The 8th Annual Women’s Voices Now Film Festival: The Rights and Roles of Women: Redefining Our Shared Reality is in the books and the winning films have been selected by our jury:
Leslie J. Sacks Best Documentary Feature – Indebted to All Women (Directors María Lobo & Roi Guitián, Spain/El Salvador)
Best Documentary Short –Since You Arrived, My Heart Stopped Belonging To Me (Director Erin Semine Kökdil, US) Lantos Foundation
Best Human Rights Documentary – This Stained Dawn (Director Anam Abbas, Canada/Pakistan)
Best Creative Documentary – The Perfect Picture (Director Hala El Kouch, Lebanon)
Best First Time Filmmaker – Boucle en Onde (Director Elsa Cantelli, Italy/Burkina Faso)
Best Youth Documentary Short – La Coiffeuse/The Hairdresser (Director Lorraine Price, (Canada)
Honorable Mentions:
Leslie J Sacks Grand Prize – Best Feature Documentary Film – Belly of the Beast (Director Erika Cohn, USA)
Best First Time Filmmaker – Grounded (Director Annie Leclair, Canada)
Best Creative Documentary – The Art of Living In Danger (Director Mina Keshavarz, Islamic Republic of Iran)
“These brave documentary films remind us how the personal is political and vice versa. When we are willing to share the intimate details of the struggles and triumphs we traverse, we empower others to do the same – making the impossible suddenly seem possible. The awarded filmmakers deserve the highest recognition. They carry out their craft with the utmost courage and commitment to portraying the greatness of women seeking justice for themselves and those around them,” said Heidi Basch-Harod, Executive Director of Women’s Voices Now.
The festival promotes emerging women filmmakers creating social-change films that advocate for girls’ and women’s rights around the world, awarding a total of $10,000 USD in cash prizes to winning filmmakers. Sponsors included Sony Pictures Entertainment, Filmocracy, the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and OUT.LI.ER.