The 2019 Human Rights Arts & Film Festival will open with Damon Gameau’s 2040. This exciting event will be followed by a Q&A with Damon Gameau (Director, Screenplay) and Katerina Gaita (CEO at Climate for Change), and will be moderated by Malinda Wink (Executive Producer).

“Gameau’s noble motives and positive vibes
are hard to fault.”

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

What could the future look like if we embraced the best solutions available today? Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film) embarks on a personal journey to explore what the
future would look like by the year 2040 if we embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them into the mainstream. Structured as a visual letter to his 4-year-old daughter, Damon Gameau blends traditional documentary footage with dramatised sequences and high-end visual effects to create a vision board for his daughter.

“An urgent plea for us all to make conscious choices in our consumption.”
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

The clothes we wear, the mobile phones we use and even the chocolate we eat all have one thing in common: they likely exploit child labour. Director Shraysi Tandon crosses the globe to expose the dangerous and deplorable conditions under which the world’s estimated 200 million child labourers are forced to work, where children as young as 6 work without protective gear or labour rights. Featuring interviews with human rights activists and tense on-camera confrontations with representatives from some of the world’s leading brands, Invisible Hands is an unflinching confrontation of an uncomfortable truth.

HRAFF’s screening of Top End Wedding will include a post-film Q&A with screenwriter Joshua Tyler.

“ Touching and authentic… a crowd pleaser.”
SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

Lauren and Ned are engaged, in love, and just ten days away from their dream wedding when they hit a major snag: Lauren’s mother has gone AWOL somewhere in the remote far north of Australia. The hilarious new film from The Sapphires director Wayne Blair takes viewers on a sweeping journey from the big city to the Top End, as Lauren and Ned race against time to reunite their parents and pull off a lavish Outback wedding. Based on a script co-written by lead actress Miranda Tapsell, Top End Wedding is a bright and breezy story of love, confronting the past and returning home.

Are you interested in Indigenous Affairs?

HRAFF is proud to present our Indigenous Affairs stream – including features that highlight inspiring Indigenous voices, are made by Indigenous filmmakers and are performed by Indigenous actors and actresses.

Wik vs Queensland + Q&A
Director: Dean Gibson

“An extraordinary film.”
THE GUARDIAN

In 1996, the High Court granted native title rights to the Wik Peoples of Cape York. The “Wik Decision” should have been
a catalyst for positive change, but instead sparked a national cultural and political fallout. With unique access to never-before- screened footage of Pat Dodson, Noel Pearson and Marcia Langton, this uncompromising feature documentary forensically explores the racism, fearmongering and political manoeuvring that occurred in the lead up to the case, and its aftermath.
Told from the very personal Wik Peoples’ perspective, Wik vs Queensland causes us to question who we are as a nation today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNEd0QzFTqg

Victorian Premiere Sunday 19 May 4:30pm ACMI Cinemas
Get Tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/wik-v-queensland/

Etched in Bone + Q&A
Director: Béatrice Bijon, Martin Thomas

“It’s impossible to do justice to the power,
both visual and cultural, of this film.”

THE GUARDIAN

For decades after colonisation, scientists dug up many of Australia’s Indigenous burial sites in order to collect human remains for museums and collections around the world. Jacob Nayinggul, an elder from the remote Arnhem Land settlement of Gunbalanya, believes that the spirits of his ancestors were disturbed by these thefts. With remarkable insight and cinematic flair, Etched in Bone chronicles Nayinggul’s tireless, decades-long effort to have the bones of his ancestors repatriated to their rightful resting place, and lays bare the conflict between scientific and traditional forms of knowledge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_82Ysd249w

Victorian Premiere Thursday 16 May 6pm ACMI Cinemas
Get Tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/etched-in-bone/

Waru
Director: BRIAR GRACE-SMITH, CASEY KAA,
AINSLEY GARDINER, KATIE WOLFE, RENAE MAIHI,
CHELSEA COHEN, PAULA JONES & AWANUI SIMICH-PENE

“I was moved to tears… Waru is a triumph of writing,
storytelling, performance and direction.”
STUFF.CO.NZ

A sisterhood of eight Maori female directors bravely share their insights into child abuse. At the centre of their stories is Waru, a boy killed at the hands of a caregiver. It shows how his death and trauma impacts the community, culminating in the preparations for his tangi (funeral). The stories follow different women as they are confronted by guilt, shame, pride and defeat. This is the first feature-length production written and directed by Māori women in thirty years. A beautifully told, profoundly heart-wrenching film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HBH5EoX9ys

Friday 10 May 8:30pm Cinema Nova
Get Tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/waru/

Top End Wedding + Q&A
Director: Wayne Blair

“Touching and authentic… a crowd pleaser.”

SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

Lauren and Ned are engaged, in love, and just ten days away from their dream wedding when they hit a major snag: Lauren’s mother has gone AWOL somewhere in the remote far north of Australia. The hilarious new film from The Sapphires director Wayne Blair takes viewers on a sweeping journey from the big city to the Top End, as Lauren and Ned race against time to reunite their parents and pull off a lavish Outback wedding. Based on a script co-written by lead actress Miranda Tapsell, Top End Wedding is a bright and breezy story of love, confronting the past and returning home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB8fILVx7iU

Friday 10 May 6:30pm Cinema Nova
Get Tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/top-end-wedding/

See more and save money.
See all five session for over 25 % off with a five pass https://bit.ly/2KG1bp1
Get three films for 15% off with our triple pass https://bit.ly/2UEJScj
First Nations Shorts

The United Nations General Assembly has
declared 2019 the International Year of
Indigenous Languages to raise awareness of
the crucial role languages play in people’s daily lives.

In Australia, of the estimated original 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, only around 120 are still spoken. HRAFF is proud to present our inaugural First Nations shorts program in partnership with Footscray Community Arts Centre and Winda Film Festival. Join us for a tribute to the vibrancy of Indigenous film with this program of shorts all in Indigenous languages.

May 18 6:00pm at Footscray Community Arts Centre
Get Tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/first-nations-shorts/

See more and save money.
See all five session for over 25 % off with a five pass https://bit.ly/2KG1bp1
Get three films for 15% off with our triple pass https://bit.ly/2UEJScj

“An on-the-ground view of one of the great global tragedies of our time.”
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Recipient of five awards at the Venice Film Festival, Still Recording is an up close and personal documentation of the Syrian civilian insurgency, told from the perspective of two art students, Saeed and Milad. The pair leave Damascus for Douma to take part in the revolution with visions of transforming hearts and minds through art, but the situation on the ground quickly deteriorates into chaos, thrusting them into a desperate fight for survival. Crafted from over 450 hours of visually arresting footage and smuggled out of Syria, Still Recording is a compelling, distressing, hopeful and heart stopping film that finds humanity and hope where all seems lost.

