The Stories from the field Official Selection 2007 is pleased to announce the 2007 Festival Finalists! The following films will be screened at the Stories from the Field film festival on 21-22 April 2007. Winners will be announced at the Opening Night Reception.
UNITED NATIONS FINALISTS
A Future within Reach
A journey across the world's most dynamic region, the Asia-Pacific, home to more than half of humanity, to discover how countries are performing and the barriers they face in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Interviews and case studies highlight how the MDGs will affect people's lives and what countries can do to meet the 2015 deadline. Agency: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). 10 min.
Child Labour: Burden of Gold
This documentary exposes the hazards faced by children who work in mines, one of the most dangerous forms of child labor, and essays the various programs undertaken by government, the ILO-IPEC, UNICEF, and non-governmental organizations to bring child laborers back to school. Agency: UNICEF / International Labor Organization (UNICEF/ILO). 16 min.
Congo: The Forgotten War
For the Democratic Republic of Congo, the civil war may have ended in 2003, but the war on hunger continues unabated. Women in the DRC are frightened to tend distant fields or walk long distances to the market for fear of being sexually assaulted. This film looks at projects that are helping former victims increase their food production and make a new start. Agency: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 08 min.
Fistula in Bangladesh
Dhaka Centre offers surgery for young women who have endured ostracism and hardship after suffering injuries during childbirth - a problem stemming from inadequate maternal healthcare and too-early marriage. Agency: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). 04 min. Gem Slaves: Tanzanite's Child Labour
This is the story of the child miners of Mererani in northern Tanzania, whose labor, performed under the most dangerous conditions, is fueled by their own desperate poverty and a global hunger for the precious gem called tanzanite. Agency: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs / Integrated Regional Information Networks (OCHA/IRIN). 16 min.
Home (PSA)
People would never treat their own home the way they treat the planet - would they? Produced on a shoestring, this PSA was aired across Australia and internationally on CNN. Agency: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 01 min.
Human Development Report: Kibera
Human Development Report 2006 examines how the world's colossal water crisis is not about scarcity but the management and governance of water. The report highlights Kibera, Kenya, as an example of this finding. Agency: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 06 min.
Invaders from the Sea
Produced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), in co-operation with the BBC and the shipping industry, this documentary gives a unique insight into the little-known environmental issue of harmful organisms transported in ballast water by ships, and the associated ecological and economic havoc it is causing around the world, especially in developing countries. Agency: International Maritime Organization (IMO). 49 min.
Kakenya: Against the Odds The inspiring story of Kakenya Ntaiya, a young Maasai from Kenya, who was promised in marriage when she was five years old. Kakenya's hunger for an education gave her the courage to buck tradition and convince the elders of her community to allow her to stay in school, even while her peers were dropping out to get married. Agency: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). 09 min.
Maid in Lebanon This film sheds light on the little known world of the domestic migrant worker and the power dynamics of the international labor market, as it follows the journey of one woman, Vimala, from her village in Sri Lanka to work for a family in Lebanon. Generally unprotected by local laws, these women often suffer physical, sexual, and mental abuse at the hands of their employers. Agency: International Labor Organization (ILO). 25 min.
Stolen Childhoods: Child Brides in Ethiopia There are an estimated fifty million child brides across the world, young girls sent into arranged marriages, often with older men, and sometimes with devastating consequences. In Ethiopia alone, more than forty percent of girls are married before the age of fifteen. Twelve-year-old Ethiopian bride, Saraye, opens up her home and her life to let us in on a childhood that is no longer. Agency: United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI). 09 min.
The Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life Jay-Z partnered with the United Nations and MTV to explore the world water crisis. While on his concert world tour, he visited Angola and South Africa, guided by a UN expert, and met young people in communities struggling with the scarcity of clean water. Agency: UN Works. 23 min.
Villages on the Front Line: Jordan This film is part of a series created for the UN's International Year of Deserts and Desertification (IYDD). It features innovative uses of land and water that help protect the environment and improve the livelihoods of the poorest farmers. In this segment, viewers travel to Jordan where the challenge is to stop the entire kingdom from turning to desert. Agency: International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). 22 min.
