Cairo 6.7.8. Drama from Egypt, follows three women whose lives intersect: a conservative, poor mother who has to endure groping daily as she rides the overcrowded bus to work; an artist who is molested by a group of men celebrating a football victory in Tahrir Square; a young woman who refuses to drop a lawsuit against the man who dragged her by the chest alongside his moving truck. The drama is also a witty cop story, as an investigator searches for the vigilante woman (or women) who is stabbing male bus passengers in the groin. Much of the film is based on true stories.
Box With Her Documentary from Tunisia, made by a man/woman directing team. Women boxers from Tunisia have won African and world titles. Between 17 and 30 years old, they reveal themselves as spontaneous, sensitive, and sometimes bitter, speaking about their relationship with men, with society and their passion for their chosen sport. The camera follows them in their daily lives, in the ring, at their places of work, in their homes and in their relationships with men – both personally and as symbols of the struggle to break down female stereotypes in the Arab world.
Salaam Dunk Documentary from Iraq, presented by filmmaker Beau Lewis. Basketball is much more than a game in this stirring documentary about a women’s basketball team at the American University of Iraq in Kurdistan. For the team, most of whom have never touched a basketball or been allowed to play any sport, it is a blissful release from the realities of a war-torn nation. From all ethnicities and sects – Arab, Kurd, Christian, Sunni, Shiite, they find joy in playing and a deep love for the young American man who coaches them, and show an Iraq united in a way we’ve never seen before.
The Price of Sex Documentary shot in Bulgaria, Moldavia, Cairo, Dubai and Istanbul. Bulgarian filmmaker, Mimi Chakarova, achieves extraordinary access to the underground criminal network of human trafficking, even posing as a prostitute. She travels from impoverished areas in post-Communist Eastern Europe to the Middle East, interviewing trafficked women willing to trust her and appear on film undisguised. Their harrowing first-person accounts, as well as interviews with traffickers, clients, and anti-trafficking activists, expose the root causes, complex connections, and stark significance of sexual slavery today. (Note: possible presentation by Mimi Chakarova)
Saving Face: 2012 Academy Award winner Documentary from Pakistan, presented by Daniel Junge, American filmmaker, Pakistani co-director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Pakistani plastic surgeon Dr. Mohammad Jawad. This documentary, short-listed for an Oscar (finalists to be announced late January), follows Dr. Jawad from his successful practice in London to Pakistan, where he is introduced to women who have been victims of acid attacks. The film then focuses on some of these women as they grapple with what has happened to them. As well as following their reconstructive surgery, the film shows Pakistani women helping each other cope and to seek justice for the victims.
For more information please visit,
http://www.americansforunfpa.org/NetCommunity/page.aspx?pid=1068
Family of Women Film Festival Interview: http://www.conciergequestionnaire.com/ur_here/story.php?id=127
Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin “shares his NYC”: http://www.conciergequestionnaire.com/q.php?id=413