Film Selected for the Arts & Cinema Corner
On International Women’s Day, Women Deliver is pleased to announce the films that have been invited to screen at the 2016 Arts and Cinema Corner, a special feature of the Women Deliver 2016 Global Conference. These films tell the stories behind Women Deliver’s mission of improving the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women and will help conference participants connect to these key issues.
Building on the successes of the inaugural Cinema Corner at the 2010 Women Deliver conference in DC, and the following 2013 Cinema Corner in Kuala Lumpur, the 2016 Cinema Corner will include three days of screenings, showcasing trailers, shorts, and segments of feature length films. This year, nearly 200 inspiring and informative films of all genres were submitted by students and independent filmmakers from diverse regions, UN/NGO agencies, and Oscar/Emmy-winning production companies.
“After curating the 2010 and 2013 Cinema Corners, I was amazed to see the quality of film submissions this year and the complexity of characters and storylines that capture the struggles and resiliency of girls and women around the world,” said Lisa Russell, Emmy-winning filmmaker and curator of the 2016 Women Deliver Arts and Cinema Corner. “I think conference attendees who visit the Arts and Cinema Corner this year are going to be truly amazed at how the filmmaking community has embraced our issues through film and the arts. They are helping to push the narrative of girls and women from one of charity and pity to solidarity and empowerment, in a manner that will resonate with an audience well beyond the development arena.”
To support the Arts and Cinema Corner and participating filmmakers, follow us at:
- Facebook: /WomenDeliverArtsandCinemaCorner
- Twitter: #WDArtsandCinema and #WD2016
Cinema Corner is proud to invite the following films from a variety of genres including documentaries, narrative, music videos, PSAs, trailers, scene selects, and more (in alphabetical order):
- A Question of Humanity
Heather Angel Chandler/Innovative Multimedia Group (The IMG Studio) (Uganda/USA)
A young Ugandan woman emerges as an unlikely heroine as she races against time to save the next generation of her people from a mysterious, deadly disease that is attacking thousands of children leaving them in a zombie-like state. - ALSO in Africa
Thomas Fink/Médicins Sans Frontières (Denmark/Ivory Coast)
We follow the Danish obstetrician, Maria Milland, on her first posting with Médicins Sans Frontières and get close to her considerations and challenges working with maternity complications using ALSO-techniques. - Always #GirlsCan
Myrna Maakaron//Procter& Gamble (Egypt)
Always is launching a social experiment video #GirlsCan to raise awareness on the impact of the loss of confidence during puberty on girls’ dreams with a film that captures the boundless spirit little girls have as opposed to the doubt instilled in older ones. - Always #LikeAGirl
Lauren Greenfield/Procter& Gamble (USA)
Always has kicked off an epic battle to make sure that girls everywhere keep their confidence throughout puberty and beyond, and making a start by showing them that doing things #LIKEAGIRL is downright amazing. - Badra’s Story
Catherine McCarthy, Josie Gallo. Francis Webster, Johan Selin, Johan Eriksson/Medical Aid Films & What Took You So Long (Somaliland)
The story of Badra, a midwife in Somaliland, and how films are used to save lives. - Be a Man, Respect Women
Mariam Khan/UNFPA (Algeria)
A video spot to advocate for male involvement to end gender-based violence against women as part of fulfillment of their well-being to access empowerment and sexual and reproductive health rights. - BLACK INSIDE – Three Women’s Voices
Rodney Rascona/Rascona Film + Phil Tidy//Post Producer-Squire London (USA/UK/Kenya/India/Peru)
Sarah, Vandana and Monica are three women living in Kenya, India and Peru, who share a common voice in raising awareness to the over 4 million women and children who lose their lives each year, from breathing the toxic smoke created when simply cooking over an open wood fire and how a simple clean cookstove can bring extraordinary change. - Blessed Fruit of the Womb
Charlene Music, Peter Jordan & Mike Seely (Guatemala)
Undeterred by the power of the church, corrupt politics, and a male-dominated culture where they’ve even been threatened with lynching, Evelyn and Ester, two indigenous Guatemalans, courageously travel the mountains and valleys of their native country on a quest to provide family planning education and access to birth control methods to women. - Body Team 12
David Darg & Bryn Mooser/RYOT Films, Paul G. Allen & Olivia Wilde/Vulcan Productions (Liberia/USA)
The story is told on the ground in Monrovia, Liberia through the eyes of the only female member of the team, who reveals the heartbreaking, lifesaving work of removing bodies from loved ones in order to halt transmission of the disease. - Bottled up!
