Women must fight for their rights against totalitarianism and intimate violence

A Fox Under a Pink Moon follows Afghan refugee Soraya Akhlaghi, who faces a violent husband and other forms of repression from the local regime in Iran. She plans to escape to Europe to reunite with her mother, but a complicated and uncertain journey awaits her. The film, which won the main prize at the world’s most prestigious documentary film festival, IDFA, will be presented tonight in Prague by director Mehrdad Oskouei together with Soraya herself.

Eyes of the Machine is an equally powerful report about the relatively little-known genocide of the Uyghurs, who under an uncompromising regime undergo so-called “re-education.” Its goal is total assimilation and the loss of cultural and ethnic identity, which in turn will make it easier for the government to control the vast region and integrate it into the industrial machinery of an aggressively expanding economy. Kalbinur Sidik was forced to teach in one of the re-education camps and herself had to participate in a number of humiliating programs. In the end, she decided to escape and bear witness, with the help of Dutch artist Daya Cahen. Cahen, together with Kalbinur herself, will also present the film in person.

Argentine director María Silvia Esteve will present her visual essay Mailin. For seven years, she documented the story of a woman seeking justice after being raped by a popular local priest. The film, working with refined visual imagery and archival materials, is more of an emotional than a strictly factual journey. Nevertheless, it never loses sight of the fact that it depicts a real crime with real consequences, affecting not only Argentine victims. The portrayed abuse of trust and power within an indifferent system inevitably provokes strong reactions from audiences.