Guna communities have long been recognized for protecting the forests along their coastline; despite significant threats from farming and industrial logging, they are proven protectors of their ancestral forests.

Today they face uncertainty over the sea that surrounds their island homes. Increas...

On the 12th September 2013 the Honduran government granted almost 7% of its territory to the indigenous Miskito people who have lived traditionally on this land for centