3-part series on women directors. Three women filmmakers craft stories about migration, survival and community – as Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Nigerians under a military patriarchy, and Mexicans in LA.
Fadia’s Tree, dir. Sarah Beddington (starts at 7 min. 21 sec.)
‘The trajectory of the birds seemed to be able to reconnect people and place that had been separated and fragmented.’
While millions of birds migrate freely in the skies Fadia, a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon, yearns for the ancestral homeland she is denied. She challenges Sarah, the film’s Director, to find an ancient mulberry tree that stands as witness to her family’s existence. Spanning fifteen years, this story of a friendship that stays connected across a divided land and a fragmented people adopts a bird’s eye perspective to reflect on freedom of movement, exile and the hope of return.
Recorded 2 August 2022.
The Supreme Price, dir. Joanna Lipper (starts at 15 min. 22 sec.)
‘You have a lot of useless men in power, why not have a few useless women… let’s get them in there and let’s make it normal.’
The Supreme Price is a feature length documentary film that traces the evolution of the Pro-Democracy Movement in Nigeria and efforts to increase the participation of women in leadership roles. Following the annulment of her father's victory in Nigeria's Presidential Election and her mother's assassination by agents of the military dictatorship, Hafsat Abiola faces the challenge of transforming a corrupt culture of governance into a democracy capable of serving Nigeria's most marginalized population: women.
Recorded 17 March 2015.
Mija, dir. Isabel Castro (starts at 20 min. 51 sec.)
‘You carry a lot of pressure when your parents have made sacrifices and regardless of the specificity of your experience… that decision is a difficult and traumatic one and its one that carries implications intergenerationally.’
Isabel Castro’s deeply involving debut feature explores community, identity and the American Dream through the eyes of two young women raised by undocumented Mexican immigrants north of the border – the first members of their family to be born in the USA.
Recorded 7 September 2022.
Credits
Editing: Millie-Beth Wright
Sound: Justin Tam
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