Directed by Deepa Dhanraj • 2011 • India
In Southern India, many family disputes are settled by Jamaats—all-male bodies that apply Islamic Sharia law to cases without allowing women to be present, even to defend themselves. Recognizing this fundamental inequity, a group of women in 2004 established a women’s Jamaat, which soon became a network of 12,000 members spread over twelve districts. Despite enormous resistance, they have been able to settle more than 8,000 cases to date, ranging from divorce to domestic abuse to brutal murders and more. Award-winning filmmaker Deepa Dhanraj (SOMETHING LIKE A WAR) follows several such cases, shining a light on how the women’s Jamaat has acquired power through both communal education and the leaders’ persistent, tenacious, and compassionate investigation of the crimes.
Up Next in 21st Century Cinema
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Love in the Time of AIDS
Directed by Deepa Dhanraj • 2006 • India
LOVE IN THE TIME OF AIDS follows a group of kothis (gay men who identify as femme) in Belgaum, a small city in Karnataka, and traces their stories of love, desire, and ostracization, as well as their work with an NGO that promotes safe-sex practices.
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Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My ...
Directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese • 2019 • Germany, Lesotho
Part poetic essay, part documentary, this rapturous film by director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESURRECTION) analyzes the complexities of his relationship to his native country of Lesotho from his new hom...
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The Couple Next Door
Directed by Abbesi Akhamie • 2020 • United States
Starring Baboucarr Camara, Ellie Foumbi, Jennifer TchiakpeA single woman’s feelings of loneliness begin to stir when an eccentric African couple moves in to her building.