“I was moved to tears… Waru is a triumph of writing, storytelling, performance and direction.”
STUFF.CO.NZ

A sisterhood of eight Maori female directors bravely share their insights into child abuse. At the centre of their stories is Waru, a boy killed at the hands of a caregiver. It shows how his death and trauma impacts the community, culminating in the preparations for his tangi (funeral). The stories follow different women as they are confronted by guilt, shame, pride and defeat. This is the first feature-length production written and directed by Māori women in thirty years. A beautifully told, profoundly heart-wrenching film.

“Profoundly intimate, funny and heartwarming.”
THE COLLEGE REPORTER

Elad Cohen’s hearing family have never accepted his Deafness. In this achingly honest first-person tale, Cohen shares his journey to fatherhood and reconciliation with his family. Deaf Israeli Elad Cohen has felt guilty about being deaf since childhood, when his mother told him “raising you is like raising three kids”. After his mother’s tragic death, the divide between Cohen and his family only widens. Craving the stability of a family of his own, he decides to have a baby with his Deaf best friend Yaeli, but both are unprepared for the realities of being new parents. The charismatic Elad documents his own story using the camera as a diary, painting a deeply affecting and occasionally hilarious portrait of disability, parenthood and the complexities of balancing the two.

“Marvellous . . . a boundlessly empathetic documentary.”
NEW YORK MAGAZINE

Based on Andrew Solomon’s award-winning, critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling non-fiction book, Far From the Tree profiles families in which parents and their children have strikingly different identities. By following these parents and their extraordinary children — from those with dwarfism or Down syndrome, to child prodigies, to autistic kids — Rachel Dretzin’s delicate and moving film challenges preconceived notions of identity and difference, exploring the ways in which diversity unites us and celebrating the enriching power of love and understanding.

Join us for a post film Q&A

Are You Interested in the Fight for Gender Equality?

We are proud to present Girls To The Front highlighting powerful, transformative voices fighting to improve gender outcomes.

100% features directed by women about women.

#Female Pleasure
Director: Barbara Miller

“An important contribution to the debate on the sexual self-determination of women.” SPIELFILM.DE

In this frank and inspiring documentary, Barbara Miller chronicles five women from different countries and different cultures who have one thing in common: they’re a danger to the patriarchy. These extraordinary women fight for sexual liberation and autonomy beyond religious rules and cultural barriers, from a Somali anti-FGM activist in the UK, to a Japanese artist and self-described “vagina defender”, to women fighting religious oppression around the world. Their freedom comes at a high price, with each facing physical threats, legal action and public shaming. Their freedom comes at a high price, with each facing physical threats, legal action and public shaming. But with determination and poise they stand up and fight the politicisation and demonisation of women’s bodies, stepping forward as symbols of hope and self-determination and proving that pleasure is not a dirty word.

Victorian Premiere Friday 17 May 8:15pm ACMI Cinemas

Buy Tickets: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/female-pleasure/#ferve

On Her Shoulders

Director: Alexandria Bombach

“An essential portrait of the strength required to speak up.” INDIEWIRE

Twenty-three-year-old Nadia Murad’s life is a dizzying array of exhausting undertakings — from giving testimony before the U.N. to visiting refugee camps, to soul-bearing media interviews and one-on-one meetings with top government officials. With deep compassion and a formal precision and elegance that matches Nadia’s calm and steely demeanour, filmmaker Alexandria Bombach follows this strong-willed young woman who survived the 2014 genocide of the Yazidis in Northern Iraq and escaped the hands of ISIS to become a relentless beacon of hope for her people, even when at times she longs to lay aside this monumental burden and simply have an ordinary life. Presented by Plan International

Screening Tuesday 14 May 6pm ACMI Cinemas

Buy tickets: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/on-her-shoulders/#ferve

A Thousand Girls Like Me

“An extraordinary film.” THE GUARDIAN

Director: Sahra Mani

When Khatera, a 23-year-old Afghan woman, forces her father to stand trial after a lifetime of sexual abuse, she risks her family, freedom, and personal safety to expose a judicial system that incriminates the very women who seek protection. In a country where the systematic abuse of girls is rarely discussed, Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani presents an awe inspiring story of one woman’s battle against cultural, familial, and legal pressures as she embarks on a mission to set a positive example for her daughter and other girls like her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26y1wTJaJck
Australian Premiere Saturday 18 May 4:15pm ACMI Cinemas

Buy tickets: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/a-thousand-girls-like-me/…

Fig Tree

“Stunning and illuminating…An intimate coming-of-age story of self-discovery and female empowerment.” TIFF AWARDS JURY

Director: Aalam-Warqe Davidian

Mina is 16 years old and has lived under the shadow of the Ethiopian Civil War her entire life. Her family is Jewish and planning to flee Ethiopia for Israel, where Mina’s mother awaits their reunion. But this plan leaves out the person Mina loves most: Eli, her Christian boyfriend, who lives in the woods so as to evade being drafted into Mengistu Haile Mariam’s Army. As a child, writer-director Aalam-Warqe Davidian was among a majority of Ethiopian Jews who emigrated to Israel. Her loosely autobiographical feature debut explores the question integral to much of the current international immigration debate: when war breaks out, who gets to flee and who’s left with nowhere to run?

Saturday 12 May 7pm ACMI Cinemas

Buy Tickets: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/fig-tree/#ferve
Femme Shorts

Highlighting a variety of femme voices and stories by encapsulating diverse experiences of those identifying as a woman.
May 16, 2019 8:20 pm ACMI

Get tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/femme-shorts/#ferve
See more and save money.

See all five session for over 25 % off with a five pass https://bit.ly/2KG1bp1

Get three films for 15% off with our triple pass https://bit.ly/2UEJScj

Are you interested in the Fight for LGBTQIA+ Equality?

