The fringes of Iranian society can be a lonely place, especially if you are a teenage girl with few resources to fall back on. The Glass House follows four girls striving to pull themselves out of the margins by attending a one-of-kind rehabilitation center in uptown Tehran. Forget about the Iran that you’ve seen before. With a virtually invisible camera, the girls of The Glass House take us on a never-before-seen tour of the underclass of Iran with their brave and defiant stories: Samira struggles to overcome forced drug addiction; Mitra harnesses abandonment into her creative writing; Sussan teeters on a dangerous ledge after years of sexual abuse; and Nazila burgeons out of her hatred with her blazing rap music. This groundbreaking documentary reflects a side of Iran few have access to or paid attention to: a society lost to its traditions with nothing meaningful to replace them and a group of courageous women working to instill a sense of empowerment and hope into the minds and lives of otherwise discarded teenage girl
"Tapestries of Hope" is a feature-length documentary that exposes the myth behind the abuse of young girls in Zimbabwe and brings awareness to the efforts of the Girl Child Network and their fearless founder Betty Makoni.
This is a 2:58 min teaser trailer of the documentary, directed by award-winning filmmaker Michealene Cristini Risley, produced by Anand Chandrasekaran and Ray Arthur Wang, and currently in post-production.
The project's blog featured daily live-blogs during the shoot in Zimbabwe, and was featured on "The Huffington Post", the world's top-rated news blog. The blog also won a "Media Blog of the Year" award recently for its pioneering use of new media to raise awareness and build community.
Even though it's set in Zimbabwe, the message about abuse is universal.
Despite the achievements of the women's movement over the past four decades, misogyny remains a persistent force in American culture. In this important documentary, Thomas Keith, professor of philosophy at California State University-Long Beach, looks specifically at misogyny and sexism in mainstream American media, exploring how negative definitions of femininity and hateful attitudes toward women get constructed and perpetuated at the very heart of our popular culture.
The film tracks the destructive dynamics of misogyny across a broad and disturbing range of media phenomena: including the hyper-sexualization of commercial products aimed at girls, the explosion of violence in video games aimed at boys, the near-hysterical sexist rants of hip-hop artists and talk radio shock jocks, and the harsh, patronizing caricatures of femininity and feminism that reverberate throughout the mainstream of American popular culture.
Along the way, Generation M forces us to confront the dangerous real-life consequences of misogyny in all its forms - making a compelling case that when we devalue more than half the population based on gender, we harm boys and men as well as women and girls.
Featuring interviews with gender violence prevention educators Byron Hurt, Jackson Katz, and Jean Kilbourne.
"Hidden Herstories: Women of Change" is a youth-led heritage project which looks at 4 influential women who haven't had their rightful place in the history books. 20 young people from west London have set out to right this wrong; using their film-making and writing skills, they have made a one hour documentary and published a magazine.
Why are illegal abortions more accessible in Poland than legal ones in South Africa? This documentary feature explores and contrasts changes in Poland and South Africa regarding abortion laws and their impact on the lives of women. Directed by Sarah Diehl www.abortion-democracy.de
Ultimo aggiornamento Mercoledì 09 Giugno 2010 12:45
Raised in small-town Illinois, cancer seems to run in Sandra Steingrabers family. Sandra was diagnosed with bladder cancer when she was just twenty years old. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when Sandra was in high school. Many of her aunts and uncles have struggled with the disease. One aunt even died from the same form of bladder cancer that Sandra had. But while cancer runs in her family, she cannot say that it runs in her genes. Sandra is adopted. This unusual twist led Sandra to ask what else families have in common besides their DNA. The answer is all around us: our environment.
Based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., Living Downstream is an eloquent and cinematic feature-length documentary. This poetic and character-driven film follows Sandra during one pivotal year as she travels across North America, working to break the silence about cancer and its environmental links.
