Can film change the world?
The Freedom Film Fest hopes to bring about change through social documentaries on pressing issues like wartime rape and the poverty trap many young people are caught in.
NORA was only 11 when she was captured by the Syrian army and turned into a sex slave.
When she was finally released, she was so traumatised that she could not speak to any man or be near one, not even her own father, her mother Fatima recounts sadly. To add to Nora’s torment, her neighbours blamed her for what happened to her, alienating the broken girl and her family further in their village.
This is one of the harrowing segments of Zero Impunity, which explores the controversial subject of wartime rape from different angles to show how devastating the crime is, not only for the victims, but also their family and community.
Even more disturbing, the documentary highlights, this atrocity often goes unpunished, creating deep wounds that can lead to further conflicts and wars in the future.
Directed by brothers Nicolas and Stephane Hueber Blies, Zero Impunity combines animation and investigative journalism reports to highlight how sexual violence is not just a collateral damage of the world’s conflicts, but rather a weapon of war.
What makes the documentary distinctive, however, is that it was produced with an online social campaign (#zeroimpunity) to create public awareness on an issue that definitely needs more attention. The campaign includes not only a petition but also a road map for change. Those interested can get involved in digital demonstrations that can be projected onto large buildings and public spaces.
According to Zero Impunity’s producer Marion Guth, some 400,000 people have already joined the movement, signing petitions and demanding concrete actions, including special training within the French army and criminal code reforms in Ukraine.
Like Guth and the Blies brothers, more and more documentary filmmakers are using the medium to amplify unheard voices, highlight issues and accelerate change in the world.
Called social impact cinema, it is a growing field of independent documentary filmmaking that seeks to inspire change through deep human stories, says Anna Har, executive director of Freedom Film Network, which organises the annual social documentary film festival Freedom Film Fest (FFF).
These documentaries capture some of the most pressing issues of our time while serving to catalyse personal and community action.
Social issue documentaries can have a powerful impact on society, Har concurs, noting that this is what FFF has been aiming to do since it started in 2003.
Themed Harga Naik, Gaji Maintain (Soaring prices, stagnant wages), the FF2019 is also focusing on how filmmakers and activists can create multi-platform strategic outreach campaigns with films to create a bigger social impact.
Along with the screening of Zero Impunity, Guth will be speaking at one of the festival’s Filmmaker’s Talk sessions titled “Changing the world, one documentary at a time” on Wednesday (Sept 25). She will be joined by documentary filmmakers Aminda Faradilla from Malaysia and Ben Randall from Australia on the panel. Guth will also have a separate session to share her experience and strategies in creating a social media impact campaign with Zero Impunity and how it has engaged the public and advocated for the victims of sexual violence.
Another documentary to look out for at the festival is A Northern Soul by British documentarian Sean McAllister, who filmed an aspiring rapper called Steve Arnott in his home city of Hull after it was anointed the UK City of Culture in 2017.
Although Arnott was struggling to make ends meet working long, grim hours in a warehouse, he embarked on a community arts project to share his love of rap music. With sponsorship from his employer, Arnott created a “Beats Bus”: a mobile recording studio in which he toured around schools and facilitated disadvantaged kids to record their own hip-hop material.
“The film not only manages to capture the voice of workers trapped by debt and low pay in a Brexit-mess era Britain, but also demonstrates how arts and culture has the potential to transform young people’s lives,” says Har.
Freedom Film Fest 2019 is now on until Sept 28 at PJ Live Arts, Jaya One, Petaling Jaya.
For more information, visit freedomfilm.my