{"id":2100,"date":"2026-04-08T06:58:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrfc.yakspirit.com\/filmfestival\/?page_id=2100"},"modified":"2026-05-10T06:33:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T06:33:43","slug":"nhriff-2021","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hrfilms.org\/filmfestival\/nhriff-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"NHRIFF 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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9th Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival (22-25 Nov 2021<\/span><\/span><\/h2>

\u00a0<\/p>

1. Title: Paradise<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Ahmed, Taha and the intimacy between a father and a son who survive inside a children’s hospital room.<\/span><\/p>

Director – Mateo Cabeza<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Spain<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 20 minutes<\/span><\/p>

2. Title: A Day in the Life of Refugees<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0A desperately ill child sets out for medical treatment. A Coast Guard team keeps watch overnight. An Iraqi becomes an American. Meet them all in a single Day\u2026in the Life of Refugees.<\/span><\/p>

Greta Van Susteren narrates as Voice of America deploys more than 75 news teams in 32 countries to chronicle how forced displacement affects the rich and the poor, newcomers and their hosts, those in flight, and those out to stop them.<\/span>
More than two years in the making, this feature-length documentary film debuted on World Refugee Day \u2014 June 20, 2021.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 John Lippman, Arthur Rasco<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: United States<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 35 minutes 58 seconds<\/span><\/p>

3. Title: Tails of Men<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0What secrets do men hide behind their mustache?<\/span>
With this absurd fascination as a starting point, Tales of Men explores manhood and the Hungarian male culture, in order to invest some deeper questions such as gender, identity and love, beyond the moustache.<\/span>
Tales of Men is a short documentary film shot in rural Hungary by an international team of filmmakers.<\/span><\/p>

Directors \u2013 Ananthakrishnan PILLAI, Monica Bustamante, Boton Pushok, Charllote muller<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Portugal<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 9 min 9 sec<\/span><\/p>

4.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: TONY DRIVER<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0One day, Pasquale decides to change his name and be called Tony. Because despite being born in Bari in the mid-60s, he crossed the ocean with his family at 9 years of age and grew up as a real American, all hot dogs and rockabilly. He has never been back to Italy until when, now a taxi driver in Yuma, he’s arrested on account of his side hustle \u2013 smuggling illegal immigrants into the US across the Mexican border. He is therefore forced to make a choice: jail in Arizona or deportation to Italy. Once back in Puglia, he finds himself living alone in a cave at Polignano a Mare, looking at Italy as a small, inert country, with no opportunities and no dreams. But Tony is not willing to give up.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Ascanio Petrin<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Italy<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 15 minutes<\/span><\/p>

5. Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>GREEN BLACKBERRIES<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Nishu (14) and Nima (16) are daughters of a woodcutter living in a remote village in north east India. They have to cross multiple hurdles and travel by their own boat, 3 hours every day to reach their nearest school. Nishu dreams of going out of the village and studying in a good school in town. The only way out is if she pass the 5th grade exams and gets a government scholarship, which her sister couldn’t. But finally on the day of exams all the obstacles stand against her to shatter her dreams. Will she be able to overcome the hurdles and be the first one in her village to get the scholarship?<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Prithviraj Das Gupta<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: India<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 39 min 40 sec<\/span><\/p>

\u00a06.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>THE LETTER ROOM<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0When a kind-hearted prison officer (Oscar Isaac) is transferred to the letter room, he soon gets involved in an intimate’s personal affairs\u2026<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Elvira Lind<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: United States<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 30 min<\/span><\/p>

\u00a07.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: THE RIGHT WORDS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Kenza, 15, and her little brother Madhi, 13, regularly humiliate one another on social media. On the bus, Kenza puts her naive and romantic little brother to the test: to profess his love for Jada; a girl that Madhi loves but who does not know him.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Adrian Moyse Dullin<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: France<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 15 min<\/span><\/p>

\u00a08.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Isolated<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIsolated\u201d was filmed between two lockdowns due to Covid19. Our characters, the elderly, are those who were targeted as most vulnerable. The restrictions set by the government to protect them from Covid19 exposed them more than any other sector in the population to horrifying reality of loneliness.<\/span><\/p>

Director Biography \u2013 Naama Pyritz<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Israel<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 52 min 31 sec<\/span><\/p>

