FILMS THAT MAKE US CARE
FILMS THAT MAKE US CARE
GCFF 2022 | MAY 27-29, 2022
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Global Cinema Film Festival of Boston (GCFF) is committed to bringing the best of global cinematography to Boston. Our unflinching mission is to spotlight films that make us care. In 2022, GCFF will continue to showcase unconventional styles that speak to the evolution of the documentary form. Moreover, through the visual language of film, we invite audiences to embark on a journey, exploring sensitive stories captured by unflinching lenses held by filmmakers with the audacity to inform, inspire and visually transport audiences to that sacred place called the cinema.
Our 7th annual edition included award-winning independent films from around the globe, with MA, New England, U.S., North American, World Premieres, and critically acclaimed official selections that have featured in major international award competitions. We invite and welcome our international community to come and discover extraordinary films that make us care!
SUBMISSIONS OPEN JULY 1!
SUBMISSIONS OPEN JULY 1!
SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW 2022 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW 2022 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
A MOMENT OF BLISS
2021 | Lebanon | 59 MIN
DIRECTOR: Bachar Khattar
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
PREMIERE STATUS: East Coast Premiere
Hearing the word Lebanon often automatically translates to chaos for many people, but the chaos felt by the filmmaker is different. It is an internal conflict of ideas and emotions which, despite the stage of collapse the country is currently experiencing, produces unique moments of happiness such as a coffee with friends, a hike in nature, or a sunset at the beach. The filmmaker describe such small moments as “A Moment of Bliss.”
Few seconds summarize the love-hate relationship between a country and its people. A country with sectarian divides, socioeconomic insecurity, human rights violations, and disregard for its resident. Caught in between what is and what could be, life has become an emotional rollercoaster. This is not a journey to discover who is behind the crisis but rather meet people experiencing this rollercoaster, with the hope that through them, we would be able to define this Moment of Bliss. We would be able to recognize whether it is just an illusion, a coping mechanism or a palpable reality that gives the country a unique charm that must be shown and shared with those who haven’t experienced Lebanon yet.
SURVIVING SEX TRAFFICKING
SURVIVING SEX TRAFFICKING
2021 | USA, India, Hungary, Ethiopia, Philippines| 72 MIN
DIRECTOR: Sadhvi Siddhali Shree
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
PREMIERE STATUS: New England Premiere
Brave and resilient sex trafficking survivors around the world share their struggles to break free from their past and find hope for the future.
With 45 million sex trafficking victims worldwide, only 1% manage to escape. SURVIVING SEX TRAFFICKING examines the ongoing struggles of survivors as they fight to break free of their past, heal their bodies and minds and find hope for the future.
Executive produced by Alyssa Milano, Jeannie Mai and Jeezy, filmmaker Sadhvi Siddhali Shree, (STOPPING TRAFFIC: THE MOVEMENT TO END SEX-TRAFFICKING) travels across US, India and Ethiopia to hear these powerful stories and shine a light on this horrific epidemic.
SING, FREETOWN
SING, FREETOWN
2021 | United Kingdom, Sierra Leone | 94 MIN
DIRECTOR: Clive Patterson
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
PREMIERE STATUS: New England Premiere
Emmy winning filmmaker from Sierra Leone, Sorious Samura, has grown tired telling negative stories about Africa. He embarks on a journey with his best friend, Sierra Leone’s most famous playwright, Charlie Haffner, to create an epic work of national theatre – a play to reclaim their country from negative media narratives and the damaging legacy of colonial rule. It doesn’t go as planned.
OCTOPUS
OCTOPUS
2021 | Lebanon | 64 MIN
DIRECTOR: Karim Kassem
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
PREMIERE STATUS: New England Premiere
Octopus explores the haunting aftermath of the Beirut explosion. The city is under construction and there is a strange eerie nature to how life continues even in its simplest forms. The filmmaker, himself a survivor, finds himself drawn to experience and silently narrate what reality felt like to other survivors through a metaphysical lens.
RUSSIA VS. RUSSIA
RUSSIA VS. RUSSIA
2021 | France, Russian Federation | 53 MIN
DIRECTOR: Stéphane Bentura
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
PREMIERE STATUS: U.S. Premiere
Alexei Navalny’s arrest in Moscow made headlines around the world. But how do ordinary Russians see this situation? Many of them told us that they want change, even if it comes at a price.
Meanwhile the Kremlin has hardened its repression against all opposition. The filmmakers interviewed all sides, including pro Kremlin voices, and show what is at stake for everyone involved. The Russian regime promotes the idea that foreign agents feed Western Russophobia, and that Navalny, his supporters, NGOs, and journalists are all complicit in this.
Navalny and his supporters, as well as dissidents both inside and outside Russia, tell a different story. They say that President Putin’s regime is a kleptocracy. Thirty years after the fall of the USSR, this film shows what remains of the Soviet regime and a profoundly divided country. Other authoritarian regimes look to Putin’s Russia as a model of how to create a façade of legitimacy. This film is ultimately about the fundamentals of what constitutes a true democracy.
