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Children of Memory (Niños de la Memoria)
A film by Kathryn Smith Pyle and María Teresa Rodríguez
Niños de la Memoria tells the story of the search for hundreds of children who disappeared during the Salvadoran Civil War. Many were survivors of massacres carried out by the U.S.-trained Salvadoran army. Taken away from the massacre sites by soldiers, some grew up in orphanages or were adopted abroad, losing their history and identity. Niños de la Memoria weaves together three separate yet intertwined journeys in the search for family, identity and justice in El Salvador, and asks the larger question: How can a post-war society right the wrongs of the past? More.

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Forbidden Voices
A film by Barbara Miller
Their voices are suppressed, prohibited and censored. But world-famous bloggers, Yoani Sánchez, Zeng Jinyan and Farnaz Seifi, are not frightened of their dictatorial regimes. These fearless women stand for a new, networked generation of modern rebels. In Cuba, China and Iran their blogs shake the foundations of the state information monopoly – putting their lives at great risk.

Barbara Miller’s film FORBIDDEN VOICES accompanies these brave young rebels on their dangerous journey and trace their use of social media like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to denounce and combat the violations of human rights and freedom of speech in their countries – thereby triggering international resonance by building up enormous political pressure.

TIME Magazine counts them among the world’s most influential voices. Based on their moving eyewitness reports and clandestine footage, FORBIDDEN VOICES pays homage to their courageous battle. More.

 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)

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A Girl Like Her
A film by Ann Fessler
The haunting story of over a million women in the US who were pressured into surrendering their babies for adoption in the 1950s and 60s when "nice girls" didn’t get pregnant. As women recount their experiences of banishment, surrender and loss, footage from the time period depicts the United States as it wished to be seen–a land of happy families and perfectly cooked casseroles. More.

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, US Premiere

 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)

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The Grey Area: Feminism Behind Bars
A film by Noga Ashkenazi
THE GREY AREA is an intimate look at women's issues in the criminal justice system and the unique experience of studying feminism behind bars.

Through a series of captivating class discussions, headed by students from Grinnell College, a small group of female inmates at a maximum women’s security prison in Mitchellville, Iowa, share their diverse experiences with motherhood, drug addiction, sexual abuse, murder, and life in prison. The women, along with their teachers, explore the "grey area" that is often invisible within the prison walls and delve into issues of race, class, sexuality and gender.  More.

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Jasad & The Queen of Contradictions
A film by Amanda Homsi-Ottosson
Lebanese poet and writer Joumana Haddad has stirred controversy in the Middle East for having founded "Jasad" (the Body), an erotic quarterly Arabic-language magazine. Dedicated to the body’s art, science and literature, "Jasad" is one of the first of its kind in the Arab world and has caused a big debate in the Arabic region not only for its explicit images, erotic articles and essays on sex in Arabic but also for the fact that an Arab woman is behind it all. Despite Beirut’s external appearance of freedom portrayed through its infamous nightlife and women’s stylish and open revealing fashion sense, this is all still taboo. More.

 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)

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Maria in Nobody's Land
A film by Marcela Zamora Chamorro
MARIA IN NOBODY’S LAND is an unprecedented and intimate look at the illegal and extremely dangerous journey of three Salvadoran women to the United States, through Mexican territory. Doña Inés, a 60 year old woman, has been looking for her daughter for five years and is following the same route her daughter took while crossing Mexico en route to the United States. Marta and Sandra, tired of the violence from their husbands and wanting to overcome poverty, decide to leave their families behind to travel to America - with only thirty dollars in their pockets. During their harrowing journey, the three women encounter prostitution, slave trade, rape, kidnap and even death, all in an unwavering quest for a better life. More.

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Saving Face
A film by Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Documentary (Short Subject), SAVING FACE is a harshly realistic view of some incredibly strong and impressive women. Every year in Pakistan, many women are known to be victimized by brutal acid attacks, with numerous cases going unreported. With little or no access to reconstructive surgery, survivors are physically and emotionally scarred. Many reported assailants, typically a husband or someone else close to the victim, receive minimal punishment from the state. More.

Academy Award® Winner for Documentary (Short Subject)

International Documentary Association, Best Short Award

 

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Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words
A film by Yunah Hong
Anna May Wong knew she wanted to be a movie star from the time she was a young girl—and by 17 she became one. A third generation Chinese-American, she went on to make dozens of films in Hollywood and Europe. She was one of the few actors to successfully transition from silent to sound cinema, co-starring with Marlene Dietrich, Anthony Quinn and Douglas Fairbanks along the way. She was glamorous, talented and cosmopolitan—yet she spent most of her career typecast either as a painted doll or a scheming dragon lady. For years, older generations of Chinese-Americans frowned upon the types of roles she played; but today a younger generation of Asian Americans sees her as a pioneering artist, who succeeded in a hostile environment that hasn’t altogether changed. Yunah Hong’s engrossing documentary is an entertaining and imaginative survey of Wong’s career, exploring the impact Wong had on images of Asian American women in Hollywood, both then and now. Excerpts from Wong’s films, archival photographs and interviews enhance this richly detailed picture of a woman and her extraordinary life. More.

