Programs

Silent War

A harrowing and important film by acclaimed director, Manon Loizeau, on the use of rape as a weapon of war in Syria with personal testimonies from women abused in captivity.

This film shows how the rape of women was systematically organised and premeditated by Assad’s regime. The perpetrators rely on the silence of the victims who risk rejection by their own family and even a death sentence if they speak out.

These women’s stories are painful to hear. Held in basements and prisons and repeatedly raped by their captors for having committed “crimes,” such as participating in peaceful demonstrations, they have nowhere to turn. If they speak about what they suffered they might lose everything. Their family, their clan and maybe even their life because they risk ‘honour killings’. Women who have been raped or suspected of having been raped are not only stigmatized and excluded but they can also be killed, including by members of their family.

PRODUCTION INFO

  • Year: 2017
  • Duration: 72
  • Production: Magneto Presse
  • Director: Manon Loizeau
  • Available Versions: ENG, FRA
  • Country of production: France

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

  • Grand Prize of the World Organisation against Torture at FIFDH Geneva 2017 (Switzerland); Special Mention at PRIX ITALIA 2017 (Italy); Audience Award (Leipziger Ring Prize) at DOK Leipzig 2017 (Germany); Grand Prize "Mediterranean Challenges" at PRIMED 2017 (France); Special Mention for the Edward Snowden Award (15° Internacional Festival Signos de la Noite - Lisboa, Portugal / Documentary category); Prix Spécial du Jury (FIGRA 2018, France); WatchDocs 2017, Human Rights in Film (Poland); Docudays UA Human Rights Film Festival 2018 (Ukraine); International Film Festival Albania 2018 (Albania); ’Fighting Stigma Through Film’ PSVI Film Festival 2018 (UK); Syria Film Festival 2018 (Canada).

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