The Revolution Starts Here: Document 9

Set to return for its ninth year, Document (20-23 Oct), the Glasgow based international human rights documentary film festival, is showing no signs of complacency with its themes as relevant as ever. Founded in 2003, the festival was a response by coordinators Mona Rai and Paula Larkin to the treatment of the city’s asylum seekers and refugees, placing their discrimination within a global context. Since then the festival has established a reputation for screening films that not only engage with global human rights issues, but are simultaneously topical and significant.

Even from the briefest scan of the comprehensive programme, which includes panel discussions, workshops and music events alongside its documentary screenings, what is most striking is the relevance of the events and individual film selections to current situations around the globe. Though the names of the directors may not be instantly recognisable, the issues being addressed by their films are invariably either shockingly disturbing or all too familiar. The festival’s selection panel have included films from subjects as diverse as the sale of young Cambodian girls’ virginities by their parents (The Girls of Phnom Penh, 6.15pm, 22 Oct), to the struggles of an Israeli singer and songwriter dealing with bipolar disorder (Wandering Eyes, 4.15pm, 22 Oct). In addition some shorter films with related subject matters have been grouped together, such as Leonid's Story and Volunteer Come Forward!, which are screening as part of their Remembering Chernobyl In The Year Of Fukushima event (3pm, 21 Oct).

A particular highlight is the inclusion of former Dispatches producer Ruaridh Arrow’s How to Start a Revolution (8pm, 23 Oct), a film about the writings of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gene Sharp. Sharp, an American academic, may be relatively unknown outwith certain scholarly circles, but his works on non-violent revolution have been, and remain currently, used to overthrow dictators around the world. His list of 198 ‘non-violent weapons’ has been utilised across Eastern Europe, helping to bring down Slobodan Milošević and Viktor Yanukovych in Serbia and the Ukraine respectively, was threatening to do the same in Iran in 2009, and can be seen as part of the revolution taking place in Egypt. These 'weapons' range from having protest signs in English to the uniform use of symbols and colours as a means to demonstrate unity. Arrow’s film explores the use of the scholar’s methods, described by Sharp himself as a "technique of combat" and "a substitute for war", and the permeation of his ideas throughout global democratic uprisings. "I wanted to trace the influence of Gene Sharp’s work across revolutionary movements," says Arrow. "When I started I couldn’t possibly have imagined that it would lead me to Tahrir Square in Cairo during the midst of the Egyptian revolution." Perhaps in thanks to the intriguing nature of the film’s premise, to date it has received over $57,000 funding in pledges through crowd-sourcing website Kickstarter. This money is intended to assist in the exhibition and distribution of the film, which Arrow attests is crucial to the project’s ambition. "This is an important film of record, but we also hope it will help inspire people living under dictatorships all over the world."

Through its diverse and engaging programme, Document 9 claims "to offer a broader understanding of issues often ignored by the mainstream media," and it seems audiences should be well catered for, with not only a wealth of fascinating films, but related seminars to boot for those wishing to delve deeper into the lives and struggles faced by those on screen.