Wake Up Mozambique is emerging from civil war only to find itself facing a fast-growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. This documentary explores the effect of the disease on young people and what a select group of non-governmental organizations is doing to raise awareness and advocate for prevention. Agency: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). 20 min.
Women on the Run: Kidnapped Childhood In Northern Uganda, children dare not sleep at home lest they find themselves abducted by the rebels. In the past twenty years, 20,000 children have been kidnapped, turned into soldiers and sex slaves by the brutal Lord's Resistance Army. Only some come back alive. Agency: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). 28 min.
PUBLIC FINALISTS
A Different Kind of Gun
Filmed inside Sudan, in a refugee camp for survivors of Darfur, this is the harrowing story of children caught in the crossfire of Sudan's two wars. Told by and filmed in part by the children, it takes us into the hearts of Sudan's youngest generation, those who will decide one day whether to forgive or avenge the murders of their families. Director: Peter Jordan. 15 min.
A Killer Bargain When a Western company grows to more than 50 employees, you can be certain it has at least considered outsourcing its production to a Third World country, where it can benefit from the availability of cheap labor and raw materials. That's globalization! But can we trust them when they promise to be morally and environmentally responsible? Disguised as chain store buyers, this film's crew goes shopping in India. Producer: Jesper Fogh Lund. 57 min.
A Right to Live - AIDS Medication for Millions Krisana Kraisintu, who used to run the Thai government's pharmaceutical research department, has developed and produced what is to date the cheapest HIV-medication in the world, a generic compound that contains the identical active substances as branded medications from the big pharmaceutical companies, but is 26 times cheaper. Director: Birgit Schulz. 44 min.
Chernobyl: The Invisible Thief On April 26th 1986, a human and environmental disaster befell Chernobyl, Ukraine, when the local atomic power plant exploded. Early summer heat and insufficient security measures exacerbated the nightmare. The filmmaker, whose own wife was exposed to the fallout and later died of cancer, follows the story of a young artist, Dmitrij Gutin, who, in the last days of his military service, was posted to the highly contaminated 30 km. zone around Chernobyl. Director: Christoph Boekel. 60 min.
Dabla! Excision Female genital mutilation is practiced in 26 African countries, where each year, two million girls undergo the cruel ritual of excision or infibulation. Increasing numbers of genitally mutilated women now seek asylum in the West to protect their own daughters from a similar plight. This film, shot principally in West Africa and Québec, tells the stories of several courageous women fighting to end a practice whose ultimate aim is the control of female sexuality. Director: Erica Pomerance. 47 min.
Dirty Job A job relegated to women of the lowest castes in India, and to many desperately poor people throughout the world, scavenging is a dirty and dangerous profession. The scavengers in this film clean human excreta from dry toilets in private houses, a job that still exists because of the country's shortage of modern toilet facilities. An Indian NGO, Sulabh, is working to change the circumstances that necessitate this unhealthy profession. Directors: Luciana Kaplan, Diego Delgado. 21 min.
Element 2 Monica, a young Afro-Peruvian woman, performs her poems backed by a full band. She's used to being in front of the mike; she DJ-ed a radio show on gender issues for years. You climb one of my braids and follow the paths drawn on my scalp. A woman with this look / can sing / can dance / can fuck / not stop thinking. She runs LUNDU in Lima, an organization working "at the intersection between sexism and racism". Director: Emily McDowell. 06 min.
Ingenious Africa: Sustaining Africa (Episode 5) and Ingenious Africa: Greening Africa (Episode 11) Africa! She lives large in the world's imagination, but her reality is even more entrancing. This huge continent, with its awe-inspiring landscapes and amazing wildlife, has been an almost inexhaustible wellspring of biodiversity, including the emergence of our own species, Homo sapiens. Everything that we have achieved, from agriculture to space technology, can be traced back to the seeds of our human ingenuity, sown in the heart of Africa. These films are part of a 13-part documentary series that tells compelling stories from all over the continent, about people who are doing great things in fields from astronomy to medicine, from large-scale engineering infrastructure to homegrown solutions to local problems. Ingenious Africa is breaking the mold and producing new hope - for her people and for the world. Director: Robin Newell. 30 min.
