Rape, domestic violence, abuse, sex-slave, child-marriage, dowry, prostitution – The first word that many associate with these concepts is ‘women’. For centuries, women all over the world have been subjected to oppression and till date, despite their achievements and contribution to society, a lot of women do not get justice. In a country like Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive; in the South East Asia, young girls are forced to marry at an early age; and women are killed in many parts of the world by so-called ‘honor killings’. Women are victims of violence by both society and their families, and many of their stories go unheard.

Connecther and Harvard College Social Innovation Collaborative (SIC) this year present Girls Impact World The Film Festival 2013, where high school and undergraduate university students submit 3-5 minutes long short films that address global women’s issues such as: education for girls, maternal health, violence against women and girls among others. This will bring into light many issues and stories of women who are deprived of protection and other privileges.

Azmina Karim, a Bangladeshi undergraduate student from Asian University for Women majoring in Asian Development Studies, made a film which focuses on the violence on women in rural parts of Bangladesh. To watch the video click here

Toonari Post(TP): When did you decide to make this documentary about violence on women in Bangladesh?

Azmina Karim(AK): When I heard of Girls Impact the world film festival, I chose to portray ’violence against women’ in order to raise awareness about this topic. Girls Impact the world is a platform where women can speak for themselves and other women, where we can express that as women we need a safe place in the world to live and it is our right to speak up.

TP: Even though Bangladesh is developing, most people are still old-fashioned and traditional minded, how did you find the courage to take such an initiative? Did you face any difficulties (from government/society/family etc) while filming?

AK: Though Bangladesh is developing, the position of women in a patriarchal society is hard to change. Women are still objectified and thought as submissive to men. The notion of patriarchy has seeped into the psyche of men as well as women.

Women in our society take it as their fate, or some even think of it as their duty, to lock themselves into these modern day slavery practices in their very own homes. While filming, I particularly didn’t face difficulties from government or other social institutions. Maybe because these interviews were not taken in a larger scale to trigger any provocations. However, it was difficult to convince the battered and deprived women to share their stories as they were reluctant to speak up.

I discovered many were scared that we may take legal actions and many other women like Sonia Akhter, thought it was pointless to talk about this. Sonia Akhter shed some light on this topic when she mentioned, that prior to her interview with me, she shared her story to a news reporter and the news organization sent her back to her husband. This caused her husband to increase the level of torture because she’d seeked help from others. There is an underlying fear among these women that sharing their stories won’t bring any changes in their lives but rather make it worse.

Moreover, the notion of patriarchy legitimizes the violence against women in our society, so the women themselves accept that it is normal to be beaten by her husband or any male member of their family. Thus they don’t speak up.

I didn’t face any problem from my family in general while making these interviews, they were supportive, one of the reason being that I don’t have any brothers. My parents raised us four sisters by giving us the equal rights that they might have given to their sons.

TP: Have you received enough support from family/friends and/or other organizations?

AK: I didn’t work under any organization while making these interviews. My family members supported me; they even escorted me to different slums to cover the stories.

TP: What was your main inspiration for the film?

AK: Inspiration for covering this topic or even participating in this competition came from the latest incidents that took place around the world. The way women are being raped, the number of deaths due to domestic violence etc. – they made me want to speak up against male dominance.

TP: Have you seen domestic violence in your family or among your friends, where the woman got pressured to not report the case?

I grew up in a different environment where you can challenge the traditional structure of the society. My parents gave me and my other three sisters the opportunity to get education, and freedom so that we can choose our path and discern what is right from wrong.

However, living in Bangladesh the case of domestic violence is so obvious that almost every day we encounter stories of this kind of violence, be it from neighbours, stories of relatives, stories from friends and also in newspapers and tv channels. Most of these stories remain unheard, these women do not have any means to report these cases.

We don’t have strict laws against these violent acts, nor do we have good policies to support the women who fight for their right. Also the state does not provide shelters or protection so when violence happens, these women have nowhere to go. Nor do their family members support them in this case. The result in most of these cases is then that they go unreported, leading to only one option – living with their male partners, even if they are tortured all their life.

TP: What do you hope to achieve by your film?

