Rwanda : the silence of words

Mabel

January 2016 •English

Feisty, fiercely independent and firmly rooted in place, 90 year-old Mabel Robinson broke barriers back in the 40s when she became the first woman in Hubbards, Nova Scotia, to launch her own business—a hairdressing salon where she still provides shampoo-n-sets over 70 years later. Weaving animation and archival imagery with intimate and laugh out loud moments in the salon, the film celebrates the power of friendship, doing what you love and staying active. With no desire to retire anytime soon, Mabel gives voice to a generation who are not front and center of cinema or the pop hairstyles of the day, and subtly shifts the lens on our perception of beauty and the elderly.

True Justice: Bryan Stevenson's Fight for Equality

June 2019 •English

An intimate portrait of Alabama public interest attorney Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, who for more than three decades has advocated on behalf of the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned, seeking to eradicate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.

Tarnation

October 2003 •English

Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.

Behind the Looking Glass

August 2024 •English

Behind The Looking Glass is a film about the lives of women whose partners have or want to ‘transition’. While we hear a great deal of “stunning and brave” stories of men, there is a deadly silence when it comes to the stories of the wives or partners. This film will be the first of its kind in collecting such experiences of women from around the world.

UN Sex Abuse Scandal

January 2018 •English

A documentary about the UN sex abuse scandal where companies and staff working for the United Nations in the Congo and other Central African countries were involved in rape and sex abuse of local women. There have been over 1700 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse against UN peacekeepers in the last 15 years. Ramita Navai reveals why it keeps happening despite UN promises to stamp it out. It was produced for Channel 4 and for PBS Frontline – and ARTE. The film won the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Journalism award for Television – International. Nominated for 2019 Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Documentary. Shortlisted for 2019 Grierson Awards for Best Single Documentary – International and Best Current Affairs Documentary. In 2020, the documentary won the 22nd Media Awards for “Children’s Rights in One World” in Germany.

The Golden Girls: Their Greatest Moments

June 2003 •English

A 90-minute special reuniting the main cast of the American sitcom, "The Golden Girls", where they share their favorite moments from the show, behind-the-scenes footage, and plenty of laughs

Mountain Gorilla

March 1992 •English

Mountain Gorilla takes us to a remote range of volcanic mountains in Africa, described by those who have been there as ""one of the most beautiful places in the world"", and home to the few hundred remaining mountain gorillas. In spending a day with a gorilla family in the mountain forest, audiences will be captivated by these intelligent and curious animals, as they eat, sleep, play and interact with each other. Although gorillas have been much-maligned in our popular culture, viewers will finally ""meet the legend"" face to face, and learn about their uncertain future.

Our Body

August 2023 •French

In a Parisian public hospital, Claire Simon questions what it means to live in women’s bodies, filming their diversity, singularity and their beauty in all stages throughout life. Unique stories of desires, fears and struggles unfold, including the one of the filmmaker herself.

FIFA: A Love Letter to Rwanda

June 2023 •English

Supermodel Adriana Lima presents a behind-the-scenes look at the FIFA congress in the Rwandan capital of Kigali in March 2023, which made Kigali the first-ever host city of a FIFA elective congress in Africa.

Iseta / The Story Behind The Road Block

Invalid date •English

During April 1994, on quiet road in Kigali a group of neighbors in Rwanda were filmed. This was the opening days of the Rwandan Genocide, and even though almost one million people were slaughtered, remarkably there is only one known segment of footage showing any actual killing. This movie is about the extraordinary journey of that evidence as the original photographer returns to Rwanda, revisiting the people and events that he by chance caught on film. As the footage returns to the community, friends and family relive the tragic events as they work with the photographer to identify the victims, and then eventually the killers.

Backlash: Misogyny in the Digital Age

September 2022 •French

This documentary by Léa Clermont-Dion and Guylaine Maroist plunges us into the vortex of online misogyny and documents hatred towards women. This bleak opus, reminiscent of a psychological thriller, follows four women across two continents: former President of the Italian parliament Laura Boldrini, former Democratic representative Kiah Morris, French actor and YouTuber Marion Séclin, and Donna Zuckerberg, a specialist in online violence against women and the sister of Facebook’s founder. This tour de force reveals the devastating effects such unapologetic hatred has on victims, and brings to light the singular objective of cyber-misogyny: to silence women who shine. Some targets of cyber-violence will crumble under the crystallizing force of the click. Others, proud warriors, will stand tall and refuse to be silenced.

Filomena

June 2023 •Spanish

Coexist

Invalid date •English

Coexist tells the emotional stories of women who survived the Rwandan genocide in 1994. They continue to cope with the loss of their families as the killers who created this trauma return from jail back to the villages where they once lived. Faced with these perpetrators on a daily basis, the victims must decide whether they can forgive them or not. Their decisions are unfathomable to many, and speak to a humanity that has survived the worst violence imaginable.

The Rape of Recy Taylor

May 2019 •English

Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. The film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story.

Madwoman of God

January 2008 •French

This feature-length film tells the story of the passion between Marie de l’Incarnation, a mid-seventeenth-century nun and God, her "divine spouse." Fusing documentary and acting by Marie Tifo, whom we follow as she rehearses for this demanding role, the film paints an astonishing portrait of this mystic who abandoned her son and left France to build a convent in Canada, where she became the first female writer in New France.

The Ants and the Grasshopper

May 2021 •English

Anita Chitaya has a gift: she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and maybe she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home in Malawi from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real. Traveling from Malawi to California to the White House, she meets climate sceptics and despairing farmers. Her journey takes her across all the divisions that shape the USA: from the rural-urban divide, to schisms of race, class and gender, and to the American exceptionalism that remains a part of the culture. It will take all her skill and experience to help Americans recognise, and free themselves from, a logic that is already destroying the Earth.

The Executive Empress

March 2019 •English

The Executive Empress explores the entrepreneurial lives of several Florida women, who have turned their unique passions into successful businesses.

I Am Evidence

June 2017 •English

The modern criminal justice system is hindered by the fact that countless rape kits remain untested in police evidence storage facilities across the United States. Only eight states currently have laws requiring mandatory testing of rape kits.

Nasrin

August 2023 •Persian

Nasrin; a wild rose, purged of its share of dry branches tries to flourish in Iran.

Reality Winner

March 2021 •English

A state of secrets and a ruthless hunt for whistleblowers – this is the story of 25-year-old Reality Winner who disclosed a document about Russian election interference to the media and became the number one leak target of the Trump administration.