The HER Docs ONLINE series is our new, digital initiative, with unique documentaries directed by women and online Q&As.

 

It is an extension of our year-round activity focused on promoting women's creativity, as well as education through documentary film.

Unfortunately, the pandemic thwarted our plans and we cannot meet with you this Autumn in Warsaw's Kinoteka theater. However, we cannot imagine surviving the winter season without inspiring films directed by women and without you, our very best audience. This is why we invite you to watch documentary films in an environment in which each of you feels safest.

 

During the HER Docs ONLINE event you will be able to watch five feature-length documentaries. Three of them are undeniable hits of the first edition of the HER Docs Film Festival - you have asked numerous times if it will be possible to see them in Poland again and we make your wishes come true! In addition, we have selected two new films, which will be shown in Poland for the very first time.

 

The five films in the program tell five different stories from all around the world shot by five exceptional female directors who will take you on a journey to i.a. Berlin, Iran, Rwanda, South Korea, and even to distant Australia. Each of these stories is different and at first glance it might seem that they have little in common. However, we chose these films primarily because of the uniqueness and strength of the portrayed characters that radiate from the screen, as well as the sensitive way the directors depicted them. But there is another important thing they have in common.
 

“Political is private and private is political” writes Michał Matuszewski in his synopsis of the film “Forget Me Not”. Today, this famous 1960s feminist slogan has become very relevant again. Depriving women of the right to choose or persecuting LGBTQ+ people has drastically reminded us that we should never remain indifferent in the face of systemic restriction of freedom of marginalized groups.

 

Each of the films in the HER Docs ONLINE program deals with this problem in its own way. Whether it is a matter of personal resistance against the system that locks us in a rigid framework and searching for one's identity (“Searching Eva”), a moving reflection on contemporary migration and personal attempts to help those in need (“Island of the Hungry Ghosts”), the problem of single mothers facing social ostracism in South Korea (“Forget Me Not”), the consequences of genocide and the related collective activism of women (“God Is Not Working On Sunday!”), or finally the issue of working with family trauma, caused by violence, persecution and the political situation in the home country (“Born in Evin”) - all these stories share the need for civic opposition and the desire to fight for a better tomorrow.

 

As an independent, grassroots initiative created out of the desire to support womxn and the need to change the status quo, we deeply care for the problems of both our local community and the modern world. By screening inspiring, engaged films that do not leave the audience indifferent, we want to contribute to the discussion on topics that are so important today. We strongly believe that it matters who stands behind the camera, and that the documentary cinema and the power of the visual (her)story have the ability to inspire real change.

 

Therefore, in this special time for all of us, we encourage you to support the creativity of women and get to know the protagonists whose moving stories will stay with you for a long time. We hope that they will give you power and strength, just like they gave us.

 

The films will be available to Polish and English-speaking audiences throughout Poland, on November 21-25, 2020, on the website of our technology partner OneStage.pl.

 

The full film program can be found above ("Programme" button) and at en.herdocs.pl/online-program.