Busan Int’l Film Festival, World Premiere

San Francisco Asian American Int’l Film Festival, North American Premiere
 

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Apache 8
A film by Sande Zeig
For 30 years, the all-female Apache 8 unit has protected their reservation from fire and also responded to wildfires around the nation. This group of firefighters, which recently became co-ed, soon earned the reputation of being fierce, loyal and dependable—and tougher than their male colleagues. Facing gender stereotypes and the problems that come with life on the impoverished reservation, the women became known as some of the country’s most elite firefighters. From director Sande Zeig and executive producer Heather Rae (Cherokee), APACHE 8 combines archival footage and present-day interviews and focuses primarily on four women from different generations of Apache 8 crewmembers, who speak tenderly and often humorously of hardship, loss, family, community and pride in being a firefighter. The women are separated from their families, face tribe initiation, and struggle to make a living in a community ravaged by unemployment and substance abuse. But while the women may have initially set out to try and earn a living in their economically challenged community, they quickly discover an inner strength and resilience that speaks to their traditions and beliefs as Native women. More.

Native American Film & Video Festival

American Indian Film Festival

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Atomic Mom
A film by M.T. Silvia
When M.T. Silvia was little, she thought it was fascinating that her mom Pauline did secret government work. But as she began to understand the ramifications of her mother’s research on the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, a horrified Silvia took action, becoming an anti-nuclear demonstrator. After decades of secrecy, Pauline has become a peace activist and whistleblower, revealing some of the US military’s most closely guarded secrets. Through their extraordinary family history, Silvia examines the legacy of atomic warfare and the range of ethical issues it presents.

Traveling to Japan to meet Hiroshima victims, Silvia learns how the effects of the atrocity have been passed on through generations. Remarkable archival materials help tell the story of the 1950s atomic testing program. Through Pauline herself we learn that she completely adopted the Cold War mentality and never questioned her work—an acquiescence which now plagues her. This is an inspiring film that recounts an important chapter in American history as well as how the Cold War and the creation of the atomic bomb were seen from a woman's perspective. More.

Mill Valley Film Festival

San Francisco Women’s International Film Festival

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Calypso Rose: The Lioness of the Jungle
A film by Pascale Obolo
An exuberant and inspiring ambassador for the Caribbean, Calypso Rose is the uncontested and much decorated diva of Calypso music. With more than 800 recorded songs, she continues to be a pioneer and champion of women’s rights, as she travels the world making music. French-Cameroonian filmmaker Pascale Obolo spends four years with Calypso Rose on a very personal journey. Traveling to Paris, New York, Trinidad and Tobago and to her ancestral home in Africa, we learn more about Calypso Rose in each place, and the many faces and facets of her life. The daughter of an illiterate Trinidadian fisherman, Calypso Rose was one of ten children, who at the age of 9 was sent to live with relatives in Tobago. At 15 she wrote her first song and launched a career that took her to the top of the male-dominated calypso world. This creative film is not only about memory and the exchange and discovery of world cultures, but also about the journey of a remarkable woman, an Afro-Caribbean soul and an exemplary artist.  More. 

Washington DC International Film Festival

Festival International du Film de Ourdah, Jury Mention

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Girl Power: All Dolled Up
A film by Sarah Blout Rosenberg
This thought-provoking short film examines the notion that “girl power” has been co opted by commerce to create a feminist construct that is ultimately damaging to girls’ identity and development. In a range of diverse, revealing interviews with girls as young as seven, we witness the power of the popular media in developing brand loyalty and image self-consciousness. Complementing the girls’ testimony are numerous pop culture examples, as well as academics illuminating how the concept of girl power has been used to bring in big money by focusing on appearance. From Dora the Explorer’s grooming aids to Disney’s Princesses line to the highly sexualized Bratz dolls, the message is clear: girl power means being attractive. As one particularly astute young interviewee puts it, “Somewhere along the way girls get the idea ‘okay, I’m supposed to look hot every time I leave my house.’” GIRL POWER is critical viewing for women’s studies, advertising and mass communications courses, educators or anyone who works with young girls. More.

