On November 13, 2015, the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis, carried out by three Islamist commandos and claimed by ISIS, were the deadliest in France since the end of World War II. In the months that followed, the November 13 Program was launched by the CNRS and Inserm to study the construction of individual and collective memory around an event that profoundly marked French society. Today, the testimonies of 27 volunteers—among some 1,000 people—who participated in the study form a mosaic of experiences that shows how trauma extends beyond the immediate circle to permeate the national collective memory.
After years of being silenced through violent opposition, Norma Burton, one of the key founders of the first women’s shelter in Tulsa, OK, tells an untold story of the battered women's movement. In the late 1970s and early 1980’s LGBTQ, BIPOC, and formerly abused women across the US gathered in secret to create a grassroots movement that became today's National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, despite persecution and death threats. Norma recounts to her daughter, director Nisha Burton, how she and her collaborators alerted the police of rising cases of domestic violence and ultimately decided to take matters into their own hands by conducting support gatherings in their homes around the kitchen table. These meetings led to the founding of the first battered women’s shelter in Tulsa, OK in 1975. The years that followed were filled with harassment and verbal and physical attacks on Norma and fellow organizers, but today these courageous advocates continue to support the movement.
This documentary by Léa Clermont-Dion and Guylaine Maroist plunges us into the vortex of online misogyny and documents hatred towards women. This bleak opus, reminiscent of a psychological thriller, follows four women across two continents: former President of the Italian parliament Laura Boldrini, former Democratic representative Kiah Morris, French actor and YouTuber Marion Séclin, and Donna Zuckerberg, a specialist in online violence against women and the sister of Facebook’s founder. This tour de force reveals the devastating effects such unapologetic hatred has on victims, and brings to light the singular objective of cyber-misogyny: to silence women who shine. Some targets of cyber-violence will crumble under the crystallizing force of the click. Others, proud warriors, will stand tall and refuse to be silenced.
For over thirty years, three women have languished in Missouri State prison under unjust sentences for killing their abusive husbands. Denied the opportunity to enter the abuse into evidence, each of the women represents a system broken by outdated and media-sensationalized stereotypes. When a greater understanding of the "battered" syndrome change legal practices in 2000, Missouri's Governor crafts a new law demanding the parole board reevaluate each woman's case.
Following a series of intimate conversations between a former couple who lived through two years of domestic abuse, A Better Man infuses new energy and possibility into the movement to end violence against women.
A documentary about the Women's Shelters and the centers for support for women escaping domestic violence.
In turn, the medical community has been affected by the post #metoo movement denouncing sexual violence against women. It was about time. Assaults and rapes perpetrated behind closed doors in doctors' offices have gone unpunished for too long. For a victim, reporting them is almost as difficult as recounting incidents of incest. And the medical councils, which are mainly made up of men, have long turned a deaf ear to patients' complaints. When cases are brought before the courts, the justice system also struggles to prosecute these rapists. Recently, practices and names have been made public, complaints are multiplying, and women are daring to speak out. Could this be the end of complacency towards these criminals in white coats?
Mother-of-two Judy Malinowski, then 31, was doused in gasoline and set on fire by her crazed boyfriend – and one of the first ever to testify from beyond the grave, at the trial for her own murder. A story that lives at the intersection of true crime and #MeToo, THE FIRE THAT TOOK HER goes deep inside a landmark case to ask a timely question: How much must women suffer in order to be believed?
Christine’s father died when she was still a small child, and she remained in the care of her sadistic mother, who beat her and abused her psychologically. Christine is still convinced that her mother hid a farewell letter from her beloved father. Jean’s father committed suicide several years ago, and left behind a lengthy letter, but Jean never found the courage to read it. Together, Christine and Jean embark on a unique road trip across the French countryside to visit Christine’s mother, and try to confront the past.
The documentary, devoted to the last days of the professor who was tragically beheaded by an Islamist terrorist. This film highlights the failings of the state and the national education system in this deeply disturbing case.
In 2014, when Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, fell to the Islamic State, the creation of dozens of factions was seen as the solution to organize the Shiite youth who had risen up en masse to fight Daesh and protect Baghdad, which was under threat. These factions were supposed to be a temporary force. In reality, they have never been demobilized, leading the Iraqi state into ever greater instability. How did they become so strategically important in post-Daesh Iraq?
An eighteen-step scavenger hunt for people loneliest in their own homes. This animated video collage serves as a survival guide and an ode to the imaginations that protect us. Statement from Daniel Lobb, the Director: Our performance is first and foremost a resource for people who are isolated in unsupportive homes. It presents self-preservation strategies to those who rely on media and imagination to withstand in potentially abusive environments. The composition is based on the writer, Lexie Bean, growing up as queer, trans, and a survivor of incest in Michigan and Ohio, which we’ve all processed through our respective art forms. These iterations of inspiration and reformation ultimately led us to a video collage and sound-score that seek to buoy the main text: an ode to imagination, a scavenger hunt, a survival guide. Our hope is to bolster the viewer’s capacity for imaginative resilience.
In 2003, actress Marie Trintignant died after being beaten by her partner Bertrand Cantat. The singer was sentenced to eight years in prison. Once released, Cantat attempted to return to the spotlight. It was an almost impossible comeback, especially since his first wife, Kristina Rady, committed suicide under mysterious circumstances. Who is Bertrand Cantat really? And how does he live today?
Tracking the evolution from 16mm and VHS to modern tech and thermal imaging, we shadow an army man. He treasures trophies, a family photo, boot camp moments. Yet, CCTV captures his crime, etched in digital memory.
A disturbing chapter in Russian history is explored in this documentary. In 1933, Joseph Stalin sent 6000 "unwanted" citizens of Moscow and Leningrad to a desolate Siberian island - with no food or clothes to speak of. Decades later this documentary returns to the island.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas inflicts its biggest military defeat on Israel since 1948. The myth of the invincibility of the Israeli Defense Forces is cracking. What happens in this army that thought it was prepared for anything? Senior commanders and soldiers emerge from the shadows and tell the story of Zahal– and their own at the same time.
This film from Bill Moyers is the first documentary to focus exclusively on people formerly detained in New York City’s notorious Rikers Island Jail. They tell their compelling stories direct to the camera, revealing the violent arc of the Rikers experience – from the trauma of entry to extortion and control by inmates, to oppressive corrections officers, violence and solitary confinement.
This visceral cinematic snapshot is an inventive commentary on the pleasures and dangers of wielding a camera. Using different video and film formats, the director tries to record life as it is, unpredictable and at times dangerous.
In 1999, Colorado mother Jessica Gonzales experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when her three young daughters were killed after being abducted by their father in violation of a domestic violence restraining order. Devastated, Jessica sued her local police department for failing to adequately enforce her domestic violence restraining order despite her repeated calls for help that night. Determined to make sure her daughters did not die in vain, Jessica pursues her case to the US Supreme Court and an international human rights tribunal, seeking to strengthen legal rights for domestic violence victims. Meanwhile, her relationship with her one surviving child, her son Jessie, suffers, as he struggles with the tragedy in his own way. Shot over the course of nine years, Home Truth chronicles one family’s incredible pursuit of justice, shedding light on how our society responds to domestic violence and how the trauma from domestic violence can linger through generations.
Celebrated author and Nation magazine sports editor Dave Zirin tackles the myth that the NFL was somehow free of politics before Colin Kaepernick and other Black NFL players took a knee.