We are proud to present our powerful Pride Pioneers & LGBTQIA+ Equality festival stream at HRAF Fexploring poignant and intimate queer stories as well as the momentous change in LGBTQIA+ rights in Australia

Becoming Colleen + Q&A – Director: Ian W. Thomson

85-year-old Colleen Young lights up the screen as she recounts a remarkable life as a police officer, husband, father, film projectionist — and octogenarian transwoman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hjr_s0PdtQ

Sunday 12 May 5pm ACMI Cinemas
Get Tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/becoming-colleen/

Australia Says Yes + Q&A – Director: Kirk Marcolina

The night 62% of Australians cried out a resounding “YES!” to same-sex marriage was a triumphant celebration of love, but it was also the culmination of decades of difficult, and occasionally deadly, activism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGFQt8tKVwQ

Wednesday 15 May 6pm ACMI Cinemas
Get Tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/australia-says-yes/

Giant Little Ones – Director: Keith Behran

Franky and Ballas are best friends, popular high-schoolers and swim team stars. When an impromptu sexual encounter forces them to confront their sexuality, Franky — still dealing with the fallout of his father, Ray, leaving his mother, Carly, for a man — feels unsure of himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ylh_2kgIng

Victorian Premiere, three sessions on Thursday 23 May.
6pm at ACMI Cinemas (Closing Night).
 Get tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/closing-night-giant-little-ones/
6:30pm at Cinema Nova.
 Get tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/giant-little-ones-nova/
6:30pm at Lido Cinemas.
 Get tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/giant-little-ones-lido/

The Sign for Love – Director: Iris Ben Moshe, Elad Cohen

Elad Cohen’s hearing family have never accepted his Deafness. In this achingly honest first-person tale, Cohen shares his journey to fatherhood and reconciliation with his family. Deaf Israeli Elad Cohen has felt guilty about being deaf since childhood, when his mother told him “raising you is like raising three kids”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-keHpxWOLY

Victorian Premiere Saturday 11 May 4pm ACMI Cinemas
Get Tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/the-sign-for-love/

Being Impossible – Director: Patricia Ortega

A riveting examination of identity and what defines us, Being Impossible follows a young woman who discovers she was submitted to several surgeries to correct her intersexual body as a baby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CzMKkAdTFA

Australian Premiere Saturday 18 May 8:40pm ACMI Cinemas
Get Tickets here: https://2019.hraff.org.au/events/being-impossible/

See more and save money.
See all five session for over 25 % off with a five pass https://bit.ly/2KG1bp1
Get three films for 15% off with our triple pass https://bit.ly/2UEJScj

WINNER: MQFF Audience Award for Best Film 2019

HRAFF’S screening of Becoming Colleen will include a post-film Q&A with Ian Thomson (Director), Brenda Appleton (Chair – Transgender Victoria) and Sandra Pankhurst (Author – The Trauma Cleaner).

“An extraordinary Australian portrait of transitioning late in life.”
MARDI GRAS FILM FESTIVAL

85-year-old Colleen Young lights up the screen as she recounts a remarkable life as a police officer, husband, father, film projectionist — and octogenarian transwoman. Though Colleen knew herself to be transgender from childhood, living in the conservative, working class, coastal town of Coffs Harbour, NSW prevented her from becoming the woman she was meant to be. Recently winning the Audience Award at Mardi Gras Film Festival, Becoming Colleen follows its dazzling star, now in her 80s, as she embarks on a journey to finally show the world her true self. A story of love, family, understanding and, most importantly, finding the shoe that fits.

“Stunning and illuminating…An intimate coming-of-age story of self-discovery and female empowerment.”
TIFF AWARDS JURY

Mina is 16 years old and has lived under the shadow of the Ethiopian Civil War her entire life. Her family is Jewish and planning to flee Ethiopia for Israel, where Mina’s mother awaits their reunion. But this plan leaves out the person Mina loves most: Eli, her Christian boyfriend, who lives in the woods so as to evade being drafted into Mengistu Haile Mariam’s army. As a child, writer-director Aalam-Warqe Davidian was among a majority of Ethiopian Jews who emigrated to Israel. Her loosely autobiographical feature debut explores the question integral to much of the current international immigration debate: when war breaks out, who gets to flee and who’s left with nowhere to run?

This film is unclassified and is restricted to persons aged 18+.

Giving voice to uniquely compelling perspectives, these exceptional stories shed light on the many sides of the Australian experience. This screening will feature a Q&A with Michael Bonner (Director/Writer – What Do You See?), Tom Albert & Petra Leslie (co-Directors – Sleeping is Difficult), Olivia Altavilla (Director – Taboo), and Deng Dut & Chris McGeachan (This is Yarra).

SHAKESPEARE IN TOKYO
Genevieve Clay-Smith / Australia, Japan / 2018 / 20 mins / English / Narrative
In Tokyo, a Shakespeare fan with Down syndrome evades his older brother to discover the city.

TABOO
Olivia Altavilla / Australia / 2018 / 14 mins / English, Italian / Narrative
After witnessing the local priest abuse his power, Sofia attempts to convince her devout Catholic family to act.

SLEEPING IS DIFFICULT
Tom Alber & Petra Leslie / Australia / 2018 / 8 mins / English / Narrative
In Melbourne, a young woman prepares to spend another long night in her car.

WHAT DO YOU SEE
Michael Bonner / Australia / 2017 / 5 mins / English / Documentary
Confronting stigma on a daily basis, Sereena refuses to justify who she is, asking us, ‘what do you see when you look at me?’

YULUBIDYI – UNTIL THE END
Curtis Taylor & Nathan Mewett / Australia / 2018 / 13 mins / Martu Wangka / Narrative
A young Aboriginal man helps his disabled brother escape from their abusive home life with the aid of a Mamu (Dreaming Creature).

THE ISLAND
Gabrielle Brady / Australia / 2017 / 21 mins / English / Documentary
On Christmas Island, off the coast of Australia, a trauma counsellor bears witness to the dramatic stories of the thousands of asylum seekers being detained there.

THIS IS YARRA
Lydia Rui / Australia / 2018 / 15 mins / English / Documentary
The junior Yarra Wild Beasts prepare to compete in the South Sudanese Australian National Basketball Association Tournament. Will they take home their first trophy?

Can’t make this screening? We have an encore screening at the Sun Theatre on Sunday May 19.

HRAFF’s screening of On Her Shoulders will be followed by an intimate discussion over a drink with members from Plan International Australia, a not-for-profit organisation advancing children’s rights and equality for girls around the world.

“An essential portrait of the strength required to speak up.”
INDIEWIRE

Twenty-three-year-old Nadia Murad’s life is a dizzying array of exhausting undertakings — from giving testimony before the U.N. to visiting refugee camps, to soul-bearing media interviews and one-on-one meetings with top government officials. With deep compassion and a formal precision and elegance that matches Nadia’s calm and steely demeanour, filmmaker Alexandria Bombach follows this strong-willed young woman who survived the 2014 genocide of the Yazidis in Northern Iraq and escaped the hands of ISIS to become a relentless beacon of hope for her people, even when at times she longs to lay aside this monumental burden and simply have an ordinary life.

Join us for a Q&A with Plan International Australia

HRAFF’s screening of Australia Says Yes will include a post-film Q&A with Kirk Marcolina (Director), Anna Brown (Human Rights Lawyer & CEO – Equality Australia), Edie Shepherd (Founder – Blackfullas for Marriage Equality) and Aram Hosie (Director of Engagement – Equality Australia).