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Going Up the Stairs: Portrait of an Unlikely Iranian Artist
A film by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
Warm, revealing and often surprisingly funny, Iranian filmmaker Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s portrait of an unlikely artist shows us that true talent will refuse to be stifled and you don’t need an education to channel your emotions into art. Akram is an illiterate 50 year old Iranian woman who became a painter unexpectedly when her young grandson asked her to work on a drawing; that simple act tapped into an explosion of powerful, primitive and colorful paintings, which she hid under the carpet from possibly disapproving eyes. She finally tells her Western educated children about her work and they arrange for her to have an exhibition in far-off Paris. The only hitch in this plan is that Akram must obtain permission from her husband—who she married when she was 8 and he was in his 30s—in order to attend. Their comfortable bickering covers up Akram’s frustrations and fears that her chance for recognition of her magical talent lays completely in the hands of this conservative and traditional Iranian man. An inspiring resource for courses on contemporary Muslim and Islamic studies, women’s studies, art and more. More.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Silver Wolf Nomination

Sheffield Doc/Fest, Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award: Best Female-Directed Film

 

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Grrrl Love and Revolution: Riot Grrrl NYC
A film by Abby Moser
Fed up with the calcification of punk into a male-dominated, misogynistic and  increasingly mainstream movement, the birth of Riot Grrrl inthe late 1980s brought together feminism and pop culture in an empowering, noisy union. The angry music of Riot Grrrl bands such as Bikini Kill and Bratmobile became a creative outlet to confront issues too often silenced in the media: rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism and female empowerment. Riot Grrrl created a feminist subculture which made its members active, front and center participants in the alternative punk scene. Filmmaker Abby Moser was at the heart of the NYC Riot Grrrl movement, filming them between 1993 and 1996, creating an invaluable archive for students learning the history of feminism. She captured the excitement of the times, and the articulate self-awareness of its members. She also documents their frustration with a mainstream media which dismissed feminism as a hobby, and the group’s own difficulties respecting the race and class divisions amongst themselves. Interweaving contemporary interviews with archival footage, this documentary examines the role of Riot Grrrl in launching third-wave feminism, and changing the face of women in music for future generations. More.

Los Angeles Underground Film Festival, Honorable Mention

New Fest New York LGBT Film Festival
 

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Invoking Justice
A film by Deepa Dhanraj
In Southern India, family disputes are settled by Jamaats—all male bodies which apply Islamic Sharia law to cases without allowing women to be present, even to defend themselves. Recognizing this fundamental inequity, a group of women in 2004 established a women’s Jamaat, which soon became a network of 12,000 members spread over 12 districts. Despite enormous resistance, they have been able to settle more than 8,000 cases to date, ranging from divorce to wife beating to brutal murders and more. Award-winning filmmaker Deepa Dhanraj (SOMETHING LIKE A WAR) follows several cases, shining a light on how the women’s Jamaat has acquired power through both communal education and the leaders’ persistent, tenacious and compassionate investigation of the crimes. In astonishing scenes we watch the Jamaat meetings, where women often shout over each other about the most difficult facets of their personal lives. Above all, the women’s Jamaat exists to hold their male counterparts and local police to account, and to reform a profoundly corrupt system which allows men to take refuge in the most extreme interpretation of the Qur’an to justify violence towards women. More.

International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam

One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Prague
 

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Justice for Sale
A film by Ilse van Velzen & Femke van Velzen
JUSTICE FOR SALE follows the young, courageous Congolese human rights lawyer Claudine Tsongo who refuses to accept that justice is indeed “For Sale” in her country. When she investigates the case of a soldier convicted of rape, she becomes convinced his trial was unfair and uncovers a system where the basic principles of law are ignored—and when the system fails, everyone becomes a victim. The documentary not only provides a glimpse into the failings of the Congolese judicial system but also raises questions about the role of the international community and non-governmental organizations in reforming it. Does their financial support cause justice to be for sale? And who pays the price?

This is the third documentary in Dutch filmmakers Ilse and Femke van Velzen’s trilogy about the Congo, following FIGHTING THE SILENCE, about the consequences for victims of sexual violence and WEAPON OF WAR, confessions by those who perpetrated the acts. These films are essential viewing for anyone interested in the issues facing contemporary Africa. More.  

International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam

The International Film Festival in Burundi, Best Documentary

 

The Learning
A film by Ramona Diaz
One hundred years ago, American teachers established the English-speaking public school system of the Philippines. Now, in a striking turnabout, American schools are recruiting Filipino teachers. THE LEARNING, from award-winning filmmaker Ramona S. Diaz (IMELDA), is the story of four Filipina women who reluctantly leave their families and schools to teach in Baltimore. With their increased salaries, they hope to transform their families’ lives back in their impoverished country. This absorbing, beautifully crafted film follows these teachers as they take their place on the frontline of the No Child Left Behind Act. Across the school year’s changing seasons, the film chronicles the sacrifices they make as they try to maintain a long-distance relationship with their children and families, and begin a new one with the mostly African-American students whose schooling is now entrusted to them. Their story is intensely personal, as each woman deals with the implications of her decision to come to the US, and fundamentally public, as they become part of the machinery of American education reform policy. More.