As our journey begins, we follow Sandra in her professional life. After a routine cancer screening, Sandra receives some worrying results and is thrust into a period of medical uncertainty. Thus, we begin two journeys with Sandra: the private and the public.
But Sandra is not the only one who is on a journey the chemicals against which she is fighting are also on the move. We follow these invisible toxins as they migrate to some of the most beautiful places in North America. We see how these chemicals enter our bodies and how, once inside, scientists believe they may be working to cause cancer.
At once Sandra's personal journey and her scientific exploration, Living Downstream is a powerful reminder of the intimate connection between the health of our bodies and the health of our air, land and water.
Living Downstream is produced by The Peoples Picture Company, with the support of: The Ceres Trust, Kendeda Sustainability Fund of the Tides Foundation, The Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, Park Foundation, Canadian Auto Workers Social Justice Fund, The Cancer Prevention Challenge (Ya Ya Sistahs & Bruddahs Too! and Team Vitality), Doris Cadoux & Hal Schwartz, and the Saunders-Matthey Cancer Prevention Coalition.
Until the Violence Stops features playwright and activist Eve Ensler in a powerful film that documents how The Vagina Monologues grew into an international grassroots movement called V-Day to stop violence against women and girls. In 2002, eight hundred cities around the world participated in V-Day by staging benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues. Until the Violence Stops shows women from Harlem to Ukiah, California; from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to the Philippines and Kenya, uniting and courageously revealing their intimate and deeply painful experiences with abuse ranging from rape to female circumcision.
Director Abby Epstein takes us on a poignant journey into the hearts of women and includes revealing testimonies from men, who expose social and cultural attitudes that perpetuate the pervasive violence against women. In emotionally charged interviews and performances, everyday women and celebrities like Rosie Perez, Salma Hayek, Tantoo Cardinal, Jane Fonda, and LisaGay Hamilton embrace their bodies, reconcile their past, and bond together to break the silence that surrounds abuse.
More than just testimonies and performances, Until the Violence Stops is a film about empowerment and the importance of dialogue in the healing process. A celebration of women reclaiming their bodies and lives, this moving documentary leaves us with hope that change can happen.
In 2004, Until the Violence Stops world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and broadcast premiered on Lifetime Television. It has been screened at the Amnesty International Film Festivals in Amsterdam and Vancouver, as well as at the Miami and Maui Film festivals. In September, Toni Childs, David Ricketts, and Eddie Free received the 2004 Emmy award for Best Original Song for Because You Are Beautiful and in November, the film won top honor the Gold Audience Award - at the Amnesty International Film Festival in Vancouver.
Mi viene da chiedere come mai nessun abitante del Darfour, pur essendo disperato, non si diverte a lanciare razzi e missili ed a inneggiare alla violenza. Chissà perchè....Il documentario mostra un genocidio, reale e non inventato, attualmente in corso ai giorni nostri di cui ben pochi, vergognosamente, si coccupano. Senza contare l'orrere della violenza contro le donne che si manifesta in Darfour.
Darfur Diaries: Message From Home is a brutally honest inside look into the current tragedy befalling the Darfur region. Filmmakers Adam Shapiro, Jen Marlowe and Aisha Bain filmed the personal stories of those affected by the horrors in the Darfur region. This documentary serves not only to educate the world about the genocide being committed on a daily basis, but also as a message that we as a global society must come together and make a difference by helping those who are suffering.
Cuba Mia Captures a musical Cuba you have never seen before. Amazingly talented, Incredibly beautiful Cuban to the core, this story of the musicians off the all-woman Camerata Romeu is filled with dazzling faces and fiery performances that astonish and delight.
Africa Rising A film by Paula Heredia Every day, six thousand girls are subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM). With little more than fierce determination and deep love for their communities, brave African activists are breaking the silence and leading a formidable and fearless grassroots movement to end five thousand years of this human rights violation. Traveling through remote villages in five African countries, this extraordinary film presents an insightful look at a quiet revolution taking the African continent by storm.