AK: I hope to raise awareness and to prove a point that it’s about time we all get a safe place to live. I want to create collective identity for women, by sharing their stories and say it’s okay to speak up. I hope to get justice for women like Sonia Akhter and many others. I want to give a voice to women like her.

TP: Are you involved in any activities, such as protesting or rallying, to spread your message to the public in Bangladesh?

AK: No, I am not involved in any protest or rally as such because we haven’t had any such movements lately. So far, Girls Impact the film festival is the only platform that I have used to raise public awareness about these topics. Moreover, this documentary has been widely shared on Facebook and Twitter, so I hope people get the message that we, as women, have had enough of these prejudices against us for being born as a woman. We want to stop the occurrence of violence as a regular practice of a male dominated society. I firmly believe initiatives like mine will bring some positive change in our society.

TP: Do you think the women of newer generations also suffer from domestic violence?

AK: Women all over suffer from domestic violence of some sort, be they educated, working,  from rich backgrounds or part of the new generation – they can all potentially fall victim to such acts. The dominance in society over female populations is still quite the same towards generations of educated, working class people. Even though these women might be educated and open minded, the structure of society did not change, neither did the mindset of their family often.

TP: What measures do you think the public or government should take regarding domestic violence?

AK: Gender studies should be included in the national curriculum. Women need to be made aware of their rights and feel free to share their problems. Often when NGOs intervene in domestic affairs, they tend to solve the problem from their perspective and make decisions from their points of view (the top-down approach). I think they should rather take measures based on what the victims really want.

TP: In your opinion, what is the solution to eradicate domestic violence in Bangladesh?

AK: There is no particular solution. Through a single initiative, we can’t remove it from our society. We have to create awareness step by step, not just from person to person, but through government. The social institutions or NGOs should step forward to ensure justice for the victimized women, our social structure should provide equal rights. Even the victims should be mentally prepared to make initiatives for themselves so others can help them too.

TP: Did Sonia Akhter get justice in the end?

AK: No. We could not take any action against her husband because Sonia Akhter herself resisted from taking any action, she wants to wait for her husband and hopes one day he will come back.

TP: What would you like to say to all those women who are subjected to domestic violence today?

AK: Speak up! That’s the only phrase I would like to emphasize. They have a huge responsibility, if they don’t speak up for themselves, then we will be left with a society where their daughters and granddaughter will undergo the same acts of violence. Because nobody dared to speak up for their rights.

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San Francisco, U.S.A. — Roughly 10,000 people became inducted into the mysterious Jejune Institute in San Francisco between 2008 and 2011. ”The Institute,” a full length documentary film premiering at the Mill Valley Film Festival this month, attempts to capture this enigmatic experience for viewers, and to unravel the truth behind the opaque organization.

“Many members described it as a cult,” says Spencer McCall, the film’s director. “But as I delved deeper, there appeared to be elements of an elaborate game being played.” Many of the subjects interviewed for the film disagreed on exactly how to describe their experience, whether it was a game or a much more serious endeavor. This paradox is one of the primary questions explored through the movie, which is McCall’s first feature length film.

At the opening night of the Mill Valley Film Festival, where Bradley Cooper’s new movie The Silver Lining Playbook kicked off the festivities, ex-members of the Jejune Institute demonstrated outside, discouraging audiences from seeing the movie. “Don’t believe the lies!” they chanted, before being ushered away by festival security. “I don’t appreciate this being characterized as just some alternative reality game,” said Gordo McLaughlin, one of the demonstrators, who was also interviewed in the documentary. ”It’s not an accurate or truthful film. I think it’s a disgrace to the festival.”

Controversy seems to follow “The Institute,” which is beginning its festival run. “It’s been an incredible struggle,” Spencer McCall says. “Some participants are dealing with mental illness and delusion, and I’ve had them turn on me and try to block screenings. But it just seems to be adding fuel to the fire.” The sensational story has already received coverage by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Wired magazines, among others.

“The Institute” will be showing at the Rafael Theater on Thursday, October 11 at 4:30 p.m., and at CineArts at Sequoia Theater on Sunday, October 14 at 2:00 p.m. Rumors are already swelling about what strange occurrences may transpire at the viewings.