“Packed with drama, high emotions and cliffhanger moments.”
L-OTL MAGAZINE

The night 62% of Australians cried out a resounding “YES!” to same-sex marriage was a triumphant celebration of love, but it was also the culmination of decades of difficult, and occasionally deadly, activism. Australia Says Yes goes behind-the-scenes of the Yes campaign as its leaders are given months to develop a strategy to deliver marriage equality in Australia. It also explores Australia’s dark past of criminalising homosexuality, and the trailblazers who bravely stood up for gay rights in an era when homosexuality carried the death penalty. Featuring key players including Dr Kerryn Phelps, Edie Shepherd, Alex Greenwich, Peter de Waal, Peter “Bon” Bonsall-Boone and Magda Szubanski.

HRAFF’s screening of Etched in Bone will include a post-film Q&A with Directors Martin Thomas and Béatrice Bijon.

“It’s impossible to do justice to the power, both visual and cultural, of this film.”
THE GUARDIAN

For decades after colonisation, scientists dug up many of Australia’s Indigenous burial sites in order to collect human remains for museums and collections around the world. Jacob Nayinggul, an elder from the remote Arnhem Land settlement of Gunbalanya, believes that the spirits of his ancestors were disturbed by these thefts. With remarkable insight and cinematic flair, Etched in Bone chronicles Nayinggul’s tireless, decades-long effort to have the bones of his ancestors repatriated to their rightful resting place, and lays bare the conflict between scientific and traditional forms of knowledge.

Highlighting a variety of femme voices and stories by encapsulating diverse experiences of those identifying as a woman.

WOULD YOU LOOK AT HER
Goran Stolevski / Macedonia & Australia / 2018 / 19 mins / Macedonian with English subtitles / Narrative
A hard-headed tomboy spots the unlikely solution to all her problems in an all-male religious ritual.

THE MOON IS BRIGHT TONIGHT
Abinash Bikram Shah / Nepal & Myanmar / 2018 / 16 mins / Nepali with English subtitles / Narrative
The young widow of a migrant worker wants to start a new life with her husband’s insurance money but is challenged by her father-in-law.

CIRCLE
Jayisha Patel / UK, Canada & India / 2018 / 14 mins / Hindi with English subtitles / Narrative & Documentary
Circle is a haunting portrait of a rape survivor, caught in the devious ploys of her family.

DEATH METAL GRANDMA
Leah Galant / USA / 2018 / 13 mins / English / Documentary
Death Metal Grandma follows 95-year-old Holocaust survivor Inge Ginsberg as she attempts to break out as a death metal singer by submitting to America’s Got Talent.

KAYA
Lara Köse/ Turkey & Australia / 2018 / 15 mins / Turkish with English subtitles / Narrative
In a remote Turkish village, an ostracised orphan girl seeks out the forbidden Alevi in her quest for faith.

BIRTH CONTROL YOUR OWN ADENTURE
Sindha Agha / USA / 2018 / English / 5 mins / Documentary
One woman’s personal testimony chronicling birth control side effects and navigating the inadequacies of the reproduction healthcare system.

THE THIRD SORROW
Myriam Raja / UK / 2018 / Hausa with English subtitles 9 mins / Narrative
A single mother must decide whether to embrace her new home country or bow to tradition and circumcise her daughter.

DULCE
Angello Faccini & Guille Isa / Colombia & USA / 2018 / Spanish with English subtitles / 10 mins / Narrative
In coastal Colombia, a mother teaches her daughter how to swim so that she may go to the mangroves and harvest the piangua shellfish with the other women in the village.

Can’t make this session? There will be an encore screening on Tuesday May 21.

HRAFF’s screening of Risking Light will include a post-film Q&A with Debra Hocking, a member of the stolen generation and film subject in Risking Light.

“In a world that proudly wears its hatred and division on its sleeve Risking Light illuminates another side.”
FOLLOW MAGAZINE

DAWN MIKKELSON / USA / 2017 / 87 MINS / ENGLISH / DOCUMENTARY

From the streets of Minneapolis, the Stolen Generations of Tasmania, and the killing fields of Cambodia come the powerful stories of three people who had the courage to step out of the darkness of the past and risk everything to reach the light of their own compassion. Risking Light adopts an international, multicultural perspective to examine how people cope with the tragedy of the past and move forward to create fulfilling lives. Emmy-award winning director Dawn Mikkelson explores the painful process of moving from grief to forgiveness, daring to ask: what would the world look like if we could learn to forgive each other?

HRAFF’s screening of Risking Light will include a post-film Q&A with Debra Hocking, a member of the stolen generation and film subject in Risking Light.

“From the streets of Minneapolis, the aboriginal lands of Australia, and the killing fields of Cambodia come the powerful stories of three people who had the courage to step out of the haunting, tragic darkness of the past, risking everything to reach the light of their own compassion.

RISKING LIGHT is a thought-provoking documentary that explores resilience, and the painful process of moving from grief to compassion and forgiveness. Through the unforgettable stories of Mary Johnson, who grieves a murdered son; Debra Hocking, a victim of government-sanctioned genocide; and Kilong Ung, who survived the terror of the Khmer Rouge, RISKING LIGHT challenges us to examine our own beliefs about forgiveness and ask “What would the world look like if we could learn to forgive one another?””

“An important contribution to the debate on the sexual self-determination of women.”
SPIELFILM.DE

In this frank and inspiring documentary, Barbara Miller chronicles five women from different countries and different cultures who have one thing in common: they’re a danger to the patriarchy. These extraordinary women fight for sexual liberation and autonomy beyond religious rules and cultural barriers, from a Somali anti-FGM activist in the UK, to a Japanese artist and self-described “vagina defender”, to women fighting religious oppression around the world. Their freedom comes at a high price, with each facing physical threats, legal action and public shaming, but with determination and poise they stand up and fight the politicisation and demonisation of women’s bodies, stepping forward as symbols of hope and self-determination and proving that pleasure is not a dirty word.

HRAFF’s screening of Journey Beyond Fear will include a post-film Q&A with Director, Robyn Hughan.

Filmed over seven years, Journey Beyond Fear follows a family of Afghan refugees in Malaysia as they await eventual settlement in Australia. Unable to legally work or access education and healthcare, they battle poverty and rapidly declining mental health as they wait for Australia’s government bureaucracy to file and process their formal request for asylum, unsure if they’ll even live to see our shores. This film documents the inhumane, laborious and ineffectual standards in place for refugees hoping to avoid Australia’s offshore processing, showing how even the system for seeking asylum the “right way” is cruel, punitive and ultimately broken. Join us for a post-film Q&A with director Robyn Hughan. “An excellent documentary…a genuinely moving experience. Apart from the strength and courage of the family members, which is self evident the patience of the filmmaker is commendable. This is a journey well worth taking. 4/5 Stars.”
David Stratton, The Weekend Australian

“Deftly weaves a precise coming-of-age narrative into its morally urgent anti-war tableau.”
VARIETY

Ten-year-old Oleg lives in the eastern part of Ukraine — a warzone that often echoes with anti-aircraft fire and missile strikes. While many have already left this dangerous area, Oleg remains with his grandmother, who has taken care of him since the death of his mother. They have nowhere else to go. This observational film follows a year in the life of Oleg, and emphasises the warm bond he has with his grandmother. THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS unveils the consequences of war bearing down on the children in Eastern Ukraine, and by natural extension, the scars and self-taught life lessons this generation will carry with them into the future.

