Event

SFWFF - Documentary Program

Film Line-up:

Dani & Alice directed by Roberta Marie Munroe
(USA, 2005, 11 min, Narrative Fiction)
After an evening out Dani and Alice must come to terms with the end of their violent relationship.

Hidden Truth directed by Bahareh Hosseini, Abibata Mahama, Abigail Kaindu
and Mwlewa Kamanda
(United Kingdom, 2009, 9 min, Documentary)
Hidden Truth, directed by the first team of women trained in filmmaking in rural Zambia, is a candid and intimate portrayal of the effects of domestic violence on women and children in Samfya, a remote town in Northern Zambia.

Sin by Silence directed by Olivia Klaus
(USA, 2008, 49 min, Documentary)
With unprecedented access behind prison walls, SIN BY SILENCE offers a unique gateway into the lives of women who are domestic violences living worst case scenarios; women who have killed their abusers.

Inside the California Institution for Women, the first inmate-initiated and led group in U.S. prison history shatters the misconceptions of domestic violence. In 1989, inmate Brenda Clubine created Convicted Women Against Abuse (CWAA) to help women inside prison break the silence about abuse and learn more about what they can to do to help others stop the cycle of violence.

Instead of fighting a system that does not fully comprehend the complexities of abuse, the women of CWAA led an initiative to help educate the system. Through careful orchestration of letter writing campaigns, media coverage, and senate hearings a movement was born and laws for battered women were changed. And for Brenda the flicker of hope begins to grow as her possible freedom, after 26 years in prison, lies moments away.

While most of the women in SIN BY SILENCE may remain in prison for the rest of their lives, these women are committed to helping others understand the reality of domestic violence. Through their stories of terror and hope, the viewer can begin to understand the cycle of violence, the signs of an abuser, and how each and every one of us is responsible for changing the tragedy of domestic violence.