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Official Selection

The Changing the Story Online International Film Festival (1-5 June, 2020) celebrated the films and animations made from across our 27 projects. However, we also wanted to celebrate the work of many other projects beyond Changing the Story that are similarly using film to change people’s lives.

Films were submitted from 16 countries across the world and span a variety of formats and topics, from documentary shorts, animation to full-length features about mental health, addiction, migration and child soldiers to name a few.

We’ll be releasing the films on our website at dedicated times from 1-4 June, 2020. 

Selected Films have been organised into four themes:
Monday 1st: Narratives of the Past/Present
Tuesday 2nd: Health, Wellbeing, Loneliness and Loss
Wednesday 3rd: Youth, Resistance and Freedom
Thursday 4th:  The Human Experience

On Friday 5 June, 2020 all filmmakers participated in an online Q&A.

A PDF version of the Film Festival programme is available.

Full list of films featured in the festival below (in alphabetical order):

A State of Mental Wellbeing Through Art

A short documentary by Achabu Kire which explores the role of arts-based organisations in supporting youth mental health in Nagaland, India.

Run Time: 16 minutes 54 seconds

Tuesday 2 June, 2020

At First They Don't Believe

At first they don’t believe” is a feature documentary by Paul Cooke, Pete Manning, Duong Keo and Rachel Killean which documents the stories and experiences of two women who survived the Khmer regime in Cambodia, Sieng Chantei and Leay Kimchhean.

Run Time: 22 minutes 33 seconds

Monday 1 June, 2020

Being Young or The Way I Learned to Dance

Created from four poetry pieces this cinematic short by Francesco Pipparelli and Georgina Bolt called 'Being Young' is a visual metaphor of what it's like to be young with opportunities ahead while paradoxically feeling lost, oppressed, like you're falling.

Run Time: 2 minute 3 seconds

Wednesday 3 June, 2020

 

Daniel in Uganda's Homophobic Lion's Den

Daniel in the Homophobic Lion's Den creatively uses stories from the Bible to tell the life experiences of LGBTQI+ Ugandan refugees living in Nairobi. In this film, the Nature Network, a community theatre group, use the story of Daniel to celebrate the liberation of the LGBTQI+ community against the anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda.

Run Time: 16 minutes 20 seconds

Wednesday 3 June, 2020

Diary of a Recovering Drug Addict

The documentary film from The Big Picture project team highlights four chapters of a recovering addict's life, from before addiction to recovery, documenting the thoughts and feelings of recovering addicts throughout the process.

Run Time: 10 minutes

Tuesday 2 June, 2020

Elizabeth Maarman: In Die Verdrukking

This short film is part of series created by Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba, a co-creator collective and the “true voice of the land”, based in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. Has apartheid ended? This is the powerful question posed by Elizabeth Maarman, who says she still lives “in die verdukking” - under oppression.

Run Time: 4 minute 49 seconds

Thursday 4 June, 2020

'The Hertica Home'

'The Hertica Home' is a short 3D interactive documentary that uses testimony to explore connections between space and memory by focusing upon the the Sami Frasheri gymnasium faculty in the Hertica Family home, a School House in Prishtina, Kosovo in the 1990s. This short piece is developed by Bournemouth University Computer Animation students and coordinated by Dr. Paula Callus.

Wednesday 3 June 2020

Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking is a short film made by the young people from the Youth Committee at Nigel Caring Community Safe Park, Duduza, South Africa, explores issues around human trafficking in their community alongside contemporary suspicion of traditional beliefs.

Run Time: 20 minutes 39 seconds

Thursday 4 June 2020

James Town and Slavery

The film, shot in Accra, Ghana, is a result of a project which aimed to investigate the links between modern and historic slavery in James Town. The film captures footage of a new walking tour developed in a collaboration between the Stephen Collins and James Town Walking Tours.

Run Time: 7 minutes 30 seconds

Monday 1 June, 2020

Jesus and the Guys Charged with Indecency

Jesus and the Guys Charged with Indecency creatively uses stories from the Bible to tell the life experiences of LGBTQI+ Ugandan refugees living in Nairobi. In this film, The Nature Network, a community theatre group, use the story of Jesus to play out their experience of stigma, discrimination and violence because of their sexual and gender identity.

Run Time: 15 minute 13 seconds

Wednesday 3 June, 2020

Lebanon's War (part 2)

Lebanon's War (part 2) is a short film by a team of filmmakers from Art, Language, Youth and the Legacy of Conflict in Lebanon, part of a wider group of projects that form the Open World Research Initiative Project Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Communities.

Run Time: 4 minutes 57 seconds

Monday 1 June 2020

Lebanon's War

Lebanon's War is a short film by a team of filmmakers from Art, Language, Youth and the Legacy of Conflict in Lebanon, part of a wider group of projects that form the Open World Research Initiative Project Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Communities.

