A sea of green stretches as far as the eye can see on both sides of the dirt road leading to the Paraguayan communities of Lima, Capiibary and Guayaibí. The huge fields are planted with genetically modified soy, Paraguay's leading export product. As it takes over more and more land, the crop is leaving sick people, displaced communities and trampled rights in its wake, according to the documentary Soberanía violada, which means “violation of sovereignty”.

This documentary challenges the social bases of domestic violence by showing the strategies used by women who work in the legal system, in the gaps left where there are no longer traditions, beliefs or state or religious laws. It is an epic everyday struggle to defend women, but also to convince poor women of their rights. Sisters in Law is a fascinating look at the work of a courthouse in a small town in Cameroon, Central Africa. The tough-minded state prosecutor, Vera Ngassa and judge, Beatrice Ntuba, are helping women and children to find the courage to fight difficult cases of domestic violence and child abuse despite pressures from family and their community to remain silent. Through their emotional stories and courage, the extraordinary work of women in the judicial system shines through. With fierce compassion, the female prosecutor and judge dispense wisdom and justice in fair measure; handing down stiff sentences to those convicted. Sisters in Law presents another reality of African Women’s agency and their resilient spirit, courage, hope and fight for justice and gender equality.

Practical information

           A presentation of Kurdish films by the Rojava Kurdistan Film Commune (Northern Syria)

OVNI has collaborated with the Rojava Film Commune in a project aimed at researching, screening, and promoting their work in Spain, Italy, and France. A process of investigation through videos, texts, and meetings, in order to listen to their voices and understand their struggle together. We have created a website that you can visit link.

Komîna fîlm a Rojava (Rojava Film Commune) is a collective of filmmakers founded in 2015, based in the autonomous Rojava region in the Federation of Northern and Eastern Syria. The Commune is actively working in the region to rebuild and reorganise filmmaking and film education infrastructures.

The Rojava Film Commune was established to promote local film culture by organising film screenings, facilitating discussions on the role of film within society, producing new films, and setting up a Film Academy. Following the 1960 fire in Rojava’s only cinema in the city of Amude—which saw the death of 298 children trapped inside—the Commune aims to reclaim film as a central space for reimagining society, by democratising and revolutionising the imagination itself.

The Commune has educated a new generation of Rojava filmmakers, organized screenings in cities and villages, and produced new films. It seeks to represent the values and ideals of the Rojava Revolution, but also to mediate and depict the daily struggles in the Syrian civil war and Rojava’s collective attempt to build a new society.

The Rojava Film Academy provides education for aspiring filmmakers in Northern Syria. Founded in 2015, it offers one-year programmes, with courses on international film history, Kurdish film history, film theory, photography, cinematography, script writing, editing, and sound design, taught by local and international film professionals.

The Academy is self-organized and non-hierarchical, encouraging students to participate in every aspect of its organization. Exchange networks have also been set up with other academic, media, and news platforms, and with civil society organizations, in order to engage in broad discussions and create screening possibilities. Considering the influx of foreign filmmakers and journalists to Rojava, it is important for the Commune to reclaim the representation and imagination of the revolution.

After decades of oppression of Kurdish language and culture, the Rojava Film Academy aims to revitalize local film culture, reclaiming the power to narrate and imagine one’s dreams and realities. After the Syrian Civil War started, the predominantly Kurdish northern region declared the Autonomy Administration, creating structures based on grassroots democracy, women’s liberation, and cultural diversity.

The Academy bases its methodology on ‘revolutionary realism’, i.e. a realism that does not merely reveal the current reality in a new way, but also restructures the reality of the possible . As well as finding forms to express things as-they-are, it creates the opportunity to imagine the not-yet-present, the ‘eternal becoming’ that is the revolution itself.

https://rewend.desorg.org/

https://rewend.desorg.org/

There are resistances from various origins and languages that unfold against the imposition of a single and hegemonic thought.

Radio Qman Txun, crónica de un pueblo maya tells a story between entertainment and reflection, so it allows every watcher whether to do a deep analysis or not, according to their own interest: it can be seen just as a show but it can also make one wonder about the main social, economic and cultural problems of present day: the conflict between tradition and a far reaching globalization, the old social unfair and its links to current immigration, young people and Indian women, the peace process and the new born democracy in Guatemala, the only hope for a change. We just pretend to make questions and let every watcher figure out their own answers.

On May 27, 2011, police tried to evict the camp at Plaça Catalunya (Barcelona), which consisted of citizens exercising their right to freedom of assembly in a public space. The ensuing events in Barcelona became one of the most-documented cases of police brutality in recent history. They will also go down in history for the effective, exemplary and forceful non-violent response of the demonstrators. Following these events, a group of citizens filed a complaint reporting police abuse. But the judge closed the case without even hearing the complainants. This decision effectively left the claimants – and all citizens – utterly defenceless, and left the perpetrators of the serious events that took place on May 27 unpunished. It also created a dangerous precedent that is reminiscent of the impunity that existed in Spain during Franco’s dictatorship. #SOS27M Police impunity questions Spain’s democracy and justice system and calls for the support of the international community.

Part indictment, part redemption tale, the film offers startling insight into the role of the Black Panther Party in a social revolution, and the New York Police Department and the FBI's devious targeting of one of the organization's most fervent leaders -Dhoruba Bin Wahad (born Richard Moore). Emerging from the Bronx ghettos and a life of petty crime, Dhoruba dived headfirst into the Black Power movement, serving breakfast to school children with one hand while wielding a gun with the other.