September 7, 2012 (2022)

Drugged and Abused: No More Shame

Caroline Darian, Gisèle Pelicot's daughter, looks back on the tragedy that shook her family: for ten years, her father drugged her mother to subject her to rapes committed by strangers recruited on the Internet. This case exposes the scandal of chemical submission, a practice where attackers, generally close to the victims, use prescription or over-the-counter medications to commit their crimes. This phenomenon, far from being marginal, affects victims with varied profiles...

The Wisdom of Trauma

One in five Americans are diagnosed with mental illness every year. Suicide is the second most common cause of death in the US for youth aged 15-24, and kills over 800,000 people globally per year. Drug overdose kills 81,000 in the US annually. The autoimmune disorder epidemic affects 24 million people in the US alone. What is going on? The interconnected epidemics of anxiety, chronic illness and substance abuse are, according to Dr. Gabor Maté, normal - but not in the way you might think.

Seeing Allred

Gloria Allred overcame trauma and personal setbacks to become one of the nation’s most famous women’s rights attorneys. Now the feminist firebrand takes on two of the biggest adversaries of her career, Bill Cosby and Donald Trump, as sexual violence allegations grip the nation and keep her in the spotlight.

Escaping Captivity: The Kara Robinson Story

Kara Robinson Chamberlain recounts in vivid detail being taken at gun point from a friend’s front yard. Forced into in a cramped, dark storage container in her captor’s car, Kara instantly knew her life was in grave danger. In a moment she describes as a divine intervention, the 15-year-old realized she had to be her own victor and take her life back; she had to escape.

Ripple

Rae Ripple, a welder from the outskirts of West Texas transforms neglected metal into works of art and in the process finds healing from her traumatic past.

Victim/Suspect

Investigative journalist Rae de Leon travels nationwide to uncover and examine a shocking pattern: Young women tell the police they’ve been sexually assaulted, but instead of finding justice, they’re charged with the crime of making a false report, arrested, and even imprisoned by the system they believed would protect them.

Never Be A Victim

POLICE OFFICER JIM BYRNE, Canada's most honoured Safety Education Specialist brings you his famous TEN RULES, with which he has personally tested more than 25,000 students. Learn key strategies now taught in many schools and used by police working with the full NEVER BE A VICTIM Institutional Study Program. Develop your own personal streetproofing skills so you can train and test your family. Robert Gordon, who created this remarkable program in partnership with Metropolitan Police introduces this family video library against a backdrop of today's troubled society. TEACHING LIFE SKILLS FOR A SAFER COMMUNITY OFFICER JIM'S TEN RULES FOR STREETPROOFING • STRANGER MYTHS • ABDUCTION • BEING FOLLOWED • DANGEROUS PLACES • AVOIDING CARS AND VANS • GOOD TOUCHING-BAD TOUCHING

Blauwe ballen en andere verkrachtingsmythes

In personal reflections on her own experiences with sexual violence and in frank conversations with victims and (potential) perpetrators, Sunny Bergman shows how we as a society deal with sexual violence. Research shows that nearly a quarter of women have experienced sexual violence, but this is the tip of the iceberg. Why does rape almost always go unpunished? At the vice and in court we see how people get stuck in a system of 'His word against hers' and 'One witness is not a witness'. The new consent law is a step forward, but what makes the system fail time and time again?

This Is My Body

Jérôme was sexually abused as a child by a priest. In a deeply personal film, he tries to search for clues in his memories and come to terms with the complicity of his former social environment.

You Are Not Alone: Fighting the Wolf Pack

Through key testimonies, this documentary looks at a gang rape that took place during the 2016 San Fermín festival and sparked protests worldwide.

Your Mind Matters

When Roger Lee slips on his front steps, he has no idea the fall will send him spiralling into the darkest chapter of his life. Injured, and drowning in despair, he hits rock bottom—until he discovers the power of his own words. Through pain, he finds purpose, turning his struggle into wisdom that inspires millions. Now, as a world-renowned speaker, he lifts others the way he once needed lifting. A raw and uplifting story of resilience, reinvention, and the unexpected ways we rise.

Procession

Six men who were sexually abused by Catholic clergy as boys find empowerment by creating short films inspired by their trauma.

Violently in Love

Behind the closed doors of the Copenhagen-based women's shelter, the women and children are slowly recovering after having escaped domestic violence. Day by day the women are processing their traumas, building confidence and slowly understanding what it takes to break the cycle of violence.

The Knowledge of Healing

A documentary film about Tibetan traditional medicine.

I Am Hercules

Herculane Baths, one of the oldest resorts in Europe, the place where, a few centuries ago, kings and queens were diving in the healing waters, became a maze where people get lost while looking for something better. Relu, Mitica and Gelu, three masseurs, are tour guides through the maze of an Eastern Europe garden of Eden.

Flee

Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.

The Rape of Recy Taylor

Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. The film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story.

Heal

A documentary film that takes us on a scientific and spiritual journey where we discover that by changing one's perceptions, the human body can heal itself from any disease.

things that won't die

After finding some videos she uploaded to YouTube when she was a child, Manuela attempts to follow the trail she herself has left on the Internet. A search that looks into all that things that won't never die and that, especially, thinks about the way we look at ourselves.

Dakota 38

In the spring of 2005, Jim Miller, a Native spiritual leader and Vietnam veteran, found himself in a dream riding on horseback across the great plains of South Dakota. Just before he awoke, he arrived at a riverbank in Minnesota and saw 38 of his Dakota ancestors hanged. At the time, Jim knew nothing of the largest mass execution in United States history, ordered by Abraham Lincoln on December 26, 1862. Now, four years later, embracing the message of the dream, Jim and a group of riders retrace the 330-mile route of his dream on horseback from Lower Brule, South Dakota to Mankato, Minnesota to arrive at the hanging site on the anniversary of the execution. This is the story of their journey - the blizzards they endure, the Native and Non-Native communities that house and feed them along the way, and the dark history they are beginning to wipe away.

The Hunting Ground

A startling expose of rape crimes on US campuses, their institutional cover-ups, and the devastating toll they take on students and their families. The film follows the lives of several undergraduate assault survivors as they attempt to pursue—despite incredible push back, harassment and traumatic aftermath—both their education and justice.

The Invisible War

An investigative and powerfully emotional documentary about the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the US military, the institutions that perpetuate and cover up its existence, and its profound personal and social consequences.

American Reflexxx

American Reflexxx is a short film documenting a social experiment that took place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Alli Coates filmed performance artist Signe Pierce as she strutted down a busy oceanside street in stripper garb and a reflective mask. The pair agreed not to communicate until the experiment was completed, but never anticipated the horror that would unfold in under an hour. The result is a heart wrenching technicolor spectacle that raises questions about gender stereotypes, mob mentality, and violence in America.

Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within

The story behind the Uganda-based YouTube dance sensations who have endured devastating personal loss from famine and war, and use the power of dance and song to overcome hardship.

Surviving Syria’s Prisons

A look inside one of the most brutal campaigns of state repression in modern history - told by those who endured it and those who enforced it.

Who in the Hell Is Regina Jones?

Before Rolling Stone, there was Soul Newspaper. Behind Soul, there was Regina Jones. Against all odds, Regina blazed her own path, and at 80 has found herself again.

The Dread

The villagers of El Dorado, Argentina, shy away from doctors. Then again, they hardly need one. They have almost as many cures for ailments and illnesses as there are residents in the village. 65 year old Jorge can also cure the most dreaded ailment of them all, the much feared espanto.

The Blackout Experiments

You arrive at a secret location at a precise time, prompted by a mysterious email. You must follow the instructions closely. Once inside, disturbing visions begin. Unspeakable acts befall you—often frightening, sometimes sensual, possibly painful—each stimulating your deepest fears. And when it's over, you are changed, abandoned, and left wondering what is real and what was merely a game.

The Song That Calls You Home

A personal, scientific, mystical exploration of Amazonian curanderismo, focus on Ayahuasca and Master Plants, their healing and visionary properties and risks, along with the Shipibo people and their songs.

War and Peace of Mind

War and Peace of Mind explores what war does to the human mind and how both, the individuals and the nation as a whole, survive it psychologically. Finland and WWII, locally known as continuation war, is the backdrop of this documentary.

Relative

A filmmaker unearths a pervasive history of multigenerational trauma in her Italian-American family. As decades of secrets, home movies, and long-avoided conversations surface, a family once bound by tradition forges a new path forward.

Finding Happy

Finding Happy follows a woman’s healing journey with her rescued sparrow, Happy, inspiring an exploration of life-changing human-animal bonds. Through heartfelt, intimate stories of unique connections, the film challenges conventional ideas of connection and compassion, offering a message of hope, kindness, and healing. It encourages viewers to listen—to ourselves, others, and the world around us— proving that joy and purpose can be found in the most unexpected places.

It's All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football

Spanish footballers come together for the first time to relive the turbulent 2023 Women's World Cup and the kiss that overshadowed their victory.

We Are Not Done Yet

Follows veterans and active-duty service members from varied backgrounds who come together to combat their traumas through the written word in a USO-sponsored arts workshop at Walter Reed National Military Hospital.

My Beginning!!

This film is like a person standing naked in the middle of a square, covered in wounds, holding up a sign that says “Free Hug.” Many people come to embrace him, and he embraces many in return. Yet this does not mean that those who embrace him are unscarred—it is only that they are clothed. — Director Zhang Yu

Camp 14: Total Control Zone

Shin Dong-Huyk was born on November 19, 1983 as a political prisoner in a North Korean re-education camp. He was a child of two prisoners who had been married by order of the wardens. He spent his entire childhood and youth in Camp 14, in fact a death camp. He was forced to labor since he was six years old and suffered from hunger, beatings and torture, always at the mercy of the wardens. He knew nothing about the world outside the barbed-wire fences. At the age of 23, with the help of an older prisoner, he managed to escape. For months he traveled through North Korea and China and finally to South Korea, where he encountered a world completely strange to him.

Total Trust

By exploring the relationship between the watched and the watching, our film uncovers the trauma and hope engendered by the Chinese all-surveilling state and lends a voice to those that stand in resilient defiance of such blatant abuse of power.

Blackfish

Notorious killer whale Tilikum is responsible for the deaths of three individuals, including a top killer whale trainer. Blackfish shows the sometimes devastating consequences of keeping such intelligent and sentient creatures in captivity.

Fantastic Lies

One night in Durham, North Carolina, a rape accusation set fire to the reputations of three college athletes and their elite university. As the Duke lacrosse players grappled with their transition from model student to the criminally accused, several wars were launched on different fronts.

At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal

A look inside the USA gymnastics sexual abuse scandal that shook the sports world in 2017 depicting a landscape in which women spend their youth seeking victory on a world stage, juxtaposed against a culture where abuse prevails and lives are damaged forever.

Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal

Examine the rise and fall of Hollywood media mogul Harvey Weinstein following the scandal in 2017. Learn from exclusive interviews with those who knew him in the industry, and a discussion of the start of the #MeToo movement.

Smong

This documentary film will follow Juman and Zahrina’s journey in the process of healing from the trauma of the Aceh Tsunami, 20 years ago.

The Healing

An inspiring journey of recovery from two very different worlds. Set against the stunning backdrop of Kangaroo Valley in NSW, a revolutionary program brings together traumatised ex-racehorses and traumatised military veterans - to help rebuild each other, and transform lives.

Untouchable

The inside story of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein reveals how, over decades, he acquired and protected his power even when scandal threatened to engulf him. Former colleagues and accusers detail the method and consequences of his alleged abuse, hoping for justice and also to inspire change.

Audrie & Daisy

A documentary film about three cases of rape, that includes the stories of two American high school students, Audrie Pott and Daisy Coleman. At the time of the sexual assaults, Pott was 15 and Coleman was 14 years old. After the assaults, the victims and their families were subjected to abuse and cyberbullying.

Begrijpt u nu waarom ik huil?

The work of Leiden professor Bastiaans on dealing with the trauma of war victims attracts the attention of filmmaker Louis van Gasteren. He decides to make a film about the psychotherapeutic treatment with LSD of a former concentration camp prisoner in the clinic of Bastiaans. Patient Joop is arrested in September 1941 and begins a long hellish journey through various camps, until he is liberated by the Russians. When he returns to his wife, he has become a completely different man. Joop suffers from nightmares and is incapable of normal human contact. With two cameras, Van Gasteren records approximately six and a half hours of the first treatment that Joop undergoes with Bastiaans (four more will follow later). Special attention is paid to details: Joop's hands, the sweat on his forehead, a tear running slowly down his cheek. Van Gasteren reduces the recordings to more than an hour.

American Gospel: Christ Alone

American Gospel explores the core question of Christianity, 'What is the gospel?' Through the distorting lens of American culture.

Dan and Margot

Memories have the power to haunt us forever, whether or not they actually happened. For Margot, the man named Dan who stalked and tormented her for three years of her life is as real as any criminal—even if he's the manifestation of her first serious schizophrenic episode. Margot proves incredible strength in her first-hand accounts of her road to healing. Through art and therapy, she found relief. Through relief, she found a chance at life.

Such a Resounding Silence

Through this documentary, Emmanuelle Béart aims to uncover the truth about incest. The actress, accompanied by director Anastasia Mikova, breaks her silence and confronts her reality with that of others, shedding light on a taboo subject.