Babalwa’s Story
South Africa, 2008, 46min, English Subtitles
Director: Charlene Houston
(Screens with Hear Us)

Babalwa Matomela is a dynamic 22-year-old leading an almost normal life, despite a shocking history of abuse.

At the age of eight, Babalwa experienced sexual exploitation for the first time. Her inability to tell anyone led to debilitating bouts of depression and anxiety. Her adolescence was marked by alcohol misuse and a lack of self esteem. She was sexually violated throughout her high school years and felt powerless against the perpetrators.

Babalwa finally decided to break the cycle of abuse when she was diagnosed as HIV positive. She made the courageous decision to go public with her story in order to help young women in her community faced with similar trauma feel less alienated.
Courtesy of the Director

Hear Us
Zimbabwe/ United States, 2009, 16min, English Subtitles
Director: Research Advocacy Unit and WITNESS
www.witness.org
(screens with Babalwa’s Story)

In 2008, political violence erupted throughout Zimbabwe as a result of the contested national elections. Zimbabwean women of all ages, targeted for their political affiliations, were abducted from their workplaces and homes, raped, tortured, and beaten in secret torture centers. It is estimated that from May to July, state-sanctioned groups raped over 2,000 women and girls. The local police have ignored these women's pleas for protection and justice, and national leaders have been equally unresponsive to local and international demands for an end to the violence.

Hear Us features four of these women, who have come forward to demand justice from the Zimbabwean government and the Southern African Development Community. Women like Memory and Abigail, who struggle daily with the physical and psychological scars of their abuse, tell their stories to uncover the enduring effects of this violence on the women of Zimbabwe and their families.
Courtesy of RAU and Witness

Into the Light

Tanzanian sociologist Mama Lyimo embarks on a 40-day journey across the East African state. Lyimo wants to know why hundreds of thousands die from AIDS each year, despite the millions of dollars and human resources spent on fighting the disease. Her frustrations are heightened by the most haunting consequence of the pandemic: multitudes of children left with no one to care for them, no one to comfort them and no one to teach them right from wrong.

Lyimo is determined to find answers through her cross country mission. When she befriends an AIDS orphan named Suzy, her personal journey becomes more urgent and intimate than she could have ever imagined.
Courtesy of the Director

Rough Aunties

Internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto gains intimate access to the lives and work of a group of gutsy Rough Aunties; a cadre of women who wage a daily battle to protect and care for Durban’s abused and neglected children. The women, staff of a community-based child protection organisation, boldly challenge the violence, traditionally sanctioned patriarchy and socio-economic dysfunctions that define their work.

The film offers a complex portrait of the women through their professional crusade and the impact of this struggle on their private lives. Intertwined with this narrative is their inspirational ability to overcome personal tragedy so they may continue bettering the lives of countless children who have no one else to turn to.
Courtesy of the Director

Awards

• Sundance Film Festival 2009- World Cinema Jury Prize Documentary
• Hot Docs- Top Ten Audience Favourite
• Big Sky Documentary Film Festival- Best Feature
• Durban International Film Festival 2009- Amnesty International Human Rights Documentary Prize

The Glass House

The Glass House follows four girls determined to pull themselves out of the margins by attending a one-of-a kind rehabilitation facility.

The Omid e Mehr centre, situated in uptown Tehran was founded by Iranian expatriate Marjaneh Halati in order to empower disadvantaged young women with the life-skills they need to manage independence. Many of the teens previously spent time in jails, hospitals, or state homes before becoming wards of the centre. Sussan is 20 years old and suffers from memory loss and a stutter as a result of a blow to the head either from her sigheh (temporary husband) or her abusive brother. Mitra is learning how to avoid confrontation with her father, who takes out his frustration out on her. Nazila, 19, finds an outlet for her anguish by recording as a rap singer, which is forbidden by Iranian law and frowned upon by society whilst 12 yr old Samira struggles against forced drug addiction.

The young women see Marjaneh as both a mother figure and a mentor and cherish her frequent visits from London. The girls take viewers on a never-before-seen tour of the underclass of Iran with their brave and defiant stories. The young women, united by their desperate need for freedom, are offered precious breathing space by the centre; a golden opportunity within a suffocating society. But can the Glass House do enough to save the girls from their fate?
Courtesy of the Director

Filmed over three years during the most pivotal time in Nepal’s modern history, The Sari Soldiers is an extraordinary story of six women’s courageous efforts to shape Nepal’s future in the midst of an escalating civil war against Maoist insurgents, and the monarchy’s crackdown on civil liberties.

When Devi, mother of a 15-year-old girl, witnesses her niece being tortured and murdered by the Royal Nepal Army, she speaks publicly about the atrocity. The army ‘disappears’ her daughter in retaliation, and Devi embarks on a three-year struggle to uncover her daughter’s fate and see justice done.

The Sari Soldiers follows her and five other brave women: Maoist Commander Kranti; Royal Nepal Army Officer Rajani; Krishna, a monarchist from a rural community who leads a rebellion against the Maoists; Mandira, a human rights lawyer; and Ram Kumari, a young student activist helping shape the protests to reclaim democracy. The film follows the extraordinary journey of characters on opposing sides of the conflict and the democratic revolution reshaping their country’s future.
Courtesy of the Director

Awards

• Human Rights watch International Film Festival 2008- Nestor Almendros Prize
• Rencontres International Film Festival Prix Camera Au Poing 2008- Best Socio-Political Film
• Watch Docs 2008- Special Jury Mention
• Tri Continental Film Festival India 2008- Grand Jury Prize
• Brooklyn International Film Festival- Spirit Award for Documentary