\u00a09.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: The Red Grave<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0In the backdrop of civil war of Nepal, two teen rebels work to bury and dispose off human bodies of the war dead. Their desire to collect personal possessions from the dead bodies, implying communist ideology learned from observing their senior comrades, leads to complications, confrontation and, ultimately, betrayal and dictatorship.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Umesh Ghorsaini<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 12 min 12 sec<\/span><\/p>

\u00a010.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Confusion<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0After getting married to a stranger, a newlywed woman feels uncomfortable in her new home. Instead of seeking comfort with her husband, she is attracted to her sister-in-law.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Aashuka Aryal<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 13 min 11 sec<\/span><\/p>

\u00a011.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: DIMA PUNK \/ ONCE A PUNK\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Once a punk\u2026 always a punk ? Stof is a young punk from Casablanca. During the eight years that we followed him, he tried to set his Mohawk against all odds. He pays a heavy price for his independence when he finds himself arrested and imprisoned for eleven months. Will he remain \u201cDima Punk\u201d, forever a punk?<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Dominique Caubet<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: France<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 2 minutes<\/span><\/p>

\u00a012.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: The day before the volcano<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Three tales worried about expected anger on them! Only to discover that they were that volcano that night, as things go on as usual, that brown eruption of Africa shows the next volcano\u2026<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Abanoub Youssef<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Tunisia<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 21 min 15 sec<\/span><\/p>

\u00a013.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Please\u2026.. see us<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Suthit and Noonae are a Lahu married couple struggling to make a living and dream of better opportunities. But the more they try They both fell into a vicious cycle of state oppression.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Chaweng Chaiyawan<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Thailand<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 27 min 30 sec<\/span><\/p>

14.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Devil in a Lawyers Suit \u2013 a rapist posthumous logos<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0The film is about human dignity.<\/span>
At the outer reaches of the marginalized are vulnerable migrant male rape victims of Refugee Council of Australia President David Bitel, who was given a sort of diplomatic immunity by the legal profession to sexually abuse his vulnerable clients at will.<\/span>
After Mr Bitel was arrested and charged with 21 counts of sexual assault including rape the legal profession twice voted him as one of Australia’s best immigration lawyers.<\/span>
Six weeks after his arrest Mr Bitel was a guest of honor at an ActionAid Australia Forum where former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was the keynote speaker.<\/span>
Mr Bitel died in August 2016 before he could face justice at Court.<\/span>
Police estimated Mr Bitel sexually assaulted 500 victims.<\/span>
Now two of his victims speak out for the first time, harrowingly describing Mr Bitel as ‘evil’ and their ongoing struggle with trauma including suicidal thoughts.<\/span>
The Australian legal profession had a true monster in its midst.<\/span>
Director and Producer Mark A Tarrant gave evidence against Mr Bitel at his Committal Hearing (known as a ‘Grand Jury’ in the USA). The following Sydney Morning Herald article reports on the crimes committed by Mr Bitel (Mr Tarrant is quoted in the article).<\/span><\/p>

Director: Mark Tarrant, Otto\u2026.<\/span><\/p>

Country: Australia<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 20 min 49 sec<\/span><\/p>

15. Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>The Art of Living in Danger<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0In an internal monologue, the director of the film Mina unveils the tragic story of her grandmother and the circumstances surrounding her mysterious death.<\/span>
Although they never met, the two women seem inextricably linked and Mina faces the same battle as her grandmother. through this monologue Mina shows how domestic violence against women in Iran has been supported by the government for many years.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Mina Keshavarz<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Iran Islamic Republic of<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 27 minutes<\/span><\/p>

16. Title: I Am Belmaya<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0A story 14 years in the making, set in Nepal, following an uneducated young woman’s transformational journey from subjugated wife to documentary filmmaker.<\/span><\/p>

Belmaya, dominated from all quarters, is desperate for independence. Born a Dalit, orphaned aged 9, barely educated, and trapped in an abusive marriage with a baby daughter, Belmaya, 21, has given up hope of finding happiness.<\/span><\/p>

Rewind to 2006, when Belmaya, at 14, participated in a photo project at a girls’ home in Pokhara. A feisty student, she was keen to change her discriminatory world through photography. But that window is closed when the home is locked away her camera.<\/span><\/p>

Now she grasps the chance to train in documentary filmmaking training. Picking up the camera once more, her old spark returns. But are her resentful husband and conservative community ready for this?<\/span><\/p>

