Kim Longinotto

The Day I Will Never Forget

Kim Longinotto

The practice of female genital mutilation is explored through personal stories of Kenyan women.

The Good Wife of Tokyo

Claire Hunt, Kim Longinotto

Kazuko Hohki, Yukiko Hohki

Kazuko Hohki goes back to Tokyo with her band, the ‘Frank Chickens’, after living in England for 15 years. This wry and delightful film records her re-experiencing of Japan after a long absence, examining traditional attitudes to women and those of Kazuko’s friends who are trying to live differently.

Dream Girls

Jano Williams, Kim Longinotto

Christopher Mulai

This film is about Japanese women, escape, glamour and dreams. The Takarazuka Revue is an enormously successful spectacular where the all-women cast create fantasies of erotic love and sensitive men. It is also a world for young girls desperate to do something different with their lives. In return for living a highly disciplined and reclusive existence, they will be adored and envied by many thousands of Japanese women. They will look, act and behave like young men while having no real men in their lives. Dream Girls explores the nature of sexual identity and the contradictory tensions that face young women in Japan today.

Gaea Girls

Jano Williams, Kim Longinotto

Chigusa Nagayo, Meiko Satomura

This fascinating documentary is based around the Japanese wrestling organisation Gaea's rural training camp, and traces, in the main, the careers of four hopefuls. In charge are two magnificent specimens, the butch champion Chigusa Nagaya, still venting her hurt at the hands of her army father as she tries to whip her surrogate daughters through the pain and commitment barriers; and her sophisticated and slightly menacing Chairman. It's a gruelling, physical film, as you would expect, but the makers don't make heavy weather of it. And it certainly disposes of any idea that the game is faked.

Runaway

Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Kim Longinotto

RUNAWAY follows the stories of five young girls who arrive at a refuge in Iran’s capital city Tehran, having run away from abusive or neglectful families. Some are in despair, others are simply mischievous; but somehow they must all learn to face the future.

Divorce Iranian Style

Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Kim Longinotto

DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE unfolds inside an Iranian divorce court, providing a subtle and intimate look at the lives of women in a country stereotypically associated with fanaticism and oppression. Astute and beautifully observed, the film reveals the ingenuity and humour with which Iranian women negotiate the restrictions of their society.

Sisters in Law

Florence Ayisi, Kim Longinotto

Set in Kumba in South West Cameroon Sisters in Law follows Adultery, Rape and Abuse cases led by a Female Judge.

Shinjuku Boys

Jano Williams, Kim Longinotto

Gaish, Tatsu

A film about love and gender. This documentary is set in the New Marilyn night club in Tokyo, Japan - where the hosts are transgender men. They can only make their living as hosts in a nightclub with other wannabes like them. The young women who come there often have relationships with them but the underlying fear is whether such a relationship can withstand the pressures on a girl to get married and have children. All three boys deal with this in different ways. These three hosts, the Shinjuku Boys, take us into their lives.

Underage

Lizzie Lemon, Kim Longinotto

Underage lifts the lid on the insular world of a group of wayward Coventry teenagers in the early 1980s. In the run up to the summer holidays, struggling to make sense of their lives, the teens take solace in glue sniffing, drinking excessively, getting arrested or head-banging to Motorhead

Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go

Kim Longinotto

Harrowing at one moment and heartwarming the next, HOLD ME TIGHT, LET ME GO is set at England's Mulberry Bush School, founded by Barbara Dockar-Drysdale who developed unique methods for working with children suffering through severe emotional trauma.

Dreamcatcher

Kim Longinotto

Brenda Myers-Powell

Longinotto's documentary is about Brenda Myers-Powell, who fights against sexual exploitation and supports prostitutes in Chicago. Brenda knows what she is talking about: her own story, involving teenage prostitution and a life of violence and abuse, is in stark contrast to her dauntless energy and optimism.

Pink Saris

Kim Longinotto

Renu Devi, Sampat Pal Devi

Sampat Pal Devi, founder of India’s Gulabi (“Pink”) Gang and fearless defender of the rights of untouchable women, challenges husbands, fathers-in-law and policemen in this immersive study by acclaimed documentarian Kim Longinotto. More than a profile of an everyday heroine, the film captures the courage and sacrifice necessary for social progress.

Rough Aunties

Kim Longinotto

Fearless, feisty and resolute, the "Rough Aunties" are a remarkable group of women unwavering in their stand to protect and care for the abused, neglected and forgotten children of Durban, South Africa. This newest documentary by internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto (SISTERS IN LAW, DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE) follows the outspoken, multiracial cadre of Thuli, Mildred, Sdudla, Eureka and Jackie, as they wage a daily battle against systemic apathy, corruption and greed to help the most vulnerable and disenfranchised of their communities.

Capturing Reality

Pepita Ferrari

Errol Morris, Werner Herzog

From cinema-verite; pioneers Albert Maysles and Joan Churchill to maverick movie makers like Errol Morris, Werner Herzog and Nick Broomfield, the world's best documentarians reflect upon the unique power of their genre. Capturing Reality explores the complex creative process that goes into making non-fiction films. Deftly charting the documentarian's journey, it poses the question: can film capture reality?

Shooting the Mafia

Kim Longinotto

Letizia Battaglia, Mariachiara Di Trapani

Sicilian photojournalist Letizia Battaglia began a long battle against the ruthless Cosa Nostra when she first photographed the sinister scene of a brutal murder. Documenting the barbaric rule of the Italian Mafia, she was an unwavering witness to its crimes. His art and courage helped end the horrific and bloody reign of the Corleonesi clan.

Salma

Kim Longinotto

When Salma, a young Muslim girl in a south Indian village, was 13 years old, her family locked her up for 25 years, forbidding her to study and forcing her into marriage. During that time, words were Salma’s salvation. She began covertly composing poems on scraps of paper and, through an intricate system, was able to sneak them out of the house, eventually getting them into the hands of a publisher. Against the odds, Salma became the most famous Tamil poet: the first step to discovering her own freedom and challenging the traditions and code of conduct in her village.