Film From the South congratulates the three Peace Prize winners! Here are three films from this year’s programme which portray and put in the limelight powerful women evolving in conflict-ridden societies.
Thorbjørn Jagland, leader of the Nobel committee, announced on Friday that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leymah Roberta Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman were the winners of this year’s Peace Prize. He hopes that the prize will help to develop women’s rights in Africa and the Arab world.
Johnson-Sirleaf is Liberia’s president and the first female leader of state in Africa. Gbowee is also from Liberia, and has particularly contributed to draw together women around peace work following the long-standing civil war there. The 32 year-old Tawakkul Karman is a democracy activist from Yemen, and critic of the current regime.
Jagland highlighted during the press conference these women’s essential role in creating peace, stability and democracy. He said: “Without the inclusion of women, we will not succeed. The committee would like to particularly emphasize the courage and determination the winners have demonstrated in their work over many years.”
These themes are also highlighted during this year’s festival. Both women empowerment, women as peace makers and women in war have inspired this year’s filmmakers.
We recommend these films from this year’s programme:
Women Are Heroes (2010)
In peacetime women are discriminated, in wartime they are targets.” Street artist JR has travelled around the world, met and talked with women. He has also been to Liberia among other countries, where two of our prize winners come from.
With his unique artistic sense he highlights forgotten stories of women living under difficult conditions around the world. He meets women who struggle to survive through conflict and poverty, but who decided to carry on fighting anyway. To highlight their stories, he uses cities as canvases and pastes their portraits around so no one can miss them.
678 (2010)
In the Egyptian film 678, the three women Fayza, Seba and Nelly get together to fight against the sexual harassment they experience. Film director Mohammed Diab was inspired by a real incident in 2008, when a young woman went to court against sexual harassment for the first time in Egypt’s history.
Where Do We Go Now? (2011)
Director Nadine Labaki is one of the festival’s main guests. In Where Do We Go Now? She paints a strong picture of Arab women. The action is set in a small Lebanese village surrounded by landmines, where the isolation from the outside world threatens to divide the population. To prevent this, the village’s women get together in order to ward off the conflict that is about to happen.
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