As Belmaya grows in confidence and ability, she turns from subject to co-director of her story. But in 2015, after her first job filming the Gurkha 200th anniversary celebrations, the great earthquake strikes and all work comes to a halt.<\/span><\/p>

Belmaya is determined not to give up. In 2016 she completes her graduation film, Educate Our Daughters, a personal insight into education for girls in Nepal. Her film goes on to win hearts and awards, taking Belmaya to places she never dreamed she would go.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Sue Carpenter<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: UK<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 75 minutes<\/span><\/p>

17.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Garderie nocturne \u2013 Night Nursery<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Every evening in a popular area of \u200b\u200bthe city of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, Mrs. Coda welcomes the children of prostitutes at her home. The young women then stroll through the \u201cBlack\u201d, a lively alley in the city<\/span>
center, until daybreak when they come to pick up their babies.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Moumouni Sanou<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Burkina Faso<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 6 minutes<\/span><\/p>

18.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: EDNA<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Living on the edge of Transbrasiliana highway in the Brazilian Amazon, Edna is a witness of a land in ruins built upon massacres. Raised only by her mother, she experiences in her body and her descendants, the marks of a \u201cwar that never ends\u201d \u2013 a war for land. Through her reports and writings, the movie builds an hybrid narrative that moves between reality and imaginary. Everything’s woven from Edna’s memory and her diary entitled \u201cStory of My Life\u201d. Brand new title from Eryk Rocha, director of \u201cCinema Novo\u201d awarded with Golden Eye for Best Documentary in Cannes 2016.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Eryk Rocha<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Brazil<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 4 minutes<\/span><\/p>

19.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: OSTROV \u2013 LOST ISLAND<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0On the island of Ostrov in the Caspian Sea the inhabitants, left alone by the Russian state after the collapse of the Soviet Union, survive through poaching. Ivan regularly goes out to sea risking his life and freedom. In addition to the political aspect, the film’s empathetic view also paints a touching family portrait of its protagonists, who cling to a sense of hope in their family and community. The strong audiovisual approach capturing the rough natural beauty of the island underlines the cinematic potential of the film.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Svetlana Rodina, Laurent Stoop<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Switzerland<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 33 minutes<\/span><\/p>

20.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Ophir<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Ophir tells the story of an extraordinary indigenous revolution for life, land and culture, opening up the path for the creation of the world’s newest nation in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. A poetic yet dramatic ode to the indelible thirst for freedom, culture and sovereignty; the film sheds light on the biggest conflict of the Pacific since WWII, revealing the visible and invisible chains of colonization and its enduring cycles of physical and psychological warfare.<\/span><\/p>

(2020, 97\u2032, France\/United Kingdom)<\/span>
Subtitles available: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Greek, Catalan, Chinese, Italian, Hungarian, Armenian.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Alexandre Berman, Olivier Pollet<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: France<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 37 minutes 06 seconds<\/span><\/p>

21.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Dabur<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0In the midst of a couple’s dispute, the father of the family faces his daughter’s first experience of puberty (period) in the absence of his wife \u2026<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Saeid Nejati<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Iran Islam Of Republica<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 12 min 05 sec<\/span><\/p>

22.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: My name is Zolzaya<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Damba Zolzaya, the first Khoomei singer in her birthplace, Khovd aimag, and the winner of the 2018 World Khoomei Contest,<\/span>
is enjoying the happiest time in her life as she receives attention from the public and the media.<\/span>
For the first time in a while, Zolzaya visits her hometown of Chandmani to shoot the cover photo for her first Khoomei album.<\/span>
However, happiness is not her only feeling as she prepares to visit her hometown.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 dongchul kwak<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Korea Republic of<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 58 min 20 sec<\/span><\/p>

23.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Map of Latin American Dreams<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0The Argentine artist Mart\u00edn Weber traveled throughout Latin America from 1992 to 2008, asking people he met to write their dreams with chalk on a small blackboard: the result is a beautiful series of black and white photos, poetic but firmly rooted in reality. Years later, in making this documentary, he follows in the footsteps of those who had posed for him and confronts himself with what life has made of their dreams.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Mart\u00edn Weber<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Argentina<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 30 minutes<\/span><\/p>

24. Title: Ronaldo<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Azad is a child nobody notices, to be more precise, everyone ignores him. His father had died during an air raid at the beginning of the war.<\/span>
The only thing left from his father is a football which Azad kept close.<\/span>
They settled next to a shipyard with his mother.<\/span>
Their aim is to move to another country through the sea.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Rasit Algul<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Turkey<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 30 min 50 sec<\/span><\/p>