Silverdocs Documentary Festival

2011 IDA Humanitas Award, Nomination

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The Mosque in Morgantown
A film by Brittany Huckabee
THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN follows one woman’s crusade against extremism in her West Virginia mosque, throwing the community into turmoil and raising questions that cut to the heart of American Islam. When former Wall Street Journal journalist and single mother Asra Q. Nomani returns from working in Pakistan to her hometown mosque in Morgantown, West Virginia, she believes she sees signs of trouble: exclusion of women, intolerance toward non-believers, and suspicion of the West. She finds such signs particularly alarming and determined to halt the ‘slippery slope’ that she maintains leads from Islamic intolerance to violence, she begins a campaign to drag the mosque’s practices into the 21st century, triggering a heated battle between tradition and modernity. Nomani’s activist tactics alienate would-be allies in the mosque, leading many to wonder who most deserves the label of “extremist.” Director Brittany Huckabee takes a balanced view of the tensions dividing this community, exploring both sides from a neutral standpoint. This riveting Emmy® Award nominated film is not only about women’s rights in the mosque but about the struggles of a Muslim community faces as it strives to be a part of American life. More.

True/False Film Festival
San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature

 

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No Job For A Woman: The Women Who Fought To Report WWII
A film by Michèle Midori Fillion
When World War II broke out, reporter
Martha Gelhorn was so determined to get to
the frontlines that she left husband Ernest
Hemingway, never to be reunited. Ruth Cowan’s reporting was hampered by a bureau chief who refused to talk to her. Meanwhile, photojournalist Dickey Chappelle wanted to get so close to the action that she could feel bullets whizzing by. This award-winning documentary tells the colorful story of how these three tenacious war correspondents forged their now legendary reputations during the war—when battlefields were considered no place for a woman.

Narrated by Emmy® Award winner Julianna
Margulies, this film features an abundance of archival photos and interviews with modern female war correspondents, as well as actresses bringing to life the written words of these remarkable women. Their repeated delegation to the sidelines to cover the “woman’s angle” succeeded in expanding the focus of war coverage to bring home a new kind of story— a personal look at the human cost of war. More.

Sarasota Film Festival, Through Women’s Eyes Intl., Official Selection

2012 History Makers Awards, Best Use of Archive in a History Production, Nominee
 

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The Poetry Deal: A Film with Diane di Prima
A film by Melanie La Rosa
She remains the most famous woman poet of the Beat Generation; her friend Allen Ginsberg called her “heroic in life and poetics.” THE POETRY DEAL is an impressionistic documentary about legendary poet Diane di Prima. Still actively writing in her late 70s in San Francisco, where she is poet laureate, di Prima is fierce, funny and philosophical. She is a pioneer who broke boundaries of class and gender to publish her writing, and THE POETRY DEAL opens a window looking back through more than 50 years of poetry, activism, and cultural change, providing a unique women’s perspective of the Beat movement. Much of the story is told through di Prima’s recorded readings, including a deeply moving reading of her unpublished poem The Poetry Deal, reflecting on her relationship with her art. Essential for women’s studies, poetry studies, women’s history courses and more, THE POETRY DEAL puts di Prima’s life and work on screen in a unique, beautiful portrait using rare archival footage, impressionistic scenes and powerful stories told by friends and colleagues. More.


 

Poetry of Resilience
A film by Katja Esson
Academy® Award nominated director Katja Esson’s (FERRY TALES, LATCHING ON) exquisitely made film explores survival, strength and the power of the human heart, body and soul—as expressed through poetry. She highlights six different poets, who individually survived Hiroshima, the Holocaust, China’s Cultural Revolution, the Kurdish Genocide in Iraq, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Iranian Revolution. By summoning the creative voice of poetry to tell stories of survival and witness, each reclaims humanity and dignity in the wake of some of history’s most dehumanizing circumstances.

POETRY OF RESILIENCE gives us an intimate look into the language of the soul and brings us closer to understanding the insanity of war and how art will flourish, in spite of any obstacle. This film is recommended for courses in poetry studies, literature, peace and conflict studies and genocide studies. More.

