Official Film Festival Selection - Monday

Welcome to the Official Selection for Day 1 of the Changing the Story Online International Film Festival 2020.

The festival opens with a series of moving films about narratives of the past and the power of personal stories. From short documentaries about past atrocities to full length features about storytelling and empathy. These stories might not be know yet but will not be forgotten.

NB. Research relies on personal testimony and the creation of an open space for the critical exchange of ideas. As a consequence, some content in these films refer to or depict topics you may find upsetting, such as sexual abuse, slavery, child abuse, self-harm or suicide, kidnapping or abduction, death or dying, hateful language directed at marginalised groups.

From filmmaking team Paul Cooke, Pete Manning, Duong Keo and Rachel Killean,  “At first they don’t believe” tells the stories of two women who survived the violence of the 1970s Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Sieng Chantei and Leay Kimchhean.

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.’

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. 

The film, directed by Stephen Collins, is a result of a research project which investigates the links between modern and historic slavery in James Town, Ghana. The film captures footage of a new walking tour developed in a collaboration between the project team and James Town Walking Tours.

This film is part of series created by Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba, the “true voice of the land”, based in Graaff-Reinet in the Karoo. 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 told by the people of Thyspunt.

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. 

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

Road to Relief is a short film by a team of filmmakers from Art, Language, Youth and the Legacy of Conflict in Lebanon. 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.

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.

Catch an extended film about the Mobile Arts for Peace project below by director Deus Kwizera.

Some Stories requires courage, a deep breath and a leap. This 89 minute documentary is the work of the Narrative 4 organisation and specifically, the three days in November 2018 when 15 English teenages from Birmingham met 15 Irish teenagers in Limerick for a ‘story exchange workshop’ designed to create empathy. Emotional, intense and powerful, this workshop was run by Ruth Gilligan and James Lawlow.