Run Time: 4 minutes 50 seconds

Monday 1 June 2020

Malume uya Lumana

Malume uya Lumana is a powerful short film about sexual violence made by the young people at Rearabilwe Safe Park in Tsakane, South Africa. The film is part of a series made by young people in South Africa telling stories from their lives and communities, as well as how they can take power together to resolve the problems that they face

Run Time: 12 minutes 52 seconds

Thursday 4 June 2020

My Story of Addiction and Recovery

The documentary film by Benrilo Shitiri features the stories of those living with addictions in Nagaland, India and the experiences of the frontline workers supporting them.

Run Time: 15 minutes 42 seconds

Tuesday 2 June, 2020

Neville van Rooy remembers the "Karretjie Mense”

This documentary short is created by Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba, a co-creator collective and the “true voice of the land”, based in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. The film captures the story of Neville van Rooy who traces his heritage to the KhoeKhoe people who worked on settler farms.

Run Time: 8 minute 30 seconds

Monday 1 June, 2020

Road to Relief

Road to Relief is a short film by a team of filmmakers from Art, Language, Youth and the Legacy of Conflict in Lebanon, part of a wider group of projects that form the Open World Research Initiative Project Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Communities.  The film features interviews with young Syrian filmmakers who open up about their experiences of war in Syria and the challenges they now face living in Lebanon.

Run Time: 3 minutes 26 seconds

Monday 1 June 2020

School-Houses in Kosovo during the 1990s

The film by Lum Çitaku documents the school-house system in Kosovo in the 1990's and features the accounts of young people in the present day learning about the past.

Run Time: 21 minutes 29 seconds

Wednesday 3 June, 2020

Some Stories

Some Stories require courage, a deep breath and a leap. This documentary is about the work of the Narrative 4 organisation and, specifically, the three days in November 2018 when 15 English teenagers from Birmingham met 15 Irish teenagers in Limerick for a 'story exchange workshop' designed to create empathy.

Run Time: 89 minutes

Monday 1 June, 2020

Šta onda?

Šta onda? by Hana Hasanefendić is a youthful, rebellious and cynical critique of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s national mentality.

Run Time: 6 minutes 1 second

Wednesday 3 June, 2020

Striving for Survival

Striving for Survival is a documentary film by Keduokuolie Pienyii about the job opportunities young people in Nagaland, India are creating to economically empower themselves.

Run Time: 14 minutes 56 seconds

Thursday 4 June, 2020

The Last Man

The Last Man is a documentary film directed by Dakxin Chhara about manual scavengers and the role of the caste system in Indian societies which defines the destiny of many poor and low class communities within the sub-continent.

Run Time: 60 minutes

Thursday 4 June, 2020 

The Place Where Sky Kissed the Earth

The Place Where Sky Kissed the Earth, directed by Bahtijara Hodzic, is about Tuzla, a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a proud multi-ethnic existence.

Run Time: 4 minute 8 seconds

Thursday 4 June, 2020

The Station

The Station, directed by Leart Rama, tells the story of Koman, an area north of Albania visited by tourists but also home to a community of people who were deported to the mountains during the Hoxha Communist era and whom continue to live there isolated from the 'modern world.'

Run Time: 11 minutes 55 seconds

Monday 1 June, 2020

The Tree of Love

The Tree of Love, directed by Mat Charles, is a story of love, friendship and resistance, written, illustrated and animated by children and young people from the indigenous Nasa community many of whom were recruited by armed groups and forced to take up arms. 

Run Time: 25 minutes

Wednesday 3 June, 2020

Thyspunt Khoisan Heritage

This film is part of series created by Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba,  a co-creator collective and the “true voice of the land”, based in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. This film presents key moments in Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba's journey from the Karoo to the Eastern Cape coast and the heartbreaking stories of colonisation and loss that the people of Thyspunt told.

Run Time: 11 minutes 11 seconds

Monday 1 June, 2020

Total 15

This film is part of series created by Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba, a co-creator collective and the “true voice of the land”, based in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. The film follows Jacques Mashwani, a young rugby coach from Graaff-Reinet who believes in opportunities for young people, and is committed to helping young people work hard to maximise opportunities.

Run Time: 8 minute 16 seconds

Wednesday 3 June, 2020

Untitled Mobile Arts for Peace

Untitled Mobile Arts for Peace is a short documentary film about the Mobile Arts for Peace methodology, filmed, directed and edited by the young participatory-action research team from Connective Memories and Mobile Arts for Peace, two Changing the Story projects based in Rwanda.

Run Time: 4 minute 25 seconds

Monday 1 June, 2020

Vrygrond

This film is part of series created by Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba, the “true voice of the land”, based in Graaff-Reinet in the Karoo. The film follows Leon Lakay and Christine Louw who have made their home in Vrygrond, meaning free or empty land.

Run Time: 7 minute 39 seconds

Thursday 4 June, 2020

Wild Horses

Wild Horses, directed by Berina Porča, tells the story of a mother coping with the absence of her daughter, who left Bosnia to look for a better life.

Run Time: 3 minute 1 second

Tuesday 2 June, 2020