IDA DocuWeeks, Los Angeles *Academy Award Qualification

Woodstock Film Fest, Best Short Doc
 

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Quest for Honor
A film by Mary Ann Smothers Bruni
A searing and necessary documentary, QUEST FOR HONOR, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was shortlisted for an Academy® Award nomination for Feature Documentary, investigates the still prevalent practice of honor killing in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. The alarming rise in the heinous act of men killing daughters, sisters and wives who threaten “family honor,” endangers tens of thousands of women in Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and adjoining countries. The Women’s Media Center of Suleymaniyah, Iraq, has joined forces with Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to end this practice. The film follows Runak Faranj, a former teacher and tireless activist, as she works with local lawmen, journalists and members of the KRG to solve the murder of a widowed young mother, protect the victim of a safe-house shooting, eradicate honor killing and redefine honor. This is essential viewing for Muslim and Islamic studies, Middle Eastern studies, and human rights courses. More.

Sundance Film Festival, Official Selection

Amsterdam Film Festival, Winner, Van Gogh Award

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Rights & Wrongs
A film by Corine Huq
By returning to the roots of Islam and understanding how societies have found justification for their treatment of women within Islamic sources, this thoughtful and far reaching film is an essential resource that debunks myths about women and Islam. Renowned Muslim feminist scholars and journalists, including Asra Q. Nomani, Mona Eltahawy, Azadeh Moaveni, Dr. Amina Wadud, Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl and Asma Gull Hasan, detail how from early on very different understandings of the Qur’an lead to vastly different translations, with enormous repercussions for women living in different Islamic societies around the world. The film alternates between the history of Mohammad and issues facing Muslim women today—from the wearing of the veil, to praying in the mosque, and attitudes towards domestic violence and honor killings. It also looks at how feminism works within Islam in the modern era. RIGHTS & WRONGS is indispensable for courses on Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, comparative religion, women’s studies and more. More.

Scarlet Road
A film by Catherine Scott, Produced by Pat Fiske
Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression, Australian sex worker Rachel Wotton specializes in a long overlooked
clientele— people with disabilities. Working in New South Wales—where prostitution is legal— Rachel’s philosophy is that human touch and sexual intimacy can be the most therapeutic aspects to our existence. Indeed, she is making a dramatic impact on the lives of her customers, many of whom are confined to wheelchairs or cannot speak or move unaided. Through her graduate studies and her nonprofit group Touching Base, Rachel both fights for the rights of sex workers and promotes awareness and access to sexual expression for the disabled through sex work—and brings together these two often marginalized groups. We follow her from conducting sex and disability workshops to speaking to the World Congress on Sexual Health about her mission to observing her overnight stays with severely disabled clients who blossom under her attention—with one man even gaining back lost movement and sensation thanks to his time spent with her. Rachel has made it her life’s work to end the stigma surrounding these populations; the depth, humor and passion in this positive and pro-active documentary will transform the way we see sex workers and people with disabilities forever. More.

SXSW, North American Premiere
Sydney Film Festival, World Premiere
 

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Skydancer
A film by Katja Esson
Renowned for their balance and skill, six generations of Mohawk men have been leaving their families behind on the reservation to travel to New York City, to work on some of the biggest construction jobs in the world. Jerry McDonald Thundercloud and his colleague Sky shuttle between the hard drinking Brooklyn lodging houses they call home during the week and their rural reservation, a gruelling drive six hours north, where a family weekend awaits. Their wives are only too familiar with the sacrifices that these jobs have upon family life. While the men are away working, the women often struggle to keep their children away from the illegal temptations of this economically deprived area. Through archival documents and interviews, Academy® Award nominated director Katja Esson (FERRY TALES, LATCHING ON) explores the colorful and at times tragic history of the Mohawk skywalkers, bringing us a nuanced portrait of modern Native American life and a visually stunning story of double lives. More.

Big Sky Film Fest, World Premiere

Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York

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Water Children
A film by Aliona van der Horst
In this acclaimed, hauntingly beautiful film, director Aliona van der Horst follows the unconventional Japanese-Dutch pianist Tomoko Mukaiyama as she explores the miracle of fertility and the cycle of life—sometimes joyful, sometimes tragic. When Mukaiyama recognized that her childbearing years were ending, she created a multimedia art project on the subject in a village in Japan, constructing what she calls a cathedral, out of 12,000 white silk dresses. While Mukaiyama’s own mesmerizing music provides a haunting backdrop to the film, her installation elicits confessions from its normally reticent Japanese visitors, many of whom have never seen art before—and in moving scenes they open up about previously taboo subjects. Mukaiyama’s courageous approach to a subject that remains unspoken in many cultures is explored with an elegance and sophistication that deepens our understanding of the relationship between body and mind. More.

DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Winner, Feature Documentary Award

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Reflecting Images

Pink Saris
A film by Kim Longinotto
"A girl's life is cruel...A woman's life is very cruel," notes Sampat Pal, the complex protagonist at the center of PINK SARIS, internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto's latest foray into the lives of extraordinary women. Sampat should know - like many others she was married as a young girl into a family which made her work hard and beat her often. But unusually, she fought back, leaving her in-laws and eventually becoming famous as a champion for beleaguered women throughout Uttar Pradesh, many of whom find their way to her doorstep. Like Rekha, a fourteen year old Untouchable, who is three months pregnant and homeless or fifteen year old Renu, whose father-in-law has been raping her. Both young women, frightened and desperate, reach out for their only hope: Sampat Pal and her Gulabi Gang, Northern India's women vigilantes in pink. More.

Sheffield Doc Fest, Special Jury Prize
Abu Dhabi Int'l Film Festival, Best Documentary

Africa is a Woman's Name
A film by Ingrid Sinclair, Bridget Pickering & Wanjiru Kinyanjui
AFRICA IS A WOMAN’S NAME provides an opportunity for three of Africa’s leading filmmakers to tell their own country’s stories through the lives of the powerful women working to create change. Veteran filmmakers Wanjiru Kinyanjui, from Zimbabwe, and Bridget Pickering, from South Africa, join Kenyan Ingrid Sinclair, director of the critically acclaimed feature film FLAME, to profile three diverse women who eloquently demonstrate the power of women. More.

Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Greece
Women of the Sun Film Festival, Johannesburg

Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh
A film by Roberta Grossman
At only 22, Hungarian poet Hannah Senesh made the ultimate sacrifice - having already escaped Nazi-occupied Europe for Palestine and freedom, she returned, parachuting in behind enemy lines in a valiant effort to save Hungary's Jews from deportation to Auschwitz and certain death. Captured immediately upon crossing the border into Hungary, Hannah was tortured and taken to a prison in Budapest, yet she refused to reveal the coordinates of her fellow resistance fighters - even when they also arrested her mother, Catherine. Hannah became a symbol of courage for her fellow prisoners, encouraging them to remain in good spirits, never losing faith in her Jewish identity, even as she was led out to be executed by firing squad. More.

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Cover Girl Culture (60 min Director's Cut)
A film by Nicole Clark
In this eye-opening documentary, filmmaker and former Elite International fashion model Nicole Clark, now a champion for young girls and their self-esteem, calls for a necessary change: integrity and responsible media for our youth. Clark is given rare access to women editors from major magazines like Teen Vogue and ELLE, who provide a shocking defense of the fashion and advertising worlds. The film juxtaposes these interviews with revealing insights from models, parents, teachers, psychologists, body image experts and most importantly, the heartfelt expressions of girls themselves on how they feel about the media that surrounds them. This new 60 minute Director’s Cut is a compelling, powerful rendition for classrooms that allows additional time for discussion. More.

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Dish
Women, Waitressing and the Art of Service
A film by Maya Gallus
Why do women bring your food at local diners, while in high-end establishments waiters are almost always men? DISH, by Maya Gallus, whose acclaimed GIRL INSIDE (2007) won Canada’s Gemini Award for documentary directing, answers this question in a delicious, well-crafted deconstruction of waitressing and our collective fascination with an enduring popular icon. Digging beyond the obvious, Gallus, who waited tables in her teens, explores diverse dynamics between food servers and customers, as well as cultural biases and attitudes they convey. More.

Hot Docs International Film Fest
Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal

 

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Duhozanye: A Rwandan Village of Widows
A film by Karoline Frogner
During the 1994 genocidal campaign that claimed the lives of an estimated 800,000 Rwandans and committed atrocities against countless others, Daphrose Mukarutamu, a Tutsi, lost her husband and all but two of her 11 children. In the aftermath she considered suicide. But instead, she took in 20 orphans and started Duhozanye, an association of Tutsi and Hutu widows who were married to Tutsi men. This powerful documentary by award-winning Norwegian director Karoline Frogner recounts the story of Duhozanye’s formation and growth—from a support group of neighbors who share their traumatic experiences, rebuild their homes, and collect and bury their dead, to an expanding member-driven network that advances the empowerment of Rwandan women. More.
 

Fighting the Silence
A film by Ilse van Velzen & Femke van Velzen
FIGHTING THE SILENCE tells the story of ordinary Congolese women and men that are struggling to change their society: one that prefers to blame victims rather than prosecute rapists. Rape survivors and their families speak out openly about the suffering they endured because their culture considers women second class citizens and rape a taboo. They give voice to thousands of other survivors and their families who have chosen to hide their grief and remain silent for fear of being rejected by their families and community. More.