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The Korean port city of Busan is once again flocked with film directors and movie stars. The 17th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) kicked off on October 4, especially focusing on Asian movies. BIFF is the biggest and most prestigious film festival in Korea.

The opening ceremony of the festival was hosted by Korea’s widely beloved actor Ahn Sung-ki and the Chinese actress Tang Wei, known for the movie ‘Lust, caution’ (2007), and about 100 movie stars from both Korean and foreign countries were in attendance.

At the opening ceremony, about 5,500 people were gathered at the Busan Cinema Center to watch the ceremony, and about 2,000 people who could not get in the center watched the ceremony outside of the center. Most of them were Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. A Hungarian movie director Bela Tarr was also spotted. He attended the BIFF in the capacity of jury member.

The red carpet event held before the opening ceremony started had a large number of famous and popular movie stars from Korea and other countries and drew many rounds of enthusiastic applause from fans.

The Japanese movie director Koji Wakamatsu showed up first followed by Korean actor Lee Byung-hun, who played Storm Shadow in ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ (2009). The Chinese actress Cecilia Cheung, who recently was on the movie ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ (2012), and co-star Jung Woo-sung also garnered huge attention. Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung Ka-fai, who played the main characters of the opening movie ‘Cold War’, made a grand finale of the premiere red carpet event.

The Mayor of Busan said at the opening ceremony, “We have prepared many programs to make BIFF grow globally.” After his speech, BIFF kicked off with showing the opening movie ‘Cold War’.

‘Cold War’, directed by Leung Longman and Sunny Luk, is a Hong Kong action-thriller about police and gangsters. The film is also focusing on the rivalry between the two high-ranking officers who set out to solve the kidnapping of five police officers.

Longman is an award-winning movie director, known for such films as ‘Vengeance’ (2009). Luk is an assistant direct who participated in making ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008).

The movie features a handful of big Chinese stars such as Aaron Kwon, Tony Leung Ka-fai, and Andy Lau. Tony Leung, a 54-year-old Chinese actor, has appeared in over 100 movies since his debut in 1983.

On the schedule is 304 movies from 75 countries shown at 37 cinemas located in Busan city. BIFF will be held for 10 days, and the movie ‘Television’, directed by Mostafa Farooki from Bangladesh, will close the festival.

Image Courtesy of  Injeongwon (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

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London is bestowed with multitudes of international events this year. As Londoners get busy with preparations for the Olympics in July, the city gives its entertainment buffs an unforgettable experience. Terracotta Far East Film Festival has collaborated with the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office to bring the Hong Kong 15 film festival to the Queens City of London this summer. The festival will be held at the popular Odeon Covent Garden from July 2 until July 14. This is indeed a moment of pride for London, as its dissidents will experience cinema of a different caliber and prestige. The film festival will also mark the 15th centenary of the historical release of the British colony of Hong Kong to China.

The festival features 15 brilliant moments of cine magic from the world’s most advanced city. People can connect with Hong Kong in a way they have never connected before and experience the thrills, romance, drama, history, culture and arts of this vibrant city. To make this event memorable, organizers have selected versatile and diverse movies from varied genres to showcase the city’s historical past and its transformation through time.

On June 15, 2012, the festival website released the exciting list of up-coming movies being presented at the symposium. According to the festival website, “The diversity of Hong Kong cinema will be represented through a panorama of films divided in three sections: ‘Currents,’ ’15 Years Review,’ and ‘Shaw Brothers Classics.’” An extensive list includes films by national award-winning directors and brings to us internationally acclaimed actors such as Daniel Ip. The festival is gearing up to provide its audience with varied and multi award-winning movies. The world cinema has come a long way and these festivals are a testimony to the journey independent filmmakers, script writers, and actors have embarked on to make a difference in the art of filmmaking. Hong Kong 15 film festival will also expose the masses to upcoming Hong Kong film intellect from around the region.

