The Watchman

The Watchman 2024

10.00

Watchman Guangdong and his wife Baoyan have devoted their lives to their only son, Zhaohang. When he leaves China to pursue a music career at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, the couple must confront the emotional void his absence creates. Through phone calls, they try to guide Zhaohang from afar, but his journey is shaped by both his deep desire to please his beloved father and his own personal ambition.

2024

The Day Today

The Day Today 2021

1

Edouard and Suzanne Mouradian often babysit their grandchildren. Grandad plays violent computer games and we see him entrust his frustrations – that often end in violent fantasies and thoughts of genocide – to the PC in writing.

2021

Sarkash: Women's Sharia Court

Sarkash: Women's Sharia Court 1970

1

In a tiny lane of Mumbai's slums, sounds of spirited arguments spill out from a modest storefront. Inside, a young man and woman sit on the floor, and a group of barefoot women preside over the scene from atop a wobbly desk. A divorce negotiation is underway. Overseeing the paperwork of a couple's separation is 63 year-old Khatoon. Few years prior, she opened the first Women's Sharia Court in India. Fed-up with the traditional all-male Muslim councils whose interpretations of Islamic law have discriminated against women, she decided to train herself as an Islamic judge to give women a space for seeking justice. Every day, she welcomes couples in crisis. She listens as they narrate their conflicts before offering advice. Glowering under their veils, the women plaintiffs are indignant and brave. In the form of a courtroom drama, this filmic chronicle showcases the strength with which Khatoon handles, with poise and breathtaking calm, these intense demonstrations of emotions.

1970