Document This: International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2009

This month sees the return of Document, the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival and the UK’s only human rights and social justice movie event. One of just 18 such festivals worldwide, Document began as a two-day festival in 2003. Since then, the programme has expanded exponentially, this year seeing a record number of new and award-winning pieces during the five day event, addressing issues relevant to the global community, whilst keeping a keen focus on the personal stories and human angles involved. Beginning on 21 October, Document 7 will show more than 60 national and international submissions at the CCA and GFT, covering a variety of themes, including homelessness, black history, environmental issues, mental health, disability and miscarriage of justice.

Opening feature Umoja: The Village Where Men Are Forbidden is a portrait of a group of North Kenyan women who, following sexual abuse by British soldiers and rejection by their husbands, form their own community. French directors Jean-Marc Sainclair and Jean Crousillal will introduce their picture, which sees the women travelling to neighbouring settlements to promote gender equality, awareness surrounding HIV/AIDS and circumcision issues, whilst defending themselves against the increasing threat of renewed male suppression. Exemplifying a recurring theme throughout the five days, the women refuse to be defined as victims, striving to change their position.

Goodbye, How Are You?, a tongue-in-cheek road movie, provides light relief but also presents a thought-provoking depiction of the former Yugoslavia. Durakovo: Village of Fools gives an alarming yet measured insight into fascism bubbling over, focusing on a community outside Moscow which invites citizens to come and learn how to be a ‘true Russian’, renouncing all previous rights to obey leader Mikhail Morozov’s principles.

With a nod to Glasgay!, LGBT issues will be raised by films such as Living Queer Africa and Le(s)banese, the latter concerning the experiences of young homosexual women in Lebanon, highlighting the complicated relationship between religion and sexual identity in Arab-speaking regions. Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen, directed by Spike Lee protégé Kortney Ryan Ziegler, probes the matter of race in transgender life. The Californian filmmaker will present a Glasgow School of Art Friday Event, before screening his ground-breaking piece on the 25th.

Areas closer to home have not been neglected by festival organisers, and seven films from The Estate series have been selected to augment discussions concerning the existing position for UK asylum seekers. Director Ruth Carslaw focuses on the lives of refugees living on Glasgow’s Sighthill council estate in the year preceding its demolition.

Discussions will be convened by LGBT Youth and Our Story Scotland, as well as a panel headed by Amnesty International campaigner Graeme McGregor. Commissioned as part of Amnesty’s 2009 Demand Dignity campaign, the educational film Poverty of Justice focuses on the lives of three individuals in Peru, Canada and Kenya straining to obtain freedoms and dignity associated with supposedly guaranteed, universal rights.

Associated with a number of partners, including Culture and Sport Glasgow, the Polish Cultural Institute and Goethe-Institut Glasgow, this year’s Document hopes to celebrate human rights by informing and inspiring a local audience, as well as supporting under-represented independent filmmakers. Expect accessible and engaging works, covering issues oft-times unaddressed by mainstream mediums, all for an affordable entrance fee. Refugees and asylum seekers are offered free admission, while a discount is in place for jobseekers and the unemployed. With foreign and more adventurous cinema having arguably enjoyed a resurgence of interest and popularity in the city in recent years, Document 7 offers an opportunity for a fresh look at inveterate issues and to experience production and viewpoints from outwith the big budget Hollywood playground.