Watchdoc Human Rights Film Festival Poland, Best Documentary
Millenium Film Festival, Jury Award

 

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Grace, Milly, Lucy . . . Child Soldiers
A film by Raymonde Provencher
When we usually speak about child soldiers, we rarely realize that many of them are girls. This little-known reality is underscored by the gripping personal accounts of Grace Akallo, Milly Auma, and Lucy Lanyero in Raymonde Provencher's riveting, visually stunning film. As adults seeking to rebuild their lives, they are three among thousands of young girls violently abducted from Ugandan villages by the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel force that trained kidnapped girls to fight and kill, often forcing them into child-bearing unions with their captors.  More.

Hot Docs International Film Fest, World Premiere
 

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In the Name of the Family
Honor Killings in North America
A film by Shelley Saywell
Schoolgirl Aqsa Parvez, sisters Amina and Sarah Said, and college student Fauzia Muhammad were all North American teenagers—and victims of premeditated, murderous attacks by male family members. Only Muhammad survived. Emmy® winner Shelley Saywell examines each case in depth in this riveting investigation of “honor killings” of girls in Muslim immigrant families. Not sanctioned by Islam, the brutaliza­tion and violence against young women for defying male authority derives from ancient tribal notions of honor and family shame. More.

International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam
Hot Docs International Film Fest, Best Canadian Feature

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Made in India: A Film about Surrogacy
A film by Rebecca Haimowitz & Vaishali Sinha In San Antonio, Lisa and Brian Switzer risk their savings with a Medical Tourism company promising them an affordable solution after seven years of infertility. Halfway around the world in Mumbai, 27-year-old Aasia Khan, mother of three, contracts with a fertility clinic to be implanted with the Texas couple’s embryos. MADE IN INDIA, about real people involved in international surrogacy, follows the Switzers and Aasia through every stage of the process. More.

Hot Docs International Film Fest
Woodstock Film Festival
 

Mother, Lebanon & Me
A Film by Olga Nakkas
A visually striking meditation on loss and a perceptive political critique, this deeply personal work has two subjects: filmmaker Olga Nakkas’s ailing mother and the chaotic country where Nakkas was raised. Both fell sick in 1975, the onset of incurable depression for one and a bloody civil war ushering in deep divisions for the other. In this sequel to LEBANON: BITS AND PIECES (1994), Nakas ponders the plight of the country she clearly loves while honoring the mother dear to her. More.

Beirut International Documentary Film Festival

 

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Mountains that Take Wing - Angela Davis & Yuri Kochiyama: A Conversation on Life, Struggles & Liberation
A film by C.A. Griffith & H.L.T. Quan
Features conversations that span thirteen years between two formidable women whose lives and political work remain at the epicenter of the most important civil rights struggles in the U.S. Through conversations that are intimate and profound, we learn about Davis, an internationally renowned scholar-activist and 89-year-old Kochiyama, a revered grassroots community activist and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. They share experiences as political prisoners and their profound passion for justice.

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Orchids: My Intersex Adventure
A film by Phoebe Hart
Gen X filmmaker Phoebe Hart always knew she was different growing up – but she didn’t know why. This award-winning documentary traces Phoebe’s voyage of self-discovery as an intersex person, a group of conditions formerly termed hermaphroditism. Learning only in her teens that she was born with 46XY (male) chromosomes, Hart now seeks to understand her own story and the stories of others affected by this complex and often shameful syndrome.

Frameline, San Francisco LGBT Film Festival
OUTFEST: The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

 

The Price of Sex
A film by Mimi Chakarova
An unprecedented and compelling inquiry into a dark side of immigration so difficult to cover or probe with depth, THE PRICE OF SEX sheds light on the underground criminal network of human trafficking and experiences of trafficked Eastern European women forced into prostitution abroad. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova’s feature documentary caps years of painstaking, on-the-ground reporting that aired on Frontline (PBS) and 60 Minutes (CBS) and earned her an Emmy nomination, Magnum photo agency’s Inge Morath Award, and a Webby for Internet excellence.

2011 Sarasota Film Festival, World Premiere
Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Pushing the Elephant
A film by Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel
In the late 1990s, Rose Mapendo lost her family and home to the violence that engulfed the Democratic Republic of Congo. She emerged advocating forgiveness and reconciliation. In a country where ethnic violence has created seemingly irreparable rifts among Tutsis, Hutus and other Congolese, this remarkable woman is a vital voice in her beleaguered nation's search for peace. PUSHING THE ELEPHANT will capture one of the most important stories of our age, a time when genocidal violence is challenged by the moral fortitude and grace of one woman's mission for peace. More.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)
Human Rights Watch Film Fest, NYC
 

Rachel
A film by Simone Bitton
RACHEL is a startlingly rigorous, fascinating and deeply moving investigatory documentary that examines the death of peace activist and International Solidarity Movement (ISM) member Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003. A few weeks after her little-reported death, an inquiry by Israeli military police concluded that Corrie died in an accident. More.

