Girls' War
A film by Mylène Sauloy
France | 2016 | 53 minutes | Color | DVD | English/French/Turkish | Subtitled | Order No. 171200
SYNOPSIS
As the forces of ISIS and Assad tear through villages and society in Syria and Northern Iraq, a group of brave and idealistic women are taking up arms against them—and winning inspiring victories. Members of “The Free Women’s Party” come from Paris, Turkish Kurdistan, and other parts of the world. Their dream: To create a Democratic Syria, and a society based on gender equality. Guns in hand, these women are carrying on a movement with roots that run 40 years deep in the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey. GIRL’S WAR honors the legacy of Sakine Cansiz, co-founder of the PKK who was assassinated in Paris in 2013, and reflects on the sacrifices made by all of the women in the movement, who have endured jail, rape, war, and persecution in their quest to liberate their lives and sisters from male dominance. With scenes of solidarity, strength, and love amongst these brave women soldiers, GIRL'S WAR is a surprising story of Middle Eastern feminism on the front lines.
PRESS
"The liberating project of the Kurdish women’s movement, the utopian dream of an egalitarian, democratic, multi-faith and multiethnic society, its ideological corpus and its history... All revealed by Girls’ War"
"[Girls’ War] is evidently engaging, and it presents to us an escapade about which we cannot remain indifferent at a time when the world painfully seeks to reinvent justice."
"[Girls’ War] seeks to place the combat [of "The Free Women’s Party"] in the larger context of women’s conditions in the Middle East. That’s how it pays beautiful homage to these women’s heroism."
SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS
- Festival Internazionale De Cinema, Gilda Doc Award
- Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival, Best Medium-Length Documentary
- Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival, Best Medium-Length documentary
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Mylène Sauloy
Mylène Sauloy studied architecture and then obtained a Masters in Social Sciences at the Sorbonne. She is founder and project leader of "Marcho Doryila - cultural solidarity with Chechnya, Caucasus and Latin America". She is director and camerawoman and has worked for numerous French TV channels such as ARTE, Canal Plus, France 3, collaborating on many different reports and documentaries.
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