Sarah Kasher (South Africa)
I bottled up my feelings for my whole life, and then, my bottle exploded. - Break Barriers to Maternal Health and Rights
Heather Roymans/Center for Health and Gender Equity (USA)
Premiering at Women Deliver, this is a 90-second animated video showcasing the ways that women from across the world receive respectful maternity care and where there are barriers to this care. - Broken Dreams, Healing Hopes
Sharron Ward/Picture This Productions (Jordan/UK)
Our film traces the lives of three pregnant Syrian refugees and the dedicated family planning workers and midwives trying to reach these women, many of whom are living in tents scattered around urban areas and who are especially vulnerable, as they cannot afford medical care and are worried sick as to how they are going to cope. - Camera/Woman
Karima Zoubir (Morocco)
With enthusiastic musicians and ornate wedding parties setting the stage, we meet Khadija, a Moroccan divorcee who works as a camerawoman at weddings in Casablanca. - Casablanca Calling
Rosa Rogers/Redbird (UK/Morocco)
Morocco’s first female Muslim leaders set out to change society and educate a nation in a quiet social revolution. - Civil War Sickness
Isa Gueye/ Reel Works Teen Filmmaking (USA)
A young woman examines her eating disorder and mental illness recovery seeking to articulate the deeper questions like why do eating disorders develop and how does healing happen? - Cooking With Love
Sukunya Wangsomnuk (USA/Thailand) Follows four Thai women into their humble kitchens as they share fond memories and show us how cooking from the heart can bond a family together. - Don’t Hate Me
Donna Fair/SaySo Filmworks (USA/Bangladesh)
Some of the internal self esteem struggles that adolescent girls face and the people that empower them to keep going. - EILA
Cecilie Nørgaard (Denmark)
An existential portrait of Eila – a 85 year old transgendered and lesbian woman, who struggles with the fact that the action that finally made her whole, halved her relations. The story of Eila reminds us that it is never too late to become oneself. - ENCHIKUNYE
Sandro Bozzolo / Geronimo Carbonò-Meibi (Italy)
A young Maasai girl reached an Italian shepherd in the Italian Alps. Two women from different worlds, in terms of skin, age and language, lived together a season of pastoralism, sharing their job and their stories. - Enemies to Allies
Julie Winokur/Talking Eyes (USA/Kenya)
In Kisumu, Kenya, sex workers are transforming the police force into their strongest ally in the fight against HIV. - Ensuring Healthier Futures for Mothers and Children in Nicaragua
Beth Murphy/Population Services International (PSI) &Principle Pictures (Nicaragua/USA)
This first of a kind program to address gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) as a public health issue in Nicaragua, helps cast light on a global problem and provides a life-saving intervention for mothers and children. - ESCAPES
Mercedes Gaspar / La Fragua Audiovisual SL, Mercedes Gaspar (Spain)
A woman in crisis after the death of her father, escapes from her feelings on a trip. - Go Straight Home
Maud Nycander & Iga Mikler (Bangladesh/Sweden)
Reba’s dream is to go to school and get an education: that’s a big dream for a girl in Bangladesh, but the obstacles are many: the boys on the street corners who keep shouting after her, and what the neighbours might think of it, and perhaps she will be forced to marry. - God Is Not Working On Sunday!
