This series features a variety of viewpoints through the different themes, forms and cultural issues used by eight extraordinary directors from Brazil, Colombia, France, Spain, Lebanon and the United States. From the emotional, personal and domestic to the political, ethical and social; these eight feature films shed light and dignity onto resource shortages, economic and gender inequality, onto the struggle against patriarchal violence through their empathetic eyes, the patience when deciding on the duration of a shot, the strength of courage when choosing a subject matter, and the skillfulness in the introspection of the documentary screenplay.

The Galician Xiana do Teixeiro invites us to call out the latent violence silently lurking inside us in Tódalas mulleres que coñezo, and Ekhiñe Etxeberria depicts teenage identity in Mikele, a refreshing confessional portrait. Carmen Torres reflects on getting abandoned by her biological mother and other possible futures in the Colombian Amanecer, and Carolina Astudillo engages in a masterful and generational dialogue in Ainhoa: Yo no soy esa. 

In I Used to Sleep on the Rooftop, the Lebanese director Angie Obeid patiently observes as time freezes while waiting for a visa to an uncertain future, while Brazilian director Juliana Antunes pulls us in close to the intimacy shared by two friends with common difficulties and dreams built on favela bricks in Baronesa.

Every image and word in Djamilia, shot in super 8mm by the French director Aminatou Echard, rides among mythology, tradition and poetic denunciation through the literary heroine in Kyrgyzstan; while the American Yours in Sisterhood by director Irene Lusztig invites us to participate in the history of American feminism through letters sent in to a magazine by readers in the 70s and 80s.

These films reflect on love, patriarchy, tradition, fear, personal improvement, family and freedom, open to all audiences. The melody of different voices from the female protagonists and echoed by the directors with whom they have collaborated sings a universal story of resistance and artistic excellence that resonates more powerfully today than ever. 

Ruth Somalo