LEONA is the director and cinematographer.
Leona Goldstein is a journalist, photographer and filmmaker. Her work focuses on the impact of social and political conflicts on the individual and how people organise themselves in these situations. In her most recent projects, she accompanied social movements in Venezuela, Mexico and at the European external borders on the topics of global freedom of movement and neo-colonial continuities. She portrayed women's rights activists in Rwanda, Burkina Faso and India. She is currently working on the background of the NSU complex in Germany. In addition to documentary films, she publishes books, works as a cinematographer and has been teaching "Film as a Documentary Medium" at the school of culture and design HTW Berlin since 2014. Her work has received numerous awards.
Audience Award: International Womens Filmfestival Cologne, Best director: Berlin Independent Film Festival 2016, Best Film 2016: China Women´s Film Festival, Best Human Rights Film: Move it! Filmfestival, Best film 2015: MIC Genero Film Festival, Mexico, Best documentary 2016: Int. Filmfestival on women´s rights and social issues, Indonesia, Best director 2015: Cine Women, Best feature lenght documentary, 12 month Filmfestival, „KONTEXT“ Award for the Advancement of young journalists, Awardee „ESODOC“ filmmaking for advocacy, Awardee „DAAD German academic exchange service“, „VG BILD-KUNST“ research grant, Awardee „INWENT“ in cooperation with MBDHP, Burkinian human rights league, XENOS Award for media-social commitment, Institute for New Media.
Further info: www.leonagoldstein.de
GODELIEVE is a Rwandan women's rights activist and one of the main protagonists of this documentary.
Godelieve Mukasarasi has struggled for gender equality and women’s rights for over 30 years. After the genocide, many things changed and Godelieve began focusing on gathering surviving women to empower each other to speak out openly about what had happened, even though topics like sexualized violence are strongly tabooed and those that speak out are often fiercely stigmatized. To provide a safe space for women to share their experiences, speak openly, and learn how to empower themselves, she founded a small initiative called SEVOTA, right after the genocide. Over the years, she has trained and encouraged women to heal themselves by learning to talk. She has accompanied several women to testify about the strategic use of mass-rape during the genocide in front of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, where, for the first time in history, war rape was recognized as a distinct element of the crime of genocide, as well as a war crime and crime against humanity recognized under the Geneva Conventions. Godelieve is active in many sectors concerning women’s rights, such as addressing the situation of the children born out of the mass-rapes, conducting trainings on domestic violence with both men and women, as well as organizing collective labour initiatives to support those living with HIV/AIDS. Today, Godelieve is one of the most prominent women’s rights activists in Rwanda. For more information about her activities and projects, see her website: www.sevota.org
FLORIDA is a Rwandan social worker and one of the main protagonists of this documentary.
Florida Mukarubuga is 55 years old and strongly believes in the power of women. For over 20 years now, she has devoted her passion and energy to transforming the patriarchal structures handed-down from generation to generation in Rwanda in order to procure self-determination and the ability for women to shape their own paths in life. Through her self-organized initiative AMIZERO, Florida empowers women through income-generating activities to ensure their economic and social independence. She also organizes trainings on how to respond to sexist comments and how to recognize and challenge male dominance in public spaces and at home. In addition, she organizes child care services that allow women to pursue education, training or work. Her aim is to change the living conditions for those women that live “at the edges of society” and to accomplish this goal, she doesn’t shy away from difficult tasks. She even visits perpetrators in prison to mediate between them and their wives, children and victims, despite having lost large parts of her family during the genocide herself.
CLARA is the editor.
Clara Andres studied at the filmuniversity "HFF Konrad Wolf" in Potsdam/ Babelsberg. With a main fokus on editing, her films have been screened at numerous festivals such as " Festival de Cannes" and "Festival des Deutschen Films“. The media film allows her an expression in the argument of cultural, social and political aspects. The accumulated experience in her travels through various countries such as South Africa, Israel and Argentina have a strong influence on her artistic work and help her form the basis of a better understanding on the contexts mentioned above.
VERONIKA is the producer.
Veronika Janatková is an independent producer with the focus on documentary films. She is a graduate of the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague and the Universite St. Denis in Paris. She has participated in the European Workshops "ExOriente", "ArchiDoc" and "Clearview".
FE is the sound designer.
Felicitas Heck has over a decade of industry experience as freelance Sound Designer and Synchronization Specialist (ADR recording). Her projects include award-winning movies, such as Homevideo (Grimme Award) and Five Ways to Kill a Man (Human Rights Award). In 2012, she completed a Masters in Sound Studies, focusing on the theory and history of audio culture, at the Berlin University of the Arts (UDK). In addition to her industry commitments, she has recently embarked on a PhD research project investigating the role of voice in memorial media.
ESTHER is the main researcher.
Esther Denzinger is a social anthropologist currently working on her PhD in Berlin, following previous study in anthropology and philosophy in Berlin and Manchester. In her work she explores the question of how women deal with the consequences of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and between 2008 and 2011, she conducted several major research initiatives in Rwanda.
VALERIE is an editor.
She joined the project for the selection of the raw material and the first part of the editing. Valerie Smith completed her film studies at the Université of Paris and since 2000, she has worked as an editor in Berlin. Her experience ranges from the multi-award winning short film "Hare and the Hedgehog" to the exceptional documentary "24 Hours Berlin." In 2004, she was nominated for the editing prize with the film "7 Brothers" in the category of long- documentary film.