Roser Corella

Slavery has never ended. It has just assumed other names and ways to conceal itself. Roser Corella’s film zooms in on Beirut, where the upper class on a large scale hires maids from countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and the Philippines through agencies that advise people how to cheat and manipulate the young women to work full-time (literally) for meagre wages. An upsetting revelation, but Corella keeps a cool head and tears the inhuman ‘kafala’ system apart piece by piece. She analyses the situation in both words and images, but it is the underpaid maids themselves who provide the conclusion in the form of demonstrations, protests and demands for proper working conditions. ‘Room without a View’, the title of which describes the rooms made available to the women, combines an artistic and an investigative approach to its exposition of the abominable monster that is modern slavery. A film that is highly topical in all parts of the world - unfortunately.

Slavery has never ended. It has just assumed other names and ways to conceal itself. Roser Corella’s film zooms in on Beirut, where the upper class on a large scale hires maids from countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and the Philippines through agencies that advise people how to cheat and manipulate the young women to work full-time (literally) for meagre wages. An upsetting revelation, but Corella keeps a cool head and tears the inhuman ‘kafala’ system apart piece by piece. She analyses the situation in both words and images, but it is the underpaid maids themselves who provide the conclusion in the form of demonstrations, protests and demands for proper working conditions. ‘Room without a View’, the title of which describes the rooms made available to the women, combines an artistic and an investigative approach to its exposition of the abominable monster that is modern slavery. A film that is highly topical in all parts of the world - unfortunately.

Slavery has never ended. It has just assumed other names and ways to conceal itself. Roser Corella’s film zooms in on Beirut, where the upper class on a large scale hires maids from countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and the Philippines through agencies that advise people how to cheat and manipulate the young women to work full-time (literally) for meagre wages. An upsetting revelation, but Corella keeps a cool head and tears the inhuman ‘kafala’ system apart piece by piece. She analyses the situation in both words and images, but it is the underpaid maids themselves who provide the conclusion in the form of demonstrations, protests and demands for proper working conditions. ‘Room without a View’, the title of which describes the rooms made available to the women, combines an artistic and an investigative approach to its exposition of the abominable monster that is modern slavery. A film that is highly topical in all parts of the world - unfortunately.

Slavery has never ended. It has just assumed other names and ways to conceal itself. Roser Corella’s film zooms in on Beirut, where the upper class on a large scale hires maids from countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and the Philippines through agencies that advise people how to cheat and manipulate the young women to work full-time (literally) for meagre wages. An upsetting revelation, but Corella keeps a cool head and tears the inhuman ‘kafala’ system apart piece by piece. She analyses the situation in both words and images, but it is the underpaid maids themselves who provide the conclusion in the form of demonstrations, protests and demands for proper working conditions. ‘Room without a View’, the title of which describes the rooms made available to the women, combines an artistic and an investigative approach to its exposition of the abominable monster that is modern slavery. A film that is highly topical in all parts of the world - unfortunately.

Desde la independencia de Kirguistán en 1991, ha habido un rebrote de la tradición ancestral del Ala-Kachuu, que se podría traducir como “coge y corre” –grab and run-. Más de la mitad de mujeres del país son secuestradas por hombres que siguen la tradición y se convierten en sus maridos. Algunas sufren auténticos calvarios y consiguen escapar, pero la mayoría acaba cediendo por miedo al escándalo público. El origen de esta práctica tiene raíces en las antiguas costumbres nómadas y sorprendentemente sigue vigente en el Kirguistán moderno. Aunque el Ala-Kachuu fue prohibido durante la época soviética y el actual código penal estipula que es ilegal, la ley no suele proteger a las mujeres de este abuso violento. La directora Roser Corella construye una película impactante sobre una realidad incomprensible, filmada con un coraje admirable que no deja indiferente.

The centuries-old custom of blood feuds has started blighting lives since the collapse of communism in Albania, where many families are living locked down in their houses in fear of blood vengeance. The ancestral code of Kanun includes the right to murder to avenge an earlier killing: ‘blood must be paid with blood’.

The centuries-old custom of blood feuds has started blighting lives since the collapse of communism in Albania, where many families are living locked down in their houses in fear of blood vengeance. The ancestral code of Kanun includes the right to murder to avenge an earlier killing: ‘blood must be paid with blood’.

The centuries-old custom of blood feuds has started blighting lives since the collapse of communism in Albania, where many families are living locked down in their houses in fear of blood vengeance. The ancestral code of Kanun includes the right to murder to avenge an earlier killing: ‘blood must be paid with blood’.