Kill or Cure: The Forgotten Diseases The forgotten diseases are invariably the diseases of poverty, of those people who lack the wherewithal to improve their circumstances. Ironically, most of the diseases that plague poor populations, like the parasitic worms spread from person to person by mosquitoes, are curable. Leading researchers have now shown that a cheap and simple cocktail of drugs can kill the worms, preventing sickness and misery on a vast scale. Director: Alex Seaborne. 25 min.
Lumo This is the portrait of a young rape survivor awaiting treatment at a hospital in Congo. As she embarks upon the uncertain road to regaining her health and dignity, she questions her beliefs about God, women's roles in society, childbearing, and the violence that is tearing her country apart. Director: Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt and Nelson Walker III. 53 min.
My Sister, My Self Filmed in Africa and Asia, this film relates the moving testimonies of sisters, mothers, and midwives in the world's poorest communities. Amina tells of a three day camel journey to take her sister to a health center - too late. We see the earth floor of a hut; half of the world's women still give birth in places like it. Almost all who die in childbirth are young, poor, and powerless. This film gives them a voice and shows how lives can be saved. Director: Brigid McConville. 30 min.
SASA! A Film about Women, Violence and HIV/AIDS Sasa is a Kiswahili word, meaning now. Now is the time to begin thinking differently about preventing the spread of HIV. This 30-minute documentary tells the story of two women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mama Joyce and Josephine have very different lives, yet both experienced violence and contracted HIV from their husbands. Their stories are not atypical; violence against women fuels and is fueled by the epidemic. This film takes an inspiring look at two women's lives and issues a call for action: to prevent HIV infection and violence against women now. SASA! Director: Chanda Chevannes. 30 min.
Survivor's Guide: Child Refugees - Returning Home In the confusion of the civil war in Burundi, Vanise was one of many children who became separated from their parents and left homeless. Taken in by a foster family, she lives in a border camp set up by the United Nations Refugee Agency, until one day she is found by her biological family. Her journey back from the border campsites that have been her whole world - education, social and family life - to her own family and a strange new homeland is both traumatic and heartwarming. Director: Alex Seaborne. 23 min.
Survivor's Guide: Educating Girls in India In the northeast state of Bihar, south of Nepal, girls find it particularly challenging to stay in school. A combination of large families and low incomes, where older siblings have to look after younger ones, a poor infrastructure, no tradition of educating girls, and a lack of female teachers provide powerful disincentives to educating the female half of the population. In 1989, UNICEF began working with the government to help Bihar's girls get educated. Director: Jago Smith. 22 min.
Wide Angle: Back to School This is the second installment of Time for School, the multi-year project launched in 2003 when Wide Angle profiled seven children in seven countries - Afghanistan, Benin, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, and Romania - starting their first year of school, often despite great odds. Returning in 2006, we find that some are hanging onto their enrollment by a thread. This documentary puts a human face on an issue with profound consequences for global development. Executive producer: Stephen Segaller. 54 min.
SPECIAL FEATURES
¡Salud!
Against the alarming backdrop of the global health crisis and deteriorating public health systems in even the richest nations, ¡Salud! examines the curious case of Cuba, a cash-strapped country with what the BBC calls "one of the world's best health systems". From the shores of Africa to the Americas, ¡Salud! tells the little known story of how Cuba overcame its lack of resources to provide universal healthcare, and is helping other nations to do the same. Director: Connie Field. 93 min.
Good Morning, Dangme
Radio Ada, the first community radio station in Ghana, is a powerful engine of social change in this poor rural area. By broadcasting in the local language, Dangme, the station has helped a predominantly illiterate and patriarchal society cope with its education and gender problems. With the support of the United Nations and international organizations, Radio Ada now serves as a role model for many African countries. Director: Takaya Kawasaki. 45 min.
For more information, please go to the Stories from the field website.
