BWFF 2023 Awards

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War tragically pushed Asmaa out of her home country, Syria, where her destiny had been written as a wife and mother with only 16 years of age. Asmaa rebuilt her adult identity as the neighborhood storyteller and began using reading aloud to children for fun as a bridge to tackle critical issues in her new community at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

n the village of Megendi, maternity care is changing. Caught in the midst of the shift, a community of women explore how best to provide for expectant mothers. At the center, pregnant Huluager Endeshaw (25) weighs what is expected of her against what she needs, bringing past pain to the surface. Working through her discomfort, she finds solace in her fellow women and the godfather of her child. 

Szani, Tina and Emese: or as they call themselves, the Divas are three twenty-year-old girls who can talk for hours about makeup, clothes, or profile pictures. Máté, a young director, enters the scene, following them with his camera until their graduation to find out what is hidden behind their perfect makeup. He gets to know these complex, troubled, vibrant individuals, and discovers the loyalty that bonds them together, and the personal bravery that carries them through life's trials. 

THIS FILM IS PRESENTED BY THE EMBASSY OF SWITZERLAND TO LEBANON AND SYRIA; IN COLLABORATION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AND FORUM ON HUMAN RIGHTS - GENEVA.

Women in finance represent a minority – yet they are often called ‘Dragons’. This documentary, shot in Europe  and Asia, presents a series of intimate portraits of various senior women in the finance sector, revealing both  the personas they’ve had to build for work and the parts of themselves they consciously leave at home. Filmed  at work and during moments of leisure, these strong and complex women tell us how they survive in one of the  most competitive professions in the world.  

DREAM’S GATE is an observational documentary where Iranian female director Negin Ahmadi starts a personal  journey into the combat zone of North Syria to question what it means to be a woman. Alone with her camera, she  decides to search for some answers by encountering the women who embody the strongest contemporary myth of  female strength and freedom: Kurdish female fighters.

Twenty-five years after Croatian War of Independence, the surviving women have not healed. The justice system is slow, the legal process of fact-finding is agonizing and government support largely translates into tranquilizers and silence. Many families still live near the very men who raped and tortured them, and surrounded by trauma, they exist in the past, unable to move forward. Katica, Ana and Marija attend a pioneering program that invites both Serbian and Croatian women to try deep, reformative personal therapy together. Intimate cameras witness them examining photos of themselves before the war and skeptically trying physical touch exercises. 

When her father becomes suddenly paralyzed, the filmmaker spends four years in between hospitals finding shelter behind her camera away from a family tragedy. Rehabilitation centers, cemeteries, love making, VR experiments, fervent prayers and voice notes are the record of a filmmaker’s journey trying to amend the impossible: finding absolution for a broken family by making her father walk again.

Within the boundaries of limited space and through the visual repetition of gestures, the film transports us into the life of Malika, a migrant worker from Sri Lanka living in Beirut. As she is traversing a transformative moment of grief and loss, Malika is caught in a deep moment of introspection, where she is shown searching for the force to carry on. Her loneliness paralleled with that of an elderly woman she works for, bridges the lives of these two polarizing women in their moments of despair and isolation.  This unlikeliest of friendships soon creates space for both women to find in each other a much-needed sense of comfort and resilience. 

Fatma is overwhelmed between her role as a mother and her responsibilities as a journalist. But does she have a place in this daily race?

A young woman self reflects to her first ever anxiety attack.

Away from everyone's eyes, a Beirut crane operator is able to live out his secret passion and find freedom.

Annually millions of people leave their homes searching for a new life; 24-year old Almaz is one of them. A key stop on one of the most well-used migration paths in Africa, thousands cross Sudan each year. No official status or money Almaz battles isolation and discrimination while finding support and acceptance in unexpected ways.

A middle aged woman falls into the focus of reflective mirrors in search of her oneself. Despite her successes and stardom in her field of work, the space of fear besieges her with harsh questions. That woman which time strips of organic meanings like motherhood and realization of a family. 

Camille, a single mother and home helper, tries as best she can to raise her son Théo, who has severe language problems. Obliged to replace a colleague, she is forced to take care of Monsieur Conti, a silent old man.

After Khalil saves a fish, he tries to find a safe spot for it in his house whilst hiding it from his father. Khalil and his mother are victims of domestic violence, which makes the fish his only escape. 

Facing a sexual assault, a young woman recognizes in herself a wild strength that helps her transcend the horror.

Anoush, an emigrant, who fled post-soviet Armenia from her abusive husband, is facing eventual deportation years later...

She meets a handsome traveler, Darius, headed for the big city. There is an immediate kinship between them, as when two isolated people who find each other and see in each other a reflection of their own ambitions, and validate each other based on the image of who they could be. He offers her a way out. She offers him a way up. They embark on a whirlwind romance as they journey to Lost City. Darius progressively begins to show the shadow side of himself. Things take a turn when Golnaz finds out who he is and what he’s capable of… a poetic visual metaphor for self-empowerment.