Leona Goldstein/zAPANka films (Rwanda, Germany)
Surviving women driving social change in the Rwanda of today. - Hearts at Peace
Neal Broffman & Elisa Gambino/One Production Place, Johnson & Johnson, Fistula Foundation, UNFPA (Ethiopia/Tanzania)
Hearts at Peace follows the work of Johnson & Johnson partners in Ethiopia and Tanzania as they work to prevent and surgically repair obstetric fistula, a devastating yet preventable birth injury that leaves women and girls in isolation and poverty, as well as support these women and girls as they reintegrate into their families and community after treatment. - Helping Babies Breathe in Malawi & Uganda
Neal Broffman & Elisa Gambino/One Production Place, Johnson & Johnson & Save the Children (Malawi/Uganda)
Service providers in resource-limited settings are trained and supported to take immediate action and resuscitate babies who are born asphyxiated and unable to breathe at birth, which is a leading cause of neonatal deaths worldwide. - HerStory: Educate a Woman, Educate a Nation
Sally Nuamah/TWII Foundation (USA/Ghana)
Sally Nuamah, a researcher, returns to the homelands of her parents, Ghana, to document the experiences of low income girls striving to become the first females in their families to go to college. - Home
Panita Chanrasmi-Lefebvre / Bark (ft. Talibah Safiya) (USA)
A young girl confronts her abuser as she discovers how empowering freedom can be in this music video for “Bark”. - Honor Diaries
Paula Kweskin & Micah Smith (USA/Canada)
Honor Diaries follows the stories of nine female activists, and their dialogue with each other, and looks at issues facing women in Muslim-majority societies, including honor-based violence, female genital mutilation and forced marriage. - If You Don’t Tell Them, Then Who Will?
Jay Karas/Stun Creative (USA)
No topic off limits as Jessica Biel, Whitney Cummings, and Joy Bryant discuss women’s health issues for Woman Care Global’s Then Who Will campaign. - In Ribbons
Marie-Valerie Jeantelot (Ireland)
Laurie’s father is taking her on a journey; to a destination that is within walking-distance from her house, yet is a place that is far from home. - IN THE GAME
Maria Finitzo/Kartemquin Films (USA)
IN THE GAME looks at four years in the life of a girls’ soccer team at a Chicago high school in a primarily Latino neighborhood to reveal the very real obstacles that low-income students confront in their quest for higher education. - In Their Own Words
Kime McClintock/ Marie Stopes International -US, Good Morning Beautiful Films & What Took You So Long (Cambodia/Tanzania)
A collection of 11 short films from Cambodia and Tanzania on women’s access to and the provision of sexual and reproductive health services. - IN UTERO
Kathleen Gyllenhaal /MRB Productions (USA/Prague)
A cinematic rumination on what will emerge as the most provocative subject of the 21st Century – life in the womb and its lasting impact on human development, human behavior, and the state of the world. - India’s Daughter
Leslee Udwin (India/UK)
The story of an exceptional and inspiring young woman – 23 year old medical student, Jyoti Singh (publicly known as “India’s daughter”); of her short life, and brutal gang rape and murder in Delhi in December 2012. - Know Your Freedom
Ghalia Al Aqili & Supriya Srinivas/ Know Your Freedom LLC (UAE/Qatar/Iceland)
Three Arab sportswomen negotiate dress, headscarves, marriage and even music to pursue their sporting ambitions - Lady Ganga: Nilza’s Story
Frederic Lumiere (India/USA)
With just a few months left to live, Michele Baldwin broke a world record and started a movement that would save the life of another woman years later in the highest place on earth: the Himalayas. - Leaving Africa
Iiris Härmä/Guerilla Films (Uganda/Finland)
The story of two friends working on gender equality in Uganda and facing the challenges like never before. - Like Other Girls Do
Melissa Hilliard Potter (Serbia/USA)
In an old Balkan custom, a girl became her father’s son to keep the home she would otherwise leave when she married; in a nearby city, five women live far from such traditions. - Mammary Gland Malfunction
Robyn Laliberte (Canada)
A quirky teenage virgin is faced with an unusual high school nightmare when her boobs start lactating. - Managing Postpartum Hemorrhage in Home Births
Dina Abbas/Gynuity Health Projects & Sibtain Shabbir/Red Rabbit Productions
(Pakistan/USA)
This film showcases a new service delivery model to prevent and treat PPH in home births through the use of misoprostol as administered by trained traditional birth attendants in the remote mountainous setting of Chitral, Pakistan. - MILK
Noemi Weis/Filmblanc (Canada)
Through an intimate and artistic lens, MILK brings a universal perspective on the commercialization , politics and controversies surrounding birth and infant feeding - Mindful Vineyards
Kari Birdseye & Chris Jordan-Bloch/Earthjustice (USA)
Meet the new heroes of sustainable agriculture, from farm to table they call for justice in agriculture to protect some of the most vulnerable workers in the nation. - Minding Our Own
Inaya Graciana Yusuf (USA)
“Minding Our Own” is a compassionate portrayal of two families and their quest to understand the world of caregiving. - Mission Rape – A Tool of War
Annette Mari Olsen & Katia Forbert Petersen/Sfinx Film/TV (Denmark/Sweden/Iceland/Bosnia-Herzegovina/Poland)
Through the personal testimonies of a group of women we experience the aftermaths of war-time rape, and how impunity and lack of justice after war haunts the victims, their families and entire societies, for generations to come. - Mother’s Cry
Lisa Russell/I Sell the Shadow (USA)
A short creative video on climate change that uses the power of spoken word poetry to cleverly weave together metaphors comparing the demise of our Mother Earth to the struggles of women facing domestic violence, neglect, chaos and loneliness. - My Fat Baby
Ami Vitale/Ripple Effect Images (Benin)
Women in rural Benin used to watch helplessly as food sources dwindled and children went hungry during the annual dry season, but solar power and a drip irrigated garden from the Solar Electric Light Fund helped change that. - My Sister’s Photo
Narges Kharghani (Iran)
A young woman wants to help her sister because her sister has a problem. - Myanmar Midwife
Carine Weiss & Khin Myo Myat/Yangon Film School (Myanmar/Germany)
“Myanmar Midwife” takes an eye-opening look at the situation for midwife Nwe Ni Cho, who serves seven villages with a total population of 2,760 people in the Yangon River delta two hours to the north-east of the country’s former capital Yangon. - Nadia and Cassandane
Micah Garen & Marie-Helene Carleton/Four Corners Media (Greece/USA)
A young woman and her daughter fleeing Afghanistan arrive by boat on island of Lesvos. - Nascent
Lindsay Branham & Jon Kasbe (USA/Central African Republic)
A bloody civil war in Central African Republic has divided a once peaceful nation along religious lines. Two children, one Christian and one Muslim, seek answers in each other. - No Más Bebés
Renee Tajima-Peña & Virginia Espino (USA)
The story of Mexican immigrant women who were sterilized at Los Angeles country hospital, and their fight for reproductive justice. - Not So Namaste
Rita Baghdadi & Jeremiah Hammerling/Endless Eye (USA)
On the eve of the Romanian revolution in 1989, young Olympic gymnast Ella Cojocaru plans to escape her government training facility in Bucharest. - Oblivion Season
Abbas Rafei (Iran)
An ex-prostitute in Iran starts a new life by marrying her loved one but leaving the shadow of her dark past is not as easy as it seemed before. - OMESSA
Charlène Favier (France)
Discovering a lump in her breast, Anna returns to Corsica and goes to a gynecologist while also facing her history, her inherit her father. - Promise Me
Kevin Machate/Who’s That? Productions (USA)
An emotionally charged social drama in which a once flourishing woman, now at the end of her life, struggles to ensure that her recently reconciled son does not make the same mistakes that she did. - Poder!