SHADOW GAME
SHADOW GAME
2021| Netherlands | 90 MIN
DIRECTOR: Eefje Blankevoort, Els van Drie
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
PREMIERE STATUS: U.S. Premiere
Everyday teenagers who have fled their war-torn countries try to cross Europe’s borders in search of protection and a better life. They travel through a shadow world we never see: a world of minefields, bears, fast-flowing rivers, smugglers and border guards. ‘The game’ is the bitterly ironic term for crossing borders that has become commonplace among these young refugees. Risking their lives, the teenagers undertake a treacherous journey that often takes months or even years. Along the way, they grow up fast.
Now that fences have gone up all over Europe, seeking asylum has become almost impossible. Reaching their final destination has become more difficult than ever. Their journey takes them through the whole of Europe: from Greece to North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, from Italy to France and The Netherlands.
‘Shadow Game’ is a mosaic story in which the experiences of many young refugees on the road are forged together into one universal tale: a modern Odyssey. Filmed over a period of three years, partly by the main characters themselves, Will they overcome the numerous obstacles they face? And will they find a new home?
LIBYA, NO ESCAPE FROM HELL
LIBYA, NO ESCAPE FROM HELL
2021 | France, Libta | 61 MIN
DIRECTOR: Sara Creta
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
PREMIERE STATUS: U.S. Premiere
The detention centres in Libya where thousands of refugees await in inhuman conditions for someone – the militia, Europe, the UN – to decide what their fate should be, are at the heart of this documentary. If officially, Libya’s detention centres are run by the UN-recognised government, in reality they are in the hands of militias that control the country and see in migrants a ready source of cash by kidnapping and torturing them.
This film looks at the entire detention system, how this traffic works, the role of the militias and the way in which their control is exercised. It aims to point out the responsibilities of those involved, first and foremost that of the European Union which provides financing then takes no responsibility. What needs to be changed and what are the solutions?
Europe seems to be at the mercy of Libyan blackmail and continues to pursue a flawed strategy to empower Libyan Coast Guards to intercept migrants and asylum seekers and take them back to Libya. The EU and Italy's support contribute to a cycle of extreme abuse.
SO FOUL A SKY
SO FOUL A SKY
2021 | Colombia | 83 MIN
DIRECTOR: Alvaro F. Pulpeiro
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
PREMIERE STATUS: U.S. Premiere
Under shadows cast by colossal oil refineries, emerging from the desert like chrome cathedrals, SO FOUL A SKY presents a journey through several frontier lands of Venezuela – the world's first petro-state – now shaken by the worst political and humanitarian crisis South America has experienced in the 21st century. While storm clouds gather in the skies, sleepy soldiers patrol the Caribbean Seas, migrants drift through lugubrious border posts between Brazil and Venezuela, and smugglers venture across the hostile Guajira Desert, trafficking the last remaining barrels of embargoed gasoline. All is enveloped by scrambled radio newsreels fired from both sides of the ideological struggle ripping the capital apart.
This is a film portraying pirates and pilgrims, orphaned children of a land that they have made their own without planting flags or imposing anthems; anarchic just like the hovering storm clouds threatening to put an end to the limbo all inhabit. SO FOUL A SKY clears not without a storm.
WHEN A FARM GOES AFLAME
WHEN A FARM GOES AFLAME
2021 | Germany, Nigeria, Denmark | 112 MIN
DIRECTOR: Jide Tom Akinleminu
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
PREMIERE STATUS: New England Premiere
A filmmaker completes his debut film: A reflection on his parents assumed monogamous long-distance marriage as well as his own Nigerian background and identity. He thereafter accidentally discovers his father's secret; a second family throughout the last 30 years, a life secret that escaped the initial film. This revelation sends the filmmaker on a new quest, now focusing on his retired Danish mother and his newly acquainted younger Nigerian half-brother.
"When a farm goes aflame" is set in the aftermath of a lifetime of secrecy and denial. It attempts to bring together the stories and beliefs of all protagonists as they come to terms with their common past and shape their future. Moving fluidly between Denmark, Nigeria, Canada and USA, the film gently unfolds as a poetic and psychologically complex exploration of the meeting between western and African concepts of love, relationships and family.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER
2021 | Germany | 91 MIN
DIRECTOR: Antonia Kilian
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
PREMIERE STATUS: New England Premiere
In order to avoid a forced marriage, 19-year-old Hala finds shelter across the Euphrates (North-East Syria), at a Military Academy for women. While learning how to fight, she gets inspired by the promise of freeing every woman. After the Kurdish military takes over her city from ISIS, Hala returns as a police force entitled to protect other women in danger. Hala finds herself ready to fulfil her greatest dream: to free her younger sisters from her father’s hand.
Τhe threat of a forced marriage and the brutal stories of female oppression lead more and more women to the other side of the river. They are trained in a strict military-style, taught that they have to protect themselves with weapons against the patriarchal society. But is there freedom to be found in a military system in the middle of war?
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