The complete list of movies:

Current:

• ‘A Simple Life’ by Ann Hui
• ‘Big Blue Lake’ by Jessey Tsang Tsui- Shan
• ‘White Vengeance’ by Daniel Lee Life
• ‘Without Principle’ by Johnnie To,
• ‘The Bounty’ by Fung Chi Chiang,
• ‘The Detective 2′ by Oxide Pang,
• ‘East Meets West 2011′ by Jeffrey Lau,
• ‘Wu Xia’ by Peter Chan.

15 Years Review:

• ‘Made In Hong Kong’ by Fruit Chan
• ‘When Beckham Met Owen’ by Adam Wong
• ‘Infernal Affairs’ by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak,
• ‘Sparrow’ by Johnnie To,
• ‘Dream Home’ by Pang Ho-cheung.

Shaw Brothers Classic:

• ‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin’ by Liu Chia-Liang,
• ‘One Armed Swordsman’ by Chang Cheh.

For booking and all other enquiries, please visit the Hong Kong 15 film festival website.

Image Courtesy of  lullabi / Shutterstock.com

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On Friday June 8, the Belfast Film Festival hosted the second of its three Gala Screenings as the locally-produced film ‘Jump’ premiered to a packed crowd at the Dublin Road Movie House. Starring Nichola Burley (‘StreetDance 3D’), Martin McCann (“The Pacific”), Charlene McKenna (“Raw”), Richard Dormer (‘Good Vibrations’) and Lalor Roddy (“Game of Thrones”), ‘Jump’ follows several characters on New Year’s Eve in Derry, Northern Ireland, as they weave in and out of each others lives, all ultimately impacting the film’s main protagonist Greta, played beautifully by Burley. Director Kieron J. Walsh does a great job bringing effective moments of comedy to an otherwise dark, introspective tale, but ‘Jump”s main success is in painting Northern Ireland in a light rarely seen before on screen or at this festival.

Toonari Post previously reviewed ‘Good Vibrations’ and ‘Shadow Dancer’, both of which were entertaining in their own rights but which still situated their narratives in relation to the well-documented social and political conflict of Northern Ireland’s past. ‘Jump’, however, tells personal stories through themes which could translate to any city and any festival. Depression, grief, greed, hope: Walsh brings all of these to life thanks to a moving score and Steve Brookes’ well-balanced screenplay.

The film begins with Greta on the edge of a bridge, contemplating suicide until she is interrupted by Pearse, a young man unceasing in his efforts to find his younger brother who he suspects has been harmed by local gangster Frank Feeney, who just so happens to be Greta’s father. Reluctantly caught in the middle of all of these storylines is Greta’s friend Marie who, along with her other friend Dara, struggle to stay out of danger on a New Year’s Eve night which spirals more and more out of control.

Burley has few, if any, light moments to play as the despondent Greta, but she never falters in her portrayal of a woman figuratively and physically driven to the edge of despair. She sparkles in her scenes with McCann, who gets to play some wittier moments as Pearse, a young man with whom Greta forms an instant bond due to their mutual loathing of Frank Feeney, played by Roddy. Roddy is perfectly menacing in the role, while Ciarán McMenamin and Packy Lee provide much of the comic relief as Feeney’s lacklustre henchmen. Charlene McKenna and Valene Kane are terrific as Marie and Dara, the two women who can’t help but to get drawn into everyone else’s problems. Rounding out the cast is Dormer who, as the haunted criminal Johnny, is a world away from Terri Hooley of ‘Good Vibrations’ in this role. Dormer grounds every single scene he is in, especially when he is paired with the ridiculous duo of Ross and Jack (McMenamim and Lee, respectively), and at times rivals Burley as the emotional hook of the film.

More than likely, ‘Jump’ will not receive the global marketing support handed out to less-deserving ensemble offerings like last year’s woeful ‘New Year’s Eve’ or the recent ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’, which is a shame because Walsh and Brookes have created a densely-plotted and fantastically fast-paced film which would entertain almost any cinema-goer. Still, it had the backing of Limelight Media, Northern Ireland Screen, the Irish Film Board and BBC Northern Ireland, among other investors, so there may be hope that a wider audience outside of Northern Ireland will get the chance to enjoy ‘Jump’ and see a refreshing take on life in this creatively-burgeoning country.