25.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: The Sea Bride<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Manal has to decide whether she will submit to the will of her family, society, and traditions and accept marriage to her rapist, or rebel against all that and refuse to marry him, and consider the incident of her rape as a starting point for a new life, not a point for her breaking.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Mohammed Hussai<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Bahrain<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 14 min 55 sec<\/span><\/p>

26.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Option zero<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0A group of Cuban migrants use their mobile phones to record and transmit through social networks intimate moments of their passage through the jungle, gathering more than 100 hours of experiences. Immobilized in a makeshift camp by C\u00e1ritas in Panama City, the difficult passage through the Darien Jungle comes to life on their devices. In this migratory limbo, Cuban director Marcel Beltr\u00e1n films the passing of the hours in the camp and gains access to this shocking archive.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Marcel Beltr\u00e1n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Cuba<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 20 minutes<\/span><\/p>

27.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Faguniya<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0This film is a portrayal of the women’s situation and ongoing injustice on them, by the male members of the family in the Terai Region of Nepal, called Madhesh.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Sarita sah<\/span><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 8 min 18 sec<\/span><\/p>

28.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>To See You Again<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0What is hiding a government that buries over two hundred people without an investigation? In Mexico, mothers and relatives of the disappeared search for their loved ones; hoping to see them again, even if only their body, even if they have to dig them from a hidden grave.<\/span><\/p>

Director – Carolina Corral<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Mexico<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 33 minutes<\/span><\/p>

29.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Confetti<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Naples. Scampia. “Le Vele” A young lady is reading out on the balcony. A guy is staring. They meet each other during a Carnival party at a funfair. Young people having a good time amid apartment blocks. Totoriello and Speranzella, Cinderella and Hulk, both of them ten years old, sitting on a bench in a suburb. Why do you always read out on the balcony, he asks. Her answer is the song of a crucified siren. Her answer is a knife who cuts into pieces \u201ccapitoni\u201d. The retrieval of a hanged man’s daughter. She got lost at the platform, no train getting there. A cinderella without her fairy lady, without her bibbidi bobbidi boo. They stole her happiness. Speranzella was born by a bitch, but she can fly like a butterfly<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Maddalena Stornaiuolo<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Italy<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 8 min 56 sec<\/span><\/p>

30.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: JIUDO MODO<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0In Darchula of Far Western Nepal, the old grandmother survives by breaking stones. All she has is one infertile goat. Her grandson has yet to return from his journey. He had ventured into the upper Himalayas to find Yarsa. Anxiety and worry start to fill her mind. The villagers tell her the bad news about her grandson. After hearing the news, she breaks down. All she wishes is to see the face of her grandson one last time. However, the villagers stop her from visiting the cremation site. She is not allowed to witness the passing of her grandson.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 DURGA BADHUR KARKI<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 12 Min<\/span><\/p>

31.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: SARITA \u2013 TELL ME WHO I AM<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0In 1990, one-sixth of the population of Bhutan was exiled because they demanded greater democratic rights from the ruler. The film follows the story of Sarita, a 13-year-old girl born in Khudunabari, a refugee camp in Nepal where over 100,000 Bhutanese exiles live. Now they will be \u201crelocated\u201d: thousands of families will be forced to emigrate and their Lotshampa identity will disappear forever. Sarita and her friends will not tell us their odyssey: they will dance and sing it.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Sergio Basso<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 26 minutes 45 seconds<\/span><\/p>

32.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Aliya<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0A young teacher Aliya goes to the village to work, provided by the university program. There she suddenly faces the old Kazakh tradition \u201cQyz alyp qashu\u201d that is quite challenging for her.<\/span>
Qyz alyp qashu \u2013 Bride kidnapping, where a man abducts a woman he wishes to marry.<\/span>
Aliya’s \u201cnew family\u201d makes her life a nightmare and she decides to run away.<\/span><\/p>

Director – Aruzhan Dossymkozha<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Kazakhstan<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 17 min 32 sec<\/span><\/p>