Berlin International Film Festival
HotDocs

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Sarabah
A film by Maria Luisa Gambale & Gloria Bremer, Executive Produced by Steven Lawrence
Rapper, singer and activist, Sister Fa is hero to young women in Senegal and an unstoppable force for social change. A childhood victim of female genital cutting (FGC), she decided to tackle the issue by starting a grassroots campaign, “Education Without Excision,” which uses her music and persuasive powers to end the practice. But until 2010 there’s one place she had never brought her message – back home to her own village of Thionck Essyl, where she fears rejection. Sarabah follows Sister Fa on this challenging journey, where she speaks out passionately to female elders and students alike, and stages a rousing concert that has the community on its feet. A portrait of an artist as activist, Sarabah shows the extraordinary resilience, passion and creativity of a woman who boldly challenges gender and cultural norms. It’s an inspiring story of courage, hope and change. More.  

Movies That Matter Film Festival, Winner, Golden Butterfly Award
Mill Valley Film Festival
 

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Seeing Through the Media Matrix
A film by Nicole Clark
An in-depth 60 minute program based on the topics and solutions examined in Cover Girl Culture. Newly released footage of key insights, wisdom and tips from experts and girls in Cover Girl Culture, presented in short movie clips on over 20 topics. Each clip includes activities or though provoking messages for your groups or daughter(s) as well as a special section strictly for parents/educators. More.

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Umoja
No Men Allowed
A film by Elizabeth Tadic
UMOJA (Kiswahili for “unity”) tells the life-changing story of a group of impoverished tribal Samburu women in Northern Kenya who turn age-old patriarchy on its head by setting up a women-only village. Their story began in the 1990s, when several hundred women accused British soldiers from a nearby military base of rape. In keeping with traditional Samburu customs, the women were blamed for this abuse and cast out by their husbands for bringing shame to their families. More.

International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam
First Factual Films Festival, Winner, Inaugural F4 Award for Outstanding New Documentary Talent
 

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Voices Unveiled: Turkish Women Who Dare
A film by Binnur Karaevli
Can Islamic values co-exist with full equality for women? VOICES UNVEILED examines this timely issue through portraits of three women pursuing life paths and careers of their own choosing in present-day Turkey.

Each has defied social expectations in a democratic, secular nation where religious fundamentalism has re-emerged as a political force and patriarchal values still prevail. Well-known textile artist Belkis Belpinar, whose work combines science and kilim rug traditions, resisted her father’s wishes that she study engineering. Dancer and psychologist Banu Yucelar braved family opposition to modern dance, widely perceived as a form of prostitution. Women’s rights activist Nur Bakata Mardin helps women in underserved communities, where old beliefs hold sway, form small business cooperatives.

Rome Independent Film Festival
London International Doc Film Festival

 

Weapon of War
A film by Ilse van Velzen & Femke van Velzen
In no other country has sexual violence matched the scale of brutality reached in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR). During nearly two decades of conflicts between rebels and government forces, an estimated 150,000 Congolese women and girls fell victim to mass rape. That figure continues to rise.

WEAPON OF WAR, an award-winning film honored by Amnesty International, journeys to the heart of this crisis, where we meet its perpetrators. In personal interviews, soldiers and former combatants provide openhearted but shocking testimony about rape in the DCR. Despite differing views on causes or criminal status, all reveal how years of conflict, as well as discrimination against women, have normalized brutal sexual violence. We also see former rapists struggling to change their own or others’ behavior, and reintegrate into their communities.

Movies That Matter Film Festival, The Netherlands, Official Selection
IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Official Selection


 

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Women of Turkey: Between Islam and Secularism
A Film by Olga Nakkas
In this thought-provoking documentary, veiled and unveiled women explore relationships between Islam and secularism in present-day Turkey, where millions of women, many of them educated and urban, wear the headscarf or hijab. For her survey, filmmaker Olga Nakkas, who was born in Turkey and raised in Lebanon, draws on historical footage and individual visits with Turkish women from across the professional spectrum. Their wide-ranging interviews, which analyze the background and impact of controversial bans on headscarves in universities and civil service, yield fresh perspectives on Turkish women’s integration of Islamic culture and modern lifestyles, as well as their far-reaching achievements and priorities for the future. More.

New York Film and Video Festival
Beirut Film Festival