Visit the Belfast Film Festival Website  or Just give them a Like on Facebook

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Though still not even in official release, the writer and director of “The Last War Crime” says that YouTube is already trying to suppress the movie, which is a new full-length feature film about indicting Dick Cheney for torture. The movie’s writer and director, who goes by the name of The Pen, asks, “And isn’t that something billions of people want to see?”

But, says The Pen, YouTube does not want their visitors to see the preview clip of the waterboarding scene from the movie, for the purported reason that it contains nudity or is otherwise sexually provocative. A protest is mobilizing against this accusation.

“That’s ridiculous,” exclaims Pen. “There is no actual nudity in it … none. The actor playing the detainee wore a swimmer’s style bathing suit the entire time, and we positioned the female interrogator character so view of his midriff was blocked entirely in any case. And if they’re complaining this scene is sexually suggestive, they need to ban half the rest of the movies on their site.”

The purpose of the scene in the movie is to condemn waterboarding, long recognized to be a form of torture unequivocally. According to The Pen, the scene also serves to remind everyone that the sexual taunting of helpless and mostly innocent captives, in places like Abu Ghraib, was a deliberate part of a de facto program to degrade people in violation of the Geneva Conventions. However, YouTube makes no provision on their site to challenge their own unilateral dictates.

Pen states, “Shame on YouTube for censoring this clip, which we believe, and we think you will agree, is part of an important cultural and artistic statement of social commentary.

We have already submitted the movie to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Cinequest Film Festival, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, SXSW, the Cleveland International Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, and the San Francisco International Film Festival, seven of the top breakout venues for serious works of new film art.”

Pen continues, “And shame on YouTube further for deleting our waterboarding scene in such a summary and authoritarian manner. We had to build our own video server to do it, but people can now again see the clip for themselves on our new website.”

On the same web page is an action form configured to automatically send protests to YouTube. Pen is asking everyone to submit this form to send their own personal messages of complaint and is demanding that YouTube immediately restore the wrongfully deleted waterboarding scene from “The Last War Crime” movie, and put in place an accessible review process so nothing like this can ever happen again. Hoping thousands of people will join with him, Pen suggests, “Maybe that will start to get YouTube’s attention.”

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The Lisbon and Estoril Film Festival (LEFF), formerly known as Estoril Film Festival, is making a name for itself as one of Europe’s leading film festivals. As a newcomer, the festival has been able to bring big names from the film industry since its debut in 2007. Some who have taken part in the event have included Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, Oscar-winning actor John Malkovich, Catherine Deneuve, and Kathryn Bigelow.

The festival takes pride in awarding the best of the best in the movie industry while creating a meeting point for artists and performers of the trade in the capital of Portugal.

The best distinguishing feature is the fact that there is no red carpet at most of the screenings, even at the premieres. One could simply stand in line waiting to get inside and Paul Giamatti or David Cronenberg could walk by you and even stop by for a chat.

Movies competing in the official selection are mostly European films, and some of the movies shown are already generating Oscar buzz. The festival will premiere “A Dangerous Method” (David Cronenberg),” The Ides of March” (George Clooney), “Melancholia” (Lars von Trier), “Restless” (Gus van Sant). “Faust,” directed by Alexander Sokurov and the winner of the Berlinare and the Venice Festival’s Golden Lion, will also premiere at the festival.

This is undoubtedly LEFF’s best edition to date. It hosts a jury panel of world-renowned authors, such as Paul Auster and J.M. Coetzee, and will showcase the first images of Cronenberg’s “Cosmopolis,” starring Robert Pattinson. In addition, LEFF will also host several events simultaneously in some of Lisbon’s most iconic venues. The festival proves its versatility while dabbling in other areas, holding events specially aimed at college students, classes with Giamatti and Cronenberg, musical concerts, an international symposium on the future of the culture industries, ateliers, and several other exhibitions.

One of the main attractions of the festival is an exhibit on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which portrays the everyday life of a Palestinian village. The work is by photographer Kai Wiedenhöfer, winner of the first Carmignac Gestion Foundation Photojournalism Award.

If you happen to be in Lisbon in November 3 to November 14, be sure to check out LEFF. It is an event you don’t want to miss.

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