New on One World Online: 4 powerful documentaries about women who took fate into their own hands

While many of us can often rely on social and legal safety nets, the heroines of these new additions to One World Online have no such luxury. When the system fails and becomes a trap, they are left with no choice but to take justice, livelihood and freedom into their own hands.
From an Afghan teenager and a Georgian surrogate mother to Asian factory workers and women who stood up to their abusers, discover new films that cut straight to the bone.

Defiance captured on a mobile phone: A Fox Under a Pink Moon

Sixteen-year-old Soraya, an Afghan girl living in Iran, faces domestic violence with virtually no legal protection. Yet she does not attempt to escape her situation as a passive victim. Instead, she picks up her phone and begins filming an intimate video diary, documenting bruises and failed escape attempts, but also rare moments in which she carves out her own freedom through art and dance. Built from her authentic recordings and drawings, the resulting film proved so powerful that it won the Best Director Award at this year’s One World Festival. In an unprecedented and well-deserved decision, the prize was awarded not only to Iranian director Mehrdad Oskouei, but also to Soraya herself.

Watch A Fox Under a Pink Moon

Her own body as a means of survival: 9-Month Contract

Surrogacy in Georgia is a harsh business operating on the edge of the law. For single mother Zhanna, however, it is the only way to secure a dignified future for her daughter. Her job in a local shop is not enough, so she repeatedly takes on the role of a surrogate and rents out the last thing she has left to offer: her own body. This intimate documentary takes us deep into Zhanna’s family life as well as the unforgiving reality of the operating theatre. It offers a raw portrait of unconditional maternal love in its most extreme form and asks: how far can a woman go before she irreversibly destroys herself?

Watch 9-Month Contract

Hard work and separation as the price of a better future: She

In the vast electronics factories of northern Vietnam, the workforce is made up predominantly of women. To support their families, they leave behind their children and husbands and become the sole breadwinners. The film offers a stark reflection on their dehumanising working conditions and the harsh realities of a deeply hierarchical society. A unique cinematic reconstruction, performed by the workers themselves, reveals the true face of an unforgiving factory system where even the smallest mistake is punished.

Watch She

Radical self-defence in the face of violence: Look What You Made Me Do

Every year, more than 30,000 women worldwide are killed by their partners. This film gives voice to those who ended up on the other side of that statistic. Years of abuse and a sense of hopelessness ultimately drove Laura, Rachel and Rosalba to take the most drastic step imaginable: killing their abusers. Director Coco Schrijber approaches their actions without judgement, presenting them as a final act of resistance against toxic masculinity while exploring the fragile boundary between powerlessness and the instinct for self-preservation.
(Warning: This film contains graphic scenes.)

Watch Look What You Made Me Do

Explore the One World Online catalogue

Our VOD platform offers a permanent library of documentaries that stand the test of time. Why is One World Online worth exploring even outside the festival season?

• Exclusive access: Many of our films are not available on any other platform in the Czech Republic. We are home to hidden gems of world cinema that you simply will not find elsewhere.
• Curated quality over quantity: We do not want to overwhelm you with thousands of average titles. Instead, we hand-pick the very best human rights documentaries, films with momentum, visual power and the courage to go beneath the surface.
• Truth without filters: Watch stories that shape the world around us. From intimate portraits of personal freedom to major geopolitical issues that affect your life more than you might think.

Browse all documentaries on One World Online