Far away from home, and after becoming auditorily impaired with a tinnitus as a result of the Beirut blast of August 4th, Tahara, a Lebanese immigrant in Europe, tries singing again by feeling musical vibrations through the ground, but homesickness overtakes her every emotion. To her, water is a sensory key element that calms her chaos. It reminds her of home, by the Mediterranean sea, where her heart and mind are at ease.

This film is about one of the common topics which has been spreading in Iran.  This film represents a story of a young mother who has lost her baby due to a  negligence. Furthermore, since the presence of the father is required to get a burial permission in Iran, the young mother is striving to find her missing husband and by the elapse of time, she becomes more involved in diverse serious issues.

Long-time friends Vanja, Alex, Liz and Evie go on a camping trip together. Something is in the air between the four women. It soon becomes clear: it is the abortion that Vanja has just had. This experience puts their friendship to the test. Alex in particular has great difficulty dealing with it and standing by her best friend. However, her inadequacy is based on completely different feelings.

A series of unfortunate events reshape the life of Ingrid for the past 25 years. However, in 2022 she ends up discovering their hidden miraculous cause in her visual self portrait.

Come Moon tells the story of a teenage Indonesian girl’s inconvenient experience of having her menstruation as it is commonly known as a taboo in her village.

Sonja, Angeles and Kaajal are twelve years old. Sometimes childlike, other times astoundingly grown-up, they are going through a turbulent time full of changes. With impressive candor they question how they are perceived as girls. Between self-reflection and expectations from others, they're courageously trying to find their own paths.

Before 2018, Chelsey Glasson was an up-and-coming manager at a large tech company. One day she heard a senior manager make discriminatory remarks about a pregnant employee. After reporting the incident to human resources, Chelsey’s life changed forever. Each year, tens of thousands of pregnant workers experience pregnancy discrimination. However, most pregnancy discrimination claims go unreported and even fewer claims result in legal action. For Chelsey, fighting workplace discrimination and retaliation means struggling through the emotional, physical, and financial toll of a lawsuit with no end in sight.

The tumultous and triumphant life of Lao Master Weaver, Khaisy Sophabmixay. Born in the midst of conflict, Khaisy began a woman-led enterprise with one loom and two weavers. After decades of championing traditional, sustainable textile design, she has now been recognised as one of Asia's greatest artisans.

Between Paris, Brussels, and Berlin, 3 Lebanese girls are facing the same situation, a break-up. ‘’Rupture en 3D’’ is a short documentary that tackles 3 different angles of a break-up in order to finally reunite and show the similarities of the human heart break.

They meet in the dark of the night. Women, sisters, friends : a feminist group gathering to leave writings on the walls  of Montreal. Their challenge : raise awareness to end systemic violence  endured by women and  minorities. Plain collages for a strong message : feminicides must stop ! 

Come Moon (Datang Bulan) tells the story of a teenage Indonesian girl’s inconvenient experience of having her menstruation as it is commonly known as a taboo in her village.

Woman's Work shows six women of different generations and backgrounds. Inspired by the idea of a catwalk as a clamping metaphor for the ideal female image, the women walk over a narrow, steel beam at a great height. The film shows their individual portraits, their own journey within the for them dominant system and their joint resistance. While dancing, they balance mutual relationships, pressure, expectations and manipulation.

Different bodies appear from a warm red ocean, swirling, folding, unfolding. Each one with something unique to offer, reflecting the essence of every being: a centre of self and all visions. In Maya's Faces, we can witness the multitude of interpretations of that single gesture.  Māyā is a word with multiple meanings, as we are. Maya is transcendental, universal, and individual; it is the cosmic force and the illusion where things are not what they seem.

Let Them Eat Cake! is a dance film on girl empowerment, where three teenagers rebel against how society dictates how they see themselves. In Let Them Eat Cake! the three characters transform from being "perfect girls" to agents of change, by embracing who they really are. It is directed by the choreographer and dance filmmaker Avatâra Ayuso.

A fairy-tale episode, told with tenderness, gushing with the intense colors of flowers and élan vital. Choreography composed to a suite by Edward Grieg and presented by the artists-dancers of the Polish Dance Theatre takes the audience into the world of flora. It allows to explore a day in the life of a plant from the moment it blooms to the end, drowned in warm nostalgia. 

A young middle eastern woman goes through an emotional journey while trying to reach the “sea” to explore her inner self. Only to be challenged by her own consciousnesses and others. 

Five dancers, Five sculptures and a single lightbulb at night in the museum signaling a twilight time between the magic and the real. Ritualistic movement, incantation, and shadow play immerse the viewer in a nether world of mystery, magic, and transformation.   

Ba (ME) sheds light on an intertwined journey of being both an immigrant in the U.K. and a minority artist in the dance industry. The film explores situational experiences of being a 'model immigrant / minority', and adds to a dynamic conversation on immigration and diversity in the arts.

Push/Pull is a performative film that examines the space between conflict and resolution. More specifically, it explores the unspoken conflict with someone of significance, such as a family member, or the contradictions we experience when personal belief systems are challenged. This work involves two primary figures who are tethered together.

We are resisting, but we can no longer keep grip of our Lebanon.