Don Edkins

A Boarding School offers rare access inside an Islamic boarding school, and an insight into a traditional educational system that fosters good character-building based on a peaceful religious teaching that has been practiced in Indonesia for centuries. Raising their students to respect and to have compassion towards others despite their differences, these schools are Indonesia’s last defense in the face of today’s rising extremism.

For one week in Gaborone, Botswana, a collection of aspiring lawyers gathers for the annual African Human Rights Moot Court Competition. Competitors represent the top law schools from their respective nations as they debate a new issue each year. This time around, the focus is on the rights of refugees. Developing arguments that will be judged by practicing lawyers, the next generation discovers what policy should look like in the African continent and where advancements can be made across the region. While you may come for the competition in African Moot, you stay for the rising stars learning on the ground what it means to fight for their cause, country and continent as one.

A beach reminds us of Fati’s recent past. She came to Italy by sea, without papers, pregnant for the fifth time. Longing for her children, she returned to Ghana six months later – without her husband. The people around her can’t understand this decision. “You’ve created a mess,” a friend says. “How do I tell people?” a sister asks. But Fati wants to provide for her family, even though she still has to liberate three of her children from the custody of her in-laws.

Mariam comes from Fana, a town nearby the Malian capital. At 5, she was sexually abused by a family acquaintance, raped by her cousin at 13 and by her brother-in-law at 16. Today, she deals with her traumas through dance.

Deep in Mali, on the edge of the Sahel Desert, lies the peaceful city of Gao—a quiet way station for passersby with their eyes set on Europe in hopes of opportunity, safety and a better future.

중국과 아프리카의 새로운 관계를 배경으로 벌어진 상황을 그린 웨스턴 다큐멘터리. 사회의 법칙이 밀려들기 시작하는 남아프리카의 외딴 시골이 배경이다. 중국에서 이주해 온 새로운 정착민들 때문에 힘의 균형이 흔들리고 오래 지켜온 법칙과 신들에 대한 의문이 제기된다.

Follows a young man as he travels the mountain kingdom of Lesotho showing his film in remote villages, schools and communities. Sheriff was born with a girl’s body, but as the grandmother in his film recounts, he refused to wear dresses and always wanted to play with the boys.

In the Lesotho highlands, a 15-year-old boy tends his family's flock of sheep alone through the winter. His younger brother might have to quit the village school to help him. And two girls attempt to maintain their unique friendship when one of them goes off to attend a better school and the other stays in the village. Over the span of two years the film accompanies four teenagers in an isolated mountain village on their path to adulthood - a path between individuation and tradition.

In the Lesotho highlands, a 15-year-old boy tends his family's flock of sheep alone through the winter. His younger brother might have to quit the village school to help him. And two girls attempt to maintain their unique friendship when one of them goes off to attend a better school and the other stays in the village. Over the span of two years the film accompanies four teenagers in an isolated mountain village on their path to adulthood - a path between individuation and tradition.

Documentary about Chinese higher education: the pressure to get into state-sponsored schools, and the marketing of private colleges that may not provide the education they promise.

Miriam Makeba was one of the first African musicians who won international stardom and whose music was always anchored in her traditional South African roots. Miriam Makeba was forced into exile in 1959. She sang for John F. Kennedy, performed with Harry Belafonte and Nina Simone, was married to Hugh Masekela and also Stokely Carmichael. Her life was tumultuous. She always stood for truth and justice. She fought for the oppressed most importantly for black Africans, as a campaigner against apartheid. She died November 2008 after a concert in Italy. Mika Kaurismäki's documentary, traces fifty years of her music and her performing life. Through rare archive footage of her performances and through interviews with her contemporaries we discover the remarkable journey of Miriam Makeba.

Wuhan is a city in China the size of London where an experiment in democracy is conducted. At Evergreen Primary School, a grade 3 class learns what democracy is when an election for class monitor is being held. Three children are chosen by the teacher as candidates and they have a few days to campaign and convince their classmates to vote for them. The little candidates are seen at school and at home, where their parents do their best to make sure their child will win the election.

2002년 미군에 구금되어 구타로 죽은 아프가니스탄의 택시운전사 사건은, 구금과 심문과정에서 저질러졌던 미군 학대를 보여준 상징적 사건이다. 뉴욕타임스 리포터 칼로타 갈은 자연사로 공식 발표된 택시운전사 딜라워의 죽음을 조사하면서 군의 발표를 뒤엎는 결정적인 증거를 포착한다. “사람들은 이 작품에 대해 좌냐 우냐를 이야기하지 않는다. 단지 인권의 문제라고만 말한다.” 올 4월 칸에서 열렸던 Mipdoc 페스티벌에서 만났던 이 작품의 감독 알렉스 기브니의 말이다. 소위 ‘테러와의 전쟁’이라는 신성한 사명을 완수하기 위해 세계 경찰을 자처하는 미국이라는 나라의 입장에서 보면 자신의 나라와 그리고 군대를 향해 인권의 문제를 제기한 감독이나 그 영화에 상을 수여한 아카데미 모두 달갑지는 않았을 것이다. 하지만 반대로 사회 내에서의 그러한 건강한 다양성이 오늘날 미국을 지탱하는 또 하나의 힘이 되지 않았을까? 영화는 2002년 미군에 구류된 지 5일 만에 시체로 발견된 아프가니스탄의 한 평범한 택시 운전사의 사건을 따라간다. 공식적으로는 자연사했다고 발표되었던 택시운전사 딜라워의 죽음을 조사하는 동안 뉴욕타임스 리포터인 칼로타 갈은 그 정반대의, 거부할 수 없는 증거들을 발견하게 되는데……. 사건의 당사자로서 학대에 참여했고, 그로 인해 처벌받았던, 우리에게도 지난 2004년 이라크 학대 사진으로 널리 알려졌던 군인들, 그리고 조사관들을 어떻게 다 인터뷰할 수 있었을까? 감독의 집요함과 열정이 그저 놀라울 뿐이다.(EIDF 성기호) 수상내역 2008 아카데미 장편다큐멘터리상 2007 미국 피바디 상 2007 시카고 국제 영화제, 최고 다큐멘터리상 2007 뉴포트 국제 영화제, 최고 다큐멘터리상 2007 트라이베카 영화제, 최고 장편 다큐멘터리상

Thabo, Thabiso and Moalosi are young, attractive and deal openly with their HIV status. Nearly a third of the population in Lesotho is HIV positive.

Thabo, Thabiso and Moalosi are young, attractive and deal openly with their HIV status. Nearly a third of the population in Lesotho is HIV positive.