High in the mountains of north-east India, the indigenous Khasi make a living quarrying stone for shipment to Bangladesh. Hauled from the quarry and broken into smaller sized pieces by hand, the ‘nong shain maw’ – a Khasi word meaning ‘the people who break the rock’ – are paid as little as $2 per day. Mostly, it is elderly women and children who are tasked with this backbreaking and dangerous labour. The men who work at the quarry are called ‘nong ti maw’, meaning ‘the people who dig the rock’. This too is dangerous work, with two men being buried alive in landslides while working at the quarries in 2017.

Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands is a medium format photography exhibition by Ali MC. The exhibition documents the life for the Nong Shain Maw as ‘the people who break the rock.’

OPENING: Saturday 18 May, 4pm – 5.30pm
EXHIBITION: 18 May – 8 June
VENUE: FCAC Gabriel Gallery
COST: FREE

Presented by Footscray Community Arts Centre and Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Supported by michaels camera video digital.

“★★★★ An extraordinary film.”
THE GUARDIAN

“Every woman in this country has a hundred owners. Fathers, brothers, uncles, neighbours. They all believe they have the right to speak on our behalf and make decisions for us. That’s why our stories are never heard, but buried with us.”
– Sahra Mani, director, A Thousand Girls Like Me

When Khatera, a 23-year-old Afghan woman, forces her father to stand trial after a lifetime of sexual abuse, she risks her family, freedom, and personal safety to expose a judicial system that incriminates the very women who seek protection. In a country where the systematic abuse of girls is rarely discussed, Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani presents an awe-inspiring story of one woman’s battle against cultural, familial, and legal pressures as she embarks on a mission to set a positive example for her daughter and other girls like her.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages to raise awareness of the crucial role languages play in people’s daily lives. In Australia, of the estimated original 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, only around 120 are still spoken. The Human Rights Arts & Film Festival is proud to present our inaugural First Nations shorts program in partnership with Footscray Community Arts Centre and Winda Film Festival. Join us for a tribute to the vibrancy of Indigenous film with this program of shorts all in Indigenous languages.

Niminjarra
Director | Curtis Taylor (Warnman)
Country | Australia
Langauge | Martu Wangka with English subtitles
Duration | 10:49 minutes
Two dissatisfied young men transformed themselves into snakes (“Jila Kujarra”) to make their way home from law ceremony to their mother in the west.

Yulubidyi (Until the End)
Director | Nathan Mewett, Curtis Taylor
Country | Australia
Language | Martu Wangka with English subtitles
Year | 2018
Duration | 12 minutes
A young Aboriginal man helps his disabled brother escape from their abusive life with the aid of a Mamu (Dreaming Creature).

Tjawa Tjawa
Director | Mark Moora
Country | Australia
Language | Kukatja with English subtitles
Year | 2015
Duration | 12 Minutes
A Ngarti traditional story about a group of women who travelled from Roebourne to the Great Sandy Desert in search of husbands.

Marrimarrigun
Director | Kimberley West
Country | Australia
Language | English and Yawuru with English subtitles
Year | 2017
Duration | 13 minutes
During the incoming tide, two young boys find themselves stranded on the sandbar, lost to their people forever. Marrimarrigun, the giant spirit returns them to their people as men.

Jacob
Director | Dena Curtis
Country | Australia
Language | Warrumungu with English Subtitles
Year | 2010
Duration 12 mins
Gina, a young Aboriginal mother finds herself in a predicament when her husband Max returns home and learns the truth about baby Jacob.

WHEN: Saturday 18 May, 6pm – 8pm
VENUE: FCAC Basement Theatre
COST: Full $10 /Concession $7

Book now: https://bit.ly/2Kie8oJ

Presented in partnership with Footscray Community Arts Centre, Human Rights Arts and Film Festival and WINDA Film Festival.

“A national conversation on how Australia got so far removed from the international convention it signed in 1954.”
DOCUMENTARY AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION

Join us for a post film Q&A with director Simon Kurian and Behrouz Boochani (live from Manus via Skype)

Stop. The. Boats. The three words that have distorted the very meaning of seeking asylum in Australia. This raw and urgent documentary tells the story of how Australia used a three word slogan to demonise asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution, condemning them to indefinite offshore detention and torture in prison camps on Manus Island and Nauru. Filmed in secret and smuggled out on USB drives a few shots at a time, Stop the Boats documents the experience of seeking asylum as told by those who know it best: the detainees themselves, including children and the award-winning journalist Behrouz Boochani. Also featuring prominent human rights activists including Julian Burnside and Malcolm Fraser.

“A careful examination of the tricky territory that comes with figuring out one’s gender identity belatedly.”
REMEZCLA

A riveting examination of identity and what defines us, Being Impossible follows a young woman who discovers she was submitted to several surgeries to correct her intersexual body as a baby. She then has to find herself outside gender binaries. Ariel is a young religious dressmaker who, after a failed sexual encounter, discovers a secret her mother has always kept from her: that she was born intersex but subjected to corrective surgery and raised as a girl. Now growing into adulthood, Ariel is faced with a difficult choice: carry on living as a woman, or risk judgment and social alienation by living as her true self. Nominated for the Gamechanger Award at SXSW, which honours outstanding contributions to cinema by woman, Being Impossible is a powerful and encouraging drama about freedom, self-determination, our bodies and our lives.

Giving voice to uniquely compelling perspectives, these exceptional stories shed light on the many sides of the Australian experience. Join us at the Sun Theatre for the encore screening!

SHAKESPEARE IN TOKYO
Genevieve Clay-Smith / Australia, Japan / 2018 / 20 mins / English / Narrative
In Tokyo, a Shakespeare fan with Down syndrome evades his older brother to discover the city.

TABOO
Olivia Altavilla / Australia / 2018 / 14 mins / English, Italian / Narrative
After witnessing the local priest abuse his power, Sofia attempts to convince her devout Catholic family to act.

SLEEPING IS DIFFICULT
Tom Alber & Petra Leslie / Australia / 2018 / 8 mins / English / Narrative
In Melbourne, a young woman prepares to spend another long night in her car.

WHAT DO YOU SEE
Michael Bonner / Australia / 2017 / 5 mins / English / Documentary
Confronting stigma on a daily basis, Sereena refuses to justify who she is, asking us, ‘what do you see when you look at me?’

YULUBIDYI – UNTIL THE END
Curtis Taylor & Nathan Mewett / Australia / 2018 / 13 mins / Martu Wangka / Narrative
A young Aboriginal man helps his disabled brother escape from their abusive home life with the aid of a Mamu (Dreaming Creature).

THE ISLAND
Gabrielle Brady / Australia / 2017 / 21 mins / English / Documentary
On Christmas Island, off the coast of Australia, a trauma counsellor bears witness to the dramatic stories of the thousands of asylum seekers being detained there.

THIS IS YARRA
Lydia Rui / Australia / 2018 / 15 mins / English / Documentary
The junior Yarra Wild Beasts prepare to compete in the South Sudanese Australian National Basketball Association Tournament. Will they take home their first trophy?

Can’t make this session? Join us for our screening at ACMI on Monday May 13.

HRAFF’s CineSeed’s screening of 2040 will include a post-film Q&A with film Director, Damon Gameau and Gemma Borgo-Caratti (National Director – Australian Youth Climate Coalition).

“Gameau’s noble motives and positive vibes
are hard to fault.”

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

What could the future look like if we embraced the best solutions available today? Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film) embarks on a personal journey to explore what the future would look like by the year 2040 if we embraced
the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them into the mainstream. Structured as a visual letter to his 4-year-old daughter, Damon Gameau blends traditional documentary footage with dramatised sequences and high-end visual effects to create a vision board for his daughter.

“An extraordinary film.”
THE GUARDIAN

In 1996 the High Court granted native title rights to the Wik Peoples of Cape York. The “Wik Decision” should have been a catalyst for positive change, but instead sparked a national
cultural and political fallout. With unique access to never-before screened footage of Pat Dodson, Noel Pearson and Marcia Langton, this uncompromising feature documentary forensically explores the racism, fearmongering and political manoeuvring that occurred in the lead up to the case, and its aftermath. Told from the very personal Wik Peoples’ perspective, Wik vs Queensland causes us to question who we are as a nation today.

Join us for a Q&A with director Dean Gibson

Presented by The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, this film illuminates a fascinating and important part of Australian history.

A post-film Q&A with Dean Gibson (Director), Shireen Morris (Lawyer), Aunty Janine Chevathun (Indigenous Elder), and Dr. Bryan Keon-Cohen AM QC (Barrister) will discuss the case, the current state of land rights in Australia and what the future holds.

Wik v Queensland was a landmark land rights case. The High Court made the decision to grant native title co-existence to the Wik peoples but instead of being celebrated, the key players in the case were branded greedy and treated as the enemy. What happened?

The new documentary Wik vs Queensland delves into the complexities of the trial and its aftermath, with filmmakers hearing from key participants and reflecting on the impact of the decision nearly a quarter century on. The film provides powerful insight into the way Australia chose to acknowledge, respect and understand Aboriginal people back in 1996. It also provides a crucial reminder of the ways in which successive governments failed – and continue to fail – Aboriginal Australia.

High in the mountains of north-east India, the indigenous Khasi make a living quarrying stone for shipment to Bangladesh. Hauled from the quarry and broken into smaller sized pieces by hand, the ‘nong shain maw’ – a Khasi word meaning ‘the people who break the rock’ – are paid as little as $2 per day. Mostly, it is elderly women and children who are tasked with this backbreaking and dangerous labour. The men who work at the quarry are called ‘nong ti maw’, meaning ‘the people who dig the rock’. This too is dangerous work, with two men being buried alive in landslides while working at the quarries in 2017.

Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands is a medium format photography exhibition by Ali MC. The exhibition documents the life for the Nong Shain Maw as ‘the people who break the rock.’

OPENING: Saturday 18 May, 4pm – 5.30pm
EXHIBITION: 18 May – 8 June
VENUE: FCAC Gabriel Gallery
COST: FREE

Presented by Footscray Community Arts Centre and Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Supported by michaels camera video digital.

These international short films offer exceptionally inspiring and poignant glimpses into the lives of others around the world.

OUR SONG TO WARS
Juanita Onzaga / Belgium & Colombia / 2018 / 14 min / Spanish with English subtitles / Documentary
In the Colombian village of Bojaya spirits and humans meet each other to learn what there is to life after the end of war.

SWATTED
Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis / France / 2018 / 21 min / English / Documentary
Online gamers describe their struggles with ‘swatting’, a life-threatening cyber-harassment phenomenon that looms over them whenever they play.

WREN BOYS
Harry Lighton / UK / 2017 / 11 min / English / Narrative
On the day after Christmas, a Catholic priest from Cork drives his nephew to prison.

SCENES FROM A DRY CITY
François Verster & Simon Wood / South Africa, USA / 2018 / 13 min / English / Documentary
An impending water crisis grips Cape Town, South Africa.

SISTER HEARTS
Mohammad Gorjestani / USA / 2018 / 17 min / English / Documentary
After thirteen years in prison, an ex-offender opens the largest thrift store in New Orleans and offers a path forward for women like her.

High in the mountains of north-east India, the indigenous Khasi make a living quarrying stone for shipment to Bangladesh. Hauled from the quarry and broken into smaller sized pieces by hand, the ‘nong shain maw’ – a Khasi word meaning ‘the people who break the rock’ – are paid as little as $2 per day. Mostly, it is elderly women and children who are tasked with this backbreaking and dangerous labour. The men who work at the quarry are called ‘nong ti maw’, meaning ‘the people who dig the rock’. This too is dangerous work, with two men being buried alive in landslides while working at the quarries in 2017.

Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands is a medium format photography exhibition by Ali MC. The exhibition documents the life for the Nong Shain Maw as ‘the people who break the rock.’

OPENING: Saturday 18 May, 4pm – 5.30pm
EXHIBITION: 18 May – 8 June
VENUE: FCAC Gabriel Gallery
COST: FREE

Presented by Footscray Community Arts Centre and Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Supported by michaels camera video digital.

Highlighting a variety of women voices and stories by encapsulating various experiences of those identifying a woman.

WOULD YOU LOOK AT HER
Goran Stolevski / Macedonia & Australia / 2018/19 mins / Macedonian with English subtitles / Narrative
A hard-headed tomboy spots the unlikely solution to all the problems in an all-male religious ritual.

THE MOON IS BRIGHT TONIGHT
Abinash Bikram Shah / Nepal & Myanmar / 2018/16 mins / Nepali with English subtitles / Narrative
The young widow of a migrant worker wants to start a new life with her husband’s insurance money is challenged by her father-in -law.

