Film screenings for human rights in Riga
DCI in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania screens films to support Human Rights
Danish Cultural Institute in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania often supports Human Rights cinema in Kanepes Cultural Center (Riga, Latvia) by providing documentary films from their collection. In May, two such films are screened, The War Show and The Wait.
The War show
The war in Syria seen through the eyes of a radio host in the capital of Damascus. Obaidah Zytoon was playing forbidden music on the radio when the uprising broke out in 2011. She took to the streets together with her friends: a poet, an activist, an architecture student and a dentist. This is the family she has chosen, and we get to know them as playful, free spirits, creative and full of lust for life.
Obaidah sets off on a journey through her country to document the changes taking place. In the process, she is dragged deeper and deeper into the escalating war. Demonstrations become funerals, and Assad’s tactics essentially boil down to a single decision: conform or starve. Some of Obaidah’s friends fare very badly indeed. “There is place for everybody in ‘The War Show,’ except the people,” Zytoon says in the thoughtful voice-over. The Syria as they know it is gone. This is her personal, courageous recording of the impact of the war on ordinary Syrians.
*In Arabic with subtitles in English
Check out the trailer for The War Show
The Wait
Rokhsar Sediqi, 14, lives in Denmark with her mother, father and five siblings. In her spare time, she plays on the local football team. Around five years ago Rokhsar and her family fled from Afghanistan, and after six months on the run they ended up in Denmark and applied for asylum. But the Danish Immigration Service is not convinced they are persecuted by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the family has repeatedly been refused asylum. They are now waiting for the final decision, but the wait has changed Rokhsar forever.
*In Danish, Pushto, Dari with subtitles in English
Check out the trailer for The Wait
May 8th, 19:00
The War Show
Denmark, Germany, Finland, 2016
Dir.: Andreas Dalsgaard and Obaidah Zytoon
May 15th, 19:00
The Wait
Denmark, 2016
Dir.: Emil Langballe and Andrea Storm Henriksen.