Lisa Russell/Governess Films (USA/Guatemala)
Two indigenous girls from Guatemala challenge their Mayor to bring education and healthcare for girls in their community. - Raising The Score
Various Filmmakers/CARE (Malawi/USA)
Filmmakers from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication document the impact of CARE’s Community Score Card approach in improving maternal health care services in Ntcheu, Malawi through 13 short films. - Raquel: A Marked Woman
Gabriela Böhm/Bohm Productions (USA/Argentina)
In the early 20th century, thousands of Eastern European Jewish women were lured to Argentina and forced into prostitution; others gave up — not Raquel — who bravely exposed her oppressors. - Reaching the Most Remote with Quality Health Care
Roy Heisler & Melody McCoy/Jhpiego (USA/Ghana)
Community health officers are bringing lifesaving quality health services to remote areas of Western Ghana, benefitting women and families and keeping mothers and newborns alive and thriving. - RED
Nora Hegedüs/ENS Louis-Lumière (France)
Inspired by the visual universe of beauty commercials, this one minute video aims to raise awareness about sexual violence against women. - SANDS OF SILENCE: Waves of Courage
Chelo Alvarez-Stehle/innerLENS Productions (USA/Spain)
A personal documentary about a filmmaker who, inspired by the transformation of the sex-trafficking survivors whose lives she is documenting, finds the courage to break the silence about sexual abuse in her own life. - Senisim Pasin
Josiah Thiesen/Global Virtual Studios (Papua New Guinea)
A catalyst to help end gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea. - She Started It
Nora Poggi & Insiyah Saeed (USA)
Five young women will stop at nothing to pursue to pursue their start-up dreams. - Sixth Grade Cannibals
Jeanette Castillo/Ball State University (USA)
A coming of rage story - Soma Girls
Nandini Sikand & Alexia Prichard (India)
Soma Girls is an exploration of a girls hostel in Kolkata, India who try to overcome extraordinary circumstances to lead ordinary lives. - SPEAK NOW (OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE)
Juan Miguel Peña/Respirando Clásico Producciones (Spain)
Maria, a battered woman, decides to leave her marriage. - SPILLED WATER
May May Tchao/Tchao Films, LLC (China/USA)
SPILLED WATER explores the lives of four Chinese women as their country’s rapid economic transformation shifts their roles, rights and status as mothers, wives and daughters. - STORIES UNTOLD
Sarah Zeryab, Zohra Bellamine & Fatma Hassan/C:NTACT & Ma3mal 612 (Lebanon/Oman/Tunisia/Denmark)
STORIES UNTOLD offers a solid handful of short films produced on mobile phones by and with extraordinary women from the Arab world. - Stand with Eva
Meagan Bond/ONE Campaign (Tanzania/USA)
A film that follows the inspiring journey of 15 year old Eva Tolage, a dedicated daughter and student, to hold her leaders accountable and bring clean water to her community in Tanzania. - Story of a Girl
Jonathan Smith/Yale University & Visual Epidemiology (Argentina)
Born with HIV, it is young Sophia’s last day with her father before she must move to the city for treatment. - Suffering in Silence: Obstetric Fistula in Asia
Pep Bonet /Noor (Nepal/Pakistan/Afghanistan)
An insightful multimedia documentary that draw attention to obstetric fistula, a devastating medical condition resulting from complicated childbirths. - Syria: The Hidden War on Women
Sharron Ward/Katalyst Productions Ltd (UK)
As the Syrian war enters its fifth year, the pressures on displaced families have caused a dramatic rise in violence against women. - That´s Me
Daniel Suberviola/ASMA Films & Plan International (Guatemala/Honduras/El Salvador/Dominican Republic)
The story of four adolescent boys from four Latin American countries, who face the challenge of finding out who they and prove that as young men they can challenge harmful gender norms and stereotypes, in order to demonstrate they can help change the society we live in. - The First Smile After
Zahra Jafari (Iran)