CIRCLE
Jayisha Patel / UK, Canada & India / 2018/14 mins / Hindi with English subtitles / Narrative & Documentary
Circle is a haunting portrait of a rape survivor, caught in the devious ploys of her family.

DEATH METAL GRANDMA
Leah Galant / USA / 2018/13 mins / Français / Documentary
Death Metal Grandma follows 95-year-old Holocaust survivor Inge Ginsberg as she tries to break up a death metal singer by submitting to America’s Got Talent.

KAYA
Lara Köse / Turkey & Australia / 2018/15 mins / Turkish with English subtitles / Narrative
In a remote Turkish village, an ostracised orphan girl seeks out the forbidden Alevi in ​​her quest for faith.

BIRTH CONTROL YOUR OWN ADENTURE
Sindha Agha / USA / 2018 / Français / 5 mins / Documentary
One woman’s personal testimonial Chronicling birth control side effects and navigating the inadequacies of reproductive health system.

THE THIRD SORROW
Myriam Raja / UK / 2018 / Hausa with English subtitles 9 mins / Narrative
A single mother must decide whether to embrace her new home country or bow to tradition and circumcise her daughter.

DULCE
Angello Faccini & Guille Isa / Colombia & USA / 2018 / Spanish with English subtitles / 10 mins / Narrative
In coastal Colombia, a mother teaches her daughter how to swim in the sea and the sea shellfish with the other women in the village.

Can’t make the encore? Join us for our first screening on Thursday May 16.

High in the mountains of north-east India, the indigenous Khasi make a living quarrying stone for shipment to Bangladesh. Hauled from the quarry and broken into smaller sized pieces by hand, the ‘nong shain maw’ – a Khasi word meaning ‘the people who break the rock’ – are paid as little as $2 per day. Mostly, it is elderly women and children who are tasked with this backbreaking and dangerous labour. The men who work at the quarry are called ‘nong ti maw’, meaning ‘the people who dig the rock’. This too is dangerous work, with two men being buried alive in landslides while working at the quarries in 2017.

Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands is a medium format photography exhibition by Ali MC. The exhibition documents the life for the Nong Shain Maw as ‘the people who break the rock.’

OPENING: Saturday 18 May, 4pm – 5.30pm
EXHIBITION: 18 May – 8 June
VENUE: FCAC Gabriel Gallery
COST: FREE

Presented by Footscray Community Arts Centre and Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Supported by michaels camera video digital.

High in the mountains of north-east India, the indigenous Khasi make a living quarrying stone for shipment to Bangladesh. Hauled from the quarry and broken into smaller sized pieces by hand, the ‘nong shain maw’ – a Khasi word meaning ‘the people who break the rock’ – are paid as little as $2 per day. Mostly, it is elderly women and children who are tasked with this backbreaking and dangerous labour. The men who work at the quarry are called ‘nong ti maw’, meaning ‘the people who dig the rock’. This too is dangerous work, with two men being buried alive in landslides while working at the quarries in 2017.

Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands is a medium format photography exhibition by Ali MC. The exhibition documents the life for the Nong Shain Maw as ‘the people who break the rock.’

OPENING: Saturday 18 May, 4pm – 5.30pm
EXHIBITION: 18 May – 8 June
VENUE: FCAC Gabriel Gallery
COST: FREE

Presented by Footscray Community Arts Centre and Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Supported by michaels camera video digital.

“An emotionally involving coming-of-age story
with a profound impact.”
OBSERVER

Franky and Ballas are best friends, popular high-schoolers and
swim team stars. When an impromptu sexual encounter forces
them to confront their sexuality, Franky — still dealing with
the fallout of his father leaving his mother for a man — feels
unsure of himself. Ostracized by homophobic schoolmates and
pushed to come out of the closet by supportive friends and
family, Franky feels pressure to pick an identity: straight or gay?
The problem is, Franky doesn’t feel like either label describes
him, but navigates this while mending the relationships
most important to him. A sensitive and sophisticated film
with wonderfully evocative performances, particularly Kyle
MacLachlan, Giant Little Ones is an exploration of identity
and the importance of love without labels.

The High Commission of Canada to Australia has proudly supported this film.

HRAFF’s screening of Stop The Boats will include a post-film Q&A with Director, Simon Kurian.

“A national conversation on how Australia got so far removed from the international convention it signed in 1954.”
DOCUMENTARY AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION

Stop. The. Boats. The three words that have distorted the very meaning of seeking asylum in Australia. This raw and urgent documentary tells the story of how Australia used a three word slogan to demonise asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution, condemning them to indefinite offshore detention and torture in prison camps on Manus Island and Nauru. Filmed in secret and smuggled out on USB drives a few shots at a time, Stop the Boats documents the experience of seeking asylum as told by those who know it best: the detainees themselves, including children and the award-winning journalist Behrouz Boochani. Also featuring prominent human rights activists including Julian Burnside and Malcolm Fraser.

“A national conversation on how Australia got so far removed from the international convention it signed in 1954.”
DOCUMENTARY AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION

Stop. The. Boats. The three words that have distorted the very meaning of seeking asylum in Australia. This raw and urgent documentary tells the story of how Australia used a three word slogan to demonise asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution, condemning them to indefinite offshore detention and torture in prison camps on Manus Island and Nauru. Filmed in secret and smuggled out on USB drives a few shots at a time, Stop the Boats documents the experience of seeking asylum as told by those who know it best: the detainees themselves, including children and the award-winning journalist Behrouz Boochani. Also featuring prominent human rights activists including Julian Burnside and Malcolm Fraser.

“A national conversation on how Australia got so far removed from the international convention it signed in 1954.”
DOCUMENTARY AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION

Stop. The. Boats. The three words that have distorted the very meaning of seeking asylum in Australia. This raw and urgent documentary tells the story of how Australia used a three word slogan to demonise asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution, condemning them to indefinite offshore detention and torture in prison camps on Manus Island and Nauru. Filmed in secret and smuggled out on USB drives a few shots at a time, Stop the Boats documents the experience of seeking asylum as told by those who know it best: the detainees themselves, including children and the award-winning journalist Behrouz Boochani. Also featuring prominent human rights activists including Julian Burnside and Malcolm Fraser.

High in the mountains of north-east India, the indigenous Khasi make a living quarrying stone for shipment to Bangladesh. Hauled from the quarry and broken into smaller sized pieces by hand, the ‘nong shain maw’ – a Khasi word meaning ‘the people who break the rock’ – are paid as little as $2 per day. Mostly, it is elderly women and children who are tasked with this backbreaking and dangerous labour. The men who work at the quarry are called ‘nong ti maw’, meaning ‘the people who dig the rock’. This too is dangerous work, with two men being buried alive in landslides while working at the quarries in 2017.

Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands is a medium format photography exhibition by Ali MC. The exhibition documents the life for the Nong Shain Maw as ‘the people who break the rock.’

OPENING: Saturday 18 May, 4pm – 5.30pm
EXHIBITION: 18 May – 8 June
VENUE: FCAC Gabriel Gallery
COST: FREE

Presented by Footscray Community Arts Centre and Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Supported by michaels camera video digital.

“A lively and level-headed exposé into how the top echelon is now united in robbing the rest of us blind.”
VARIETY

It was the biggest global corruption scandal in history, with over 11 million documents detailing the intricate web of financial shell corporations, offshore accounts and tax evasion schemes favoured the world over by presidents, sheiks, athletes, film stars and the corporate class. Director Alex Winter (Deep Web) delivers a shocking and comprehensive inside look at an anonymous leak — and a global news story — unprecedented in scale and scope in the history of the world, with some 300 journalists from 107 media organisations in over 80 countries working together, putting their lives and careers at risk to break a story of political corruption, economic inequality, and even murder.

“An on-the-ground view of one of the great global tragedies of our time.”
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Recipient of five awards at the Venice Film Festival, Still Recording is an up close and personal documentation of the Syrian civilian insurgency, told from the perspective of two art students, Saeed and Milad. The pair leave Damascus for Douma to take part in the revolution with visions of transforming hearts and minds through art, but the situation on the ground quickly deteriorates into chaos, thrusting them into a desperate fight for survival. Crafted from over 450 hours of visually arresting footage and smuggled out of Syria, Still Recording is a compelling, distressing, hopeful and heart stopping film that finds humanity and hope where all seems lost.

High in the mountains of north-east India, the indigenous Khasi make a living quarrying stone for shipment to Bangladesh. Hauled from the quarry and broken into smaller sized pieces by hand, the ‘nong shain maw’ – a Khasi word meaning ‘the people who break the rock’ – are paid as little as $2 per day. Mostly, it is elderly women and children who are tasked with this backbreaking and dangerous labour. The men who work at the quarry are called ‘nong ti maw’, meaning ‘the people who dig the rock’. This too is dangerous work, with two men being buried alive in landslides while working at the quarries in 2017.

Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands is a medium format photography exhibition by Ali MC. The exhibition documents the life for the Nong Shain Maw as ‘the people who break the rock.’

OPENING: Saturday 18 May, 4pm – 5.30pm
EXHIBITION: 18 May – 8 June
VENUE: FCAC Gabriel Gallery
COST: FREE

Presented by Footscray Community Arts Centre and Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Supported by michaels camera video digital.

Highlighting a variety of femme voices and stories by encapsulating diverse experiences of those identifying as a woman.

WOULD YOU LOOK AT HER
Goran Stolevski / Macedonia & Australia / 2018 / 19 mins / Macedonian with English subtitles / Narrative
A hard-headed tomboy spots the unlikely solution to all her problems in an all-male religious ritual.

THE MOON IS BRIGHT TONIGHT
Abinash Bikram Shah / Nepal & Myanmar / 2018 / 16 mins / Nepali with English subtitles / Narrative
The young widow of a migrant worker wants to start a new life with her husband’s insurance money but is challenged by her father-in-law.

CIRCLE
Jayisha Patel / UK, Canada & India / 2018 / 14 mins / Hindi with English subtitles / Narrative & Documentary
Circle is a haunting portrait of a rape survivor, caught in the devious ploys of her family.

DEATH METAL GRANDMA
Leah Galant / USA / 2018 / 13 mins / English / Documentary
Death Metal Grandma follows 95-year-old Holocaust survivor Inge Ginsberg as she attempts to break out as a death metal singer by submitting to America’s Got Talent.

KAYA
Lara Köse/ Turkey & Australia / 2018 / 15 mins / Turkish with English subtitles / Narrative
In a remote Turkish village, an ostracised orphan girl seeks out the forbidden Alevi in her quest for faith.

BIRTH CONTROL YOUR OWN ADENTURE
Sindha Agha / USA / 2018 / English / 5 mins / Documentary
One woman’s personal testimony chronicling birth control side effects and navigating the inadequacies of the reproduction healthcare system.

THE THIRD SORROW
Myriam Raja / UK / 2018 / Hausa with English subtitles 9 mins / Narrative
A single mother must decide whether to embrace her new home country or bow to tradition and circumcise her daughter.

DULCE
Angello Faccini & Guille Isa / Colombia & USA / 2018 / Spanish with English subtitles / 10 mins / Narrative
In coastal Colombia, a mother teaches her daughter how to swim so that she may go to the mangroves and harvest the piangua shellfish with the other women in the village.

Can’t make this session? There will be an encore screening on Tuesday May 21.

High in the mountains of north-east India, the indigenous Khasi make a living quarrying stone for shipment to Bangladesh. Hauled from the quarry and broken into smaller sized pieces by hand, the ‘nong shain maw’ – a Khasi word meaning ‘the people who break the rock’ – are paid as little as $2 per day. Mostly, it is elderly women and children who are tasked with this backbreaking and dangerous labour. The men who work at the quarry are called ‘nong ti maw’, meaning ‘the people who dig the rock’. This too is dangerous work, with two men being buried alive in landslides while working at the quarries in 2017.

Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands is a medium format photography exhibition by Ali MC. The exhibition documents the life for the Nong Shain Maw as ‘the people who break the rock.’

OPENING: Saturday 18 May, 4pm – 5.30pm
EXHIBITION: 18 May – 8 June
VENUE: FCAC Gabriel Gallery
COST: FREE

Presented by Footscray Community Arts Centre and Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Supported by michaels camera video digital.

High in the mountains of north-east India, the indigenous Khasi make a living quarrying stone for shipment to Bangladesh. Hauled from the quarry and broken into smaller sized pieces by hand, the ‘nong shain maw’ – a Khasi word meaning ‘the people who break the rock’ – are paid as little as $2 per day. Mostly, it is elderly women and children who are tasked with this backbreaking and dangerous labour. The men who work at the quarry are called ‘nong ti maw’, meaning ‘the people who dig the rock’. This too is dangerous work, with two men being buried alive in landslides while working at the quarries in 2017.

Nong Shain Maw: Stone Breakers of the East Khasi Highlands is a medium format photography exhibition by Ali MC. The exhibition documents the life for the Nong Shain Maw as ‘the people who break the rock.’

OPENING: Saturday 18 May, 4pm – 5.30pm
EXHIBITION: 18 May – 8 June
VENUE: FCAC Gabriel Gallery
COST: FREE

Presented by Footscray Community Arts Centre and Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Supported by michaels camera video digital.