Source: WomenVoices Now

Dear Friends of WVN,

 Warm summer greetings to everyone!

It is with great excitement and honor that I finally announce to you the winners of WVN’s second online short-film festival, Women Bought and Sold: Voices United Against the Violence.

In this year’s contest, 46 films were accepted from countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Central and South Asia, Europe, and North America, in the categories of Fiction, Documentary, Experimental, and Student. Now available for viewing at www.womensvoicesnow.org, a talented and courageous group of dedicated filmmakers offers incredibly powerful contributions in film that serve to amplify the voices of women in Muslim-majority societies.

Grappling with the topics of forced marriage, trafficking of women, sexuality, sexual freedom, and sexual harassment, each film possesses a unique and moving way of bringing to light the complicated issues that continue to challenge women’s access to human rights across the globe, with a particular focus on women in Muslim-majority societies. Please click here to peruse the remarkable film selection that upholds Women’s Voices Now as the online platform with the largest existing, publicly accessible collection of films focusing on women in the Muslim World, made by women and men who come from these societies and have something to say.

I encourage you to share the films with your communities and take part in furthering the dialogue on the status of women and women’s rights in the world today.  Thank you to our generous FESTIVAL SPONSORS for contributing the $30,000 in prize money awarded to the filmmakers.

Congratulations to all of our filmmakers for their bravery and inspiration in making these films.

And the winners are…

1st Place Winners ($3,000):
Breaking the Silence: Moroccans Speak Out! (Morocco), by GlobalGirl Media Morocco (Documentary)
Take Care (Iran), by Afrooz Nasersharif (Experimental)
Swap (Afghanistan), by Sayed Masoud Islami (Fiction)
Behind the Wheel (Tajikistan), by Elise Laker (Student)

2nd Place Winners ($2,000):
Mohtarama (Afghanistan), by Malek Shafi’i and Diana Saqeb (Documentary)
Get Along (Iran), by Parya Vatankhah (Experimental)
Aabida (India), by Maaria Syed (Fiction)
Blobfish (Turkey), by Ugur Ferhat Korkmaz & Atilla Barutcu (Student)

3rd Place Winners ($1,000):
In the Name of Tradition (Egypt), by May El-Hossamy (Documentary)
The Reflex (Afghanistan), by Ali and Houssein Mousavi (Experimental)
The Virginity Minarets (Afghanistan) , by Farhad Rezaee (Fiction)
A Chronicle of Tahrir Square (Egypt), by Nour Zaki (Student)

Honorable Mention Winners ($500):
Final Moments (UK), by Shadi Amin (Documentary)
Vomit II (Netherlands & Iran), by Celia Elslamieh Shomal (Experimental)
Shadow of the Stone (Iran), by Fatemeh Keihani (Fiction)

In the fall we will start planning events screening these films. If you are interested in planning a screening, conference, symposium, or have other ideas for events, please contact me: heidi@womensvoicesnow.org.

Lastly, special thanks to WVN Film Festival Coordinator Kelsey Cherland: Project Manager and WVoice Editor Molly Lower; and Website Manager Michelle Liu for their dedicated efforts and generosity in heart and time.

Best wishes,
Heidi Basch-Harod
WVN Executive Director