33.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: We Make Film<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0At a time of ever increasing media access, anyone who wants to make a film should be able to make one. But what happens when you’re assumed as incapable or ‘difficult’ to work with, or need adjustments to make the creative process accessible?<\/span>
Set across three cities in India, We Make Film explores the creative journeys of d\/Deaf and disabled filmmakers Debopriya, Mijo and Anuja. Many barriers stand in their way. While some battles are won, sometimes a dream must be given up altogether due to inaccessible environments, exclusionary production practices or barriers to film education. While documenting their stories, Shweta too begins to reflect on her privileges, and revisits the lifelong creative collaborations she has had with her disabled father.<\/span>
At the intersection of the four filmmakers’ experiences lies We Make Film, a documentary that rethinks accessibility, ally-ship and collaboration in filmmaking today, and dreams of an inclusive creative future for all of us.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Shweta Ghosh<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: India<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 20 minutes<\/span><\/p>

34.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: A Boxing Country<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0From the very beginning until becoming a boxing champion, Paco \u201cThe Hammerhead\u201d De Ocampo was supported by his countrymen. However, at the height of his career, he becomes abusive of an illegal substance which also affects the support & impression of his fellow countrymen.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Arjanmar Rebeta<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Philippines<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 6 min 26 sec<\/span><\/p>

35.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Dream<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Zhangmu Lama shares a dream about her beloved brother Sange with her mother. In the dream Sange seems very angry and dissatisfied with her because he is not getting any way to salvation after his death till now. He roams in weird places and is stuck in limbo. Being too much worried about him, she goes to a monastery and worships for him and promises him to help his way to salvation. Now she hopes to get rid of his anger.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Pasang Dawa Sherpa<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 12 min 30 sec<\/span><\/p>

36.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Delphine’s Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0This film is the portrait of Delphine, a young Cameroonian girl. Delphine, like others, is part of this generation of young African women crushed by our patriarchal societies and left to this Western sexual colonization as the only means of survival. Through her courage and strength, Delphine exposes these patterns of domination that continue to lock up African women.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Rosine Mbakam<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Belgium<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 29 minutes<\/span><\/p>

37.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Title: I WILL WAIT<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Suhailah leaves her infant at her neighbors in order to earn enough money, but they get upset with the baby and don’t want to take care of him\/her. Suhailah has to find a way for the baby so that she could continue at her work until her husband comes back from war.<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 MOHAMMED SHERWANI<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Iraq<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 11 min<\/span><\/p>

38.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Return<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0After 23 years in prison, Rahim returns to his hometown to meet his brother\u2026<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Shahriyar Poorseyediyan<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Iran Republic of<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 21 min 46 sec<\/span><\/p>

39.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Bicolor<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Arezoo is a little girl who is searching her mom’s grave, Her father who is a terrorist of Taliban avoids her, till\u2026<\/span><\/p>

Director \u2013 Sarajudin Bayat<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Country: Afghanistan<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 10 min 23 sec<\/span><\/p>

40.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Title: Highway to Heaven:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0A short symphonic documentary offering a glimpse into the unique religious co-existence found along No. 5 Road in Richmond, British Columbia.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Sandrea Ignagni<\/span><\/p>

Country: Canada<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 16 min 24 sec<\/span><\/p>

41. Title: Someone like me<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0In Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams’ feature doc Someone Like Me, Drake, a young gay man from Uganda, leaves behind everything he knows to achieve the universal freedoms everyone deserves: to be who he is and love whomever he chooses without fear of discrimination, persecution, or violence. A group of queer strangers unite to resettle Drake in Vancouver, but they are tasked with a year-long commitment to someone they’ve never met, and struggle with the challenging conditions of this support. Together, Drake and his sponsors embark on an emotional journey in search of personal freedom, revealing how in a world where one must constantly fight for the right to exist, survival itself becomes a victory.<\/span><\/p>

Leaving everything he knows behind, Drake, a vibrant 22-year-old gay man from Uganda, aspires to the universal freedoms everyone deserves: to be who he is and love whomever he chooses without fear of discrimination, persecution, or violence.<\/span><\/p>

Tasked with a year-long commitment as Drake’s primary support network, a group of strangers from Vancouver’s queer community unite under the banner of Rainbow Refugee, a non-profit that connects LGBTQ+ asylum claimants with sponsors. In the months following Drake’s arrival, faces of his turbulent experience and day-to-day challenges begin to parallel those of certain group members: as a gay Black man, Marlon also moved cities in order to live his life openly; David struggles to find job security after grad school; and Kay’s gender transition presents a long and emotional road to personal freedom. As problems are compounded by the unexpected complication of a global pandemic, the group must ask the most difficult questions about their capacity, commitment and conditions of support. The substantive work includes meeting Drake’s immediate basic needs; but sustaining the emotional necessary and psychological assistance and mentorship over the next 12 months becomes a delicate business.<\/span><\/p>

Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams’ feature documentary Someone Like Me takes a verit\u00e9 approach to the generous and rough-edged nuances of what it means to sponsor an asylum seeker. Chronicling the complexities of the journey taken by Drake and his sponsors, the filmmakers illuminate how survival itself becomes a victory in a world where one must constantly fight for the right to exist.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Sean Horlor and Steve J.adams<\/span><\/p>

Country: Canada<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 19 minutes 57 seconds<\/span><\/p>

42. Title: The Magnitude of All Things:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u201cIt was grief. I knew it well. And this time it was for the changing world around me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

When Jennifer Abbott lost her sister to cancer, her sorrow opened her up to the profound gravity of climate breakdown. Abbott’s new documentary The Magnitude of All Things draws intimate parallels between the experiences of grief\u2014both personal and planetary. Stories from the frontlines of climate change merge with recollections from the filmmaker’s childhood on Ontario’s Georgian Bay. What do these stories have in common? The answer, surprisingly, is everything.<\/span><\/p>

This cinematic journey by the Sundance award-winning director (The Corporation) takes us around the world to witness a planet in crisis: from Australia’s catastrophic fires and dying Great Barrier Reef, to the island nation of Kiribati, drowned by rising sea levels. In Nunatsiavut, melting ice permanently alters the landscape, while in the Amazon rainforest, Indigenous people fight a desperate battle against oil and mining extraction.<\/span><\/p>

For the people featured, climate change is not happening in the distant future; it is kicking down the front door, flooding homes, poisoning water and destroying communities. The connection between humanity and the environment is stated plainly by Australia’s Wonnarua Traditional Custodians: \u201cIf this land hurts, we hurt.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Like ash from a distant fire, grief on this scale touches everything. But coming to terms with the brutal reality of climate breakdown requires more than empty words and gestures. When hope is lost, the real work begins. Members of Extinction Rebellion protest in the streets, risking arrest. Greta Thunberg’s school strike grows from a solitary vigil to a mass movement. The S\u00e1para, Wonnarua and Nunatsiavut land defenders hold the line in a life and death struggle. Facing her own mortality, Jennifer’s sister offers another kind of answer: \u201cJust a simple, quiet openness to all that is.\u201d Battles waged, lamentations of loss, and raw testimony of coalesce into an extraordinary tapestry, woven together with raw emotion and staggering beauty that transforms darkness into light, grief into action.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Jennifer Abbott<\/span><\/p>

Country: Canada<\/span><\/p>

Run Time: 1 hour 26 minutes<\/span><\/p>

43. Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u201cA Scarecrow\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0NANI is preparing for a dance performance in the upcoming National Children’s Day event at<\/span><\/p>

her school. Meanwhile, NANI’s mother gets a job of making scarecrows for all the villagers’<\/span><\/p>

fields, which has to be finished within the certain timeline. The mother isn’t able to handle<\/span><\/p>

the job of making scarecrows while still having to take care of her younger child. Hence, it<\/span><\/p>

comes upon NANI, the only girl among her three siblings, to take care of her younger brother.<\/span><\/p>

She is forced to let go of not only her dream to perform at the event, but also her<\/span><\/p>

education, for the survival of her family.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Rajesh Prasad Khatri<\/span><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 13 min 34 sec<\/span><\/p>

44. Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>APARICHIT<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0A girl tricked an unknown person in livestream of gaming. She was abused with the vulgar words. Initially she took it lightly and ignored the matter but later on she got massaged by that unknow person in her inbox. She was totally disturbed by his frequent harsh messages. She was threatened by the same person which led her to mental disturbance.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Ambika Bhandari, Purnima Maharjan<\/span><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 7 min<\/span><\/p>

45. Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>LALITA<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0An unapologetic young woman in her early 20s recalls the days when she first chose to go against the societal norms out of the difficult situation. But she regrets nothing. Highly opinionated, this young woman has a dream like everyone else or higher than the rest. She empathizes with others with similar experiences as her and hopes to live as a helping hand. She challenges all the stereotypes people have about her and people alike. Well, she is just a normal girl living her life in a city of dreams.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Angila Chaudhari and Puspa Joshi<\/span><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 8 min<\/span><\/p>

46. \u200b\u200bTitle:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>NO SCHOOL TODAY<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Maya is 27 years old woman, working at a construction site. She takes her twins daughters, Ganga, and Jamuna aged 5 years along with her. Maya is a +2 graduate for the last 7, 8 years. She is struggling to find a sustainable job. She hasn’t got her children’s admission yet. She really wants to provide good education and dream of making them a nurse. Maya’s husband drinks and works outside the house. He. sometimes visits the house. Maya doesn’t really care about her husband rather she is more focused on how to provide education to them.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Mira Khadka and Jyoti Belbase<\/span><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 7 min 24 sec<\/span><\/p>

47. Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>SAMAIRA<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 An inspiring and confident transgender Samaira Shrestha who stay in silenced and hide her identity for 21 years is now inspiring with her stories and living her dream life.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Shrisha Kuwan and Asmita lawoti<\/span><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 6 min 13 sec<\/span><\/p>

48. Title: VISHRAM<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

An observational story of three women with different social and financial backgrounds. Though they play different roles outside the house, they have the same duties inside. The responsibility to do all the household chores and take care of children is always on a woman despite their status in the society. Even if these women are exhausted and need rest, they tend to keep on working so that their family members can stay at ease. The intention of this documentary is to show the similarities in the condition of women of different backgrounds, the strength they have to keep on moving forward and find a balance in their personal and work life.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Aashruti Tripathi and Pradhanya devi yonjan<\/span><\/p>

Country: Nepal<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 7 min 24 sec<\/span><\/p>

49. Title: Durga<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis: Forging a New Trail, a short documentary film, tells the story of 34-year-old Durga Rawal, the only guide of any gender from her village in northern Nepal. In a country where boys receive an education, men seek employment in larger cities and girls and women are often left to work on family farms and within their homes, Durga’s is a story of defying cultural, societal and familial expectations to pursue an independent life. It is a story of female empowerment and gender equality about a brave young woman who is forging her own trail.<\/span><\/p>

Our film explores and celebrates bold dreams and the unwavering strength it takes to overcome doubt, discrimination and harassment to break free from the narratives that are put before us and intentionally reach for a life that is uniquely ours.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Emily Hopcial<\/span><\/p>

Country: United States<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 20 min 27 sec<\/span><\/p>

50. Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Body Remembers When the World Broke Open<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Written and directed by Elle-M\u00e1ij\u00e1 Tailfeathers (who also stars) and Kathleen Hepburn, the drama explores two Indigenous women living very different lives who are briefly brought together by desperate circumstances.<\/span><\/p>

Director: Elle-M\u00e1ij\u00e1 Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn<\/span><\/p>

Country: Canada<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 1 hour 45 minutes 26 seconds<\/span><\/p>

51. Title:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>ANTHROPOCENE<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Synopsis:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0A cinematic meditation on humanity’s massive reengineering of the planet,\u00a0<\/span>ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is a four years in the making feature documentary film from the multiple-award winning team of Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, and Edward Burtynsky.<\/span><\/p>

Third in a trilogy that includes\u00a0<\/span>Manufactured Landscapes<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(2006) and\u00a0<\/span>Watermark<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(2013), the film follows the research of an international body of scientists, the\u00a0<\/span>Anthropocene Working Group<\/span><\/a>\u00a0who, after nearly 10 years of research, are arguing that the evidence shows the Holocene Epoch gave way to the Anthropocene Epoch in the mid-twentieth century, as a result of profound and lasting human changes to the Earth.<\/span><\/p>

From concrete seawalls in China that now cover 60% of the mainland coast, to the biggest terrestrial machines ever built in Germany, to psychedelic potash mines in Russia’s Ural Mountains, to metal festivals in the closed city of Norilsk, to the devastated Great Barrier Reef in Australia and surreal lithium evaporation ponds in the Atacama desert, the filmmakers have traversed the globe using high-end production values \u200b\u200band state of the art camera techniques to document the evidence and experience of human planetary domination.<\/span><\/p>

At the intersection of art and science,\u00a0<\/span>ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0witnesses, in an experiential and non-didactic sense, a critical moment in geological history \u2014 bringing a provocative and unforgettable experience of our species’ breadth and impact.<\/span><\/p>

Director:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0JENNIFER BAICHWAL, NICHOLAS de PENCIER, EDWARD BURTYNSKY<\/span><\/p>

Country:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Canada<\/span><\/p>

Run time: 1 hour 26 minutes 42 seconds<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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