By their innocent world, children save us from our sad miserable world and this film has a quick look at a love message that is the savior. - The AMERICAN Dream
Paolo Patruno (USA)
Women of color tell their own maternal health stories given that African-American women in the US are nearly 4 times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications compared to European American. - The Artificial Womb
Alexandra Kopec (USA)
An inside look at what life can be like for babies that are born prematurely and are admitted into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. - The Conversation
A series of short films, uses powerful personal narratives to elevate shared experiences about race and equality with the aim to examine honest, sometimes painful, revelations on the subject of race relations in America. - The Dream Chronicles
Krish Makhija/Mosambi Juice Productions (India)
Here’s a small peak into the lives of an awesome bunch of girls from YUWA. - The Meaning of Justice
Laura Salas (Mexico)
In the documentary “Sense of Justice” Lidia, María Antonia and Erick tell us about the barriers in access to justice in Mexico in cases of femicide - The Ripple Effect
Sarah Khan (Pakistan)
‘The Ripple Effect’ shows how access to safe water has transformed the lives of rural women in Pakistan. - The Story of Ebola
Yoni Goodman/IFRC, UNICEF and Global Health Media Project (USA)
The Story of Ebola is an animated narrative that makes visible the invisible Ebola germs to help people see and understand how Ebola spreads and how to protect themselves. - Too Young to Wed: Guatemala
Stephanie Sinclair/ Too Young to Wed, Katie Orlinsky (USA/Guatemala)
Like nearly one-third of all girls in Guatemala who become mothers long before they are physically and emotionally ready, Aracely was married at 11 to a 34-year-old man and bore him a son when she was 14. - Two Syrian Girls
A World at School (Lebanon)
Both Aya and Ayesha are both 12 years old Syrian refugees living in Lebanon who dream of becoming a doctor but because of the limited number of places at schools in the country, only Aya is able to attend classes, whereas Ayesha spends her days working in the fields. - Voice of Visit
Mitra Roohimaneshz (Iran)
Roya is a small rural girl who wishes for family reunion between her father, a coal miner, and her painstaking mother until the postman delivers a letter from Roy’s father. - Waiting in Urfa
Mitra Bonshahi & Anna Barsan (USA/Turkey)
Using animated illustrations, “Waiting in Urfa” is a film that chronicles the lives of seven refugee women who escaped the civil war in Syria. - Walking Together
Sean McPhillips/Mighty Films (Kenya/Australia)
Traditional and skilled birth attendants talk about caring for semi-nomadic pastoralist women in Kenya, highlighting the potential for collaborative care to achieve better health outcomes. - Where is My Mother’s House
Selma Nayebi (Iran)
The old and elderly people in nursing homes have been abandoned by their children and they suffer from lack of their love but they look forward to seeing their families regardless. - Why I Filmed My Abortion
Emily Letts (USA)
In the face of the deep stigma that silences women across the globe, I am here to prove that a “positive” abortion story does exist. - WOMEN ARE THE ANSWER
Fiona Cochrane / f-reel pty ltd (Australia/India)
The global population has passed the 7 billion mark and India will soon overtake China as the most populous nation in the world, but one state in southern India has found the solution. - Women of West Africa: Finding the Courage to Lead
Tim Werwie, Corrie Commisso & Kevin Vigoroux (Senegal)
This short film tells the story of Fatoumata, one of the many women in West Africa who are confidently stepping into leadership roles in their communities. - Women Take Charge in Malaria Prevention
Colby Gottert/Abt Associates, The PMI AIRS Project (USA/Benin)
Follows the story of one women in Benin who is leading the fight against malaria through indoor residual spraying, helping to bring about lasting development results for women and communities.