made to overcome the hardships of family violence and end the cycle of abuse and silence. Through the far-reaching changes in their lives, they reveal the rewards of empowering themselves and their families, as well as the strengths of counseling based in Native healing strategies and traditions. Directed by Judi Jeffrey (Metis) and produced by the Native Counselling Services of Alberta, this thought-provoking documentary is a valuable tool for education, prevention and intervention. More

In the Morning
A film by Danielle Lurie, Produced by Katie Mustard

In this daring short drama which is based on a true story, a young woman is brutally attacked, and the responsibility of restoring her family's lost honor is left in the hands of her younger brother: a 13 year-old boy. Lurie’s film is a revelation: highlighting a disturbing phenomenon that is increasingly common, frequently unreported and rarely punished. Whether called honor killings, dowry deaths or crimes of passion, the outcome is the same: women are twice victimized, first as targets of the crime and then sought out for revenge. More

Love, Honour & Disobey
A film by Faction Films, Directed by Saeeda Khanum

Domestic violence in all forms—from physical abuse to forced marriages to honour killings—continues to be frighteningly common worldwide and accepted as “normal” within too many societies. Getting to the heart of current multicultural debates, LOVE, HONOUR, & DISOBEY reveals the issues around domestic violence in Britain’s black and ethnic minority communities through the eyes of the Southall Black Sisters, a small group of women who have been working to combat abuse for more than 25 years. More

Macho
A film by Lucinda Broadbent

In 1998, Managua, Nicaragua became host to one of the most publicized and controversial cases of sexual abuse to hit modern day Latin America. At the epicenter of the scandal stood none other than Nicaraguan Sandinista leader and ex-President Daniel Ortega. Revered as a revolutionary hero and symbol of military strength, Ortega was accused on multiple charges of rape and battery by his stepdaughter, Soilamerica Narvaez. Despite Ortega's eventual acquittall--he was granted immunity from prosecution as a member of the legislature--a group of pioneering men rallied around the episode to organize a radical campaign against domestic violence and sexual abuse. Their efforts eventually led to the formation of the internationally acclaimed organization, Men Against Violence. More

The Man Who Stole My Mother's Face
A film by Cathy Henkel, Produced by Jeff Canin & Cathy Henkel

Sexual assault remains the most hidden and the fastest growing crime in the world, and in South Africa the statistics are staggering. Two days before Christmas in 1988, Cathy Henkel’s 59 year-old mother Laura was sexually assaulted and brutally bashed in her home in Johannesburg, South Africa by a local white teenager. Although Laura identified her attacker from a school photograph, the man was never charged, and remained free. For fourteen years, unable to recover, Laura Henkel retreated from her family and rejected contact with the outside world. More

Rule of Thumb
Order of Protection
A film by Jill Evans Petzall

A sensitive video which explores domestic violence through the perspective of women who have left abusive relationships. Five women from different backgrounds discuss their ordeals and the concrete steps they have taken to eradicate fear and violence from their daily lives. Supplemented by testimonies from a woman judge, a police officer and a former abuser, this empowering tape offers clear, concise instructions on obtaining an order of protection and other support services. More

Senorita Extraviada, Missing Young Woman
A film by Lourdes Portillo

SENORITA EXTRAVIADA, MISSING YOUNG WOMAN' tells the haunting story of the more than 350 kidnapped, raped and murdered young women of Juárez, Mexico. Visually poetic, yet unflinching in its gaze, this compelling investigation unravels the layers of complicity that have allowed for the brutal murders of women living along the Mexico-U.S. border. In the midst of Juárez’s international mystique and high profile job market, there exists a murky history of grossly underreported human rights abuses and violence against women. The climate of violence and impunity continues to grow, and the murders of women continue to this day. More

	Sundance Film Festival - Special Jury Prize
	Academy of C.A.S.-Mx.- Ariel, Best Mexican Doc.

Sisters in Law
A film by Kim Longinotto, Co-directed by Florence Ayisi

Winner of the Prix Art et Essai at the Cannes Film Festival and screened to acclaim at more than 120 festivals around the world, SISTERS IN LAW is the latest documentary from internationally renowned director Kim Longinotto, co-directed by Florence Ayisi. More

	Cannes Film Festival, Prix Art et Essai
	Cannes FF, Special Mention Europa Cinemas

Voices Heard Sisters Unseen
A film by Grace Poore

VOICES HEARD SISTERS UNSEEN is a powerful and inspirational videotape showing how survivors of domestic violence are working to change the way the system treats battered women in search of justice and safety. Interviews, poetry, dance and music combine to present a feminist analysis about how courts, police and social services 're-victimize' battered women who are deaf, disabled, lesbians, prostitutes, HIV-positive and without official immigrant status. VOICES HEARD SISTERS UNSEEN is an important call for multi-issue activism and an integrated response to services for battered women. More