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
-
Boy and the World
Directed by Alê Abreu • 2013 • Brazil
Starring Vinicius Garcia, Lu Horta, Marco Aurélio CamposBrazilian artist Alê Abreu’s vibrant, Academy Award–nominated animated adventure is a riotous explosion of music and color that depicts the wonders and struggles of the modern world as seen through the...
-
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.
-
Things to Come
Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve • 2016 • France, Germany
Starring Isabelle Huppert, André Marcon, Roman KolinkaWhat happens when the life you’ve worked so hard to build falls apart all at once? Nathalie (a radiant Isabelle Huppert) is a philosophy teacher with a seemingly settled existence, jugglin...