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Documentary film festival focuses on developing world


Kenyan director Wanjiru Kinyanjui


MiradasDoc Film Festival 
Guia de Isora
Sunday November 1 – Saturday November 7


THE fourth international documentary film festival in Guia de Isora on Tenerife’s west coast in November concentrated on the continents of Africa, Asia and Latin America.


by James Tweedie


Particular focus was given to India, Egypt and Brazil.


Asian First Film Festival director Sanjoy K. Roy picked his country’s contributions: Autumn in the Himalayas and Eco-Dharma by Malgorzata Skiba, Bullets & Butterflies by Sushmit Ghosh, The Killing Field by Manoj Kumar, Shakti by Praveen Choudhary, Super-30 by Christopher Mitchell, and his own Shahjahanabad – The Twilight Years 1850-1947.


Spanish-resident Egyptian filmmaker Basel Ramsis chose The Sandwich and  Un Caballo de Barro (A Clay Horse) by Ateyyat Elabnoudy, The Place I Call Home by Tamer Ezzat, Nobody Returned From There by Nader Helal, You, Waguih by Namir Abdel Messeeh, Viva Guevara by Maha Shahbah, Mixed Salad by Nadia Kamel and These Girls by Tahani Rached.


Amsterdam-based Brazilian documentalist Maria Augusta Ramos selected Buslovers by Cristina G. Müller, her own Juizo, Pernalonga by Julien Folliot and The Rebellious by Bertrand Lira.


Friday’s  showings of Africa Is A Woman’s Name –  co-directed by Wanjiru Kinyanjui from Kenya, Ingrid Sinclair from Britain  and Bridget Pickering from Swaziland – and  J’ai Tant Aimé... (I Have Loved So Many...), by Morroco’s Dalila Ennadre.


Africa Is A Woman’s Name relate the power of African women through the lives of three women of different origins and social classes, determined to achieve radical transformations in their everyday lives.


I Have Loved So Many... Tells the story of Fadma, a woman of 75 who at 20 became one of the prostitutes to the soldiers and officials of the French army in Morroco. The end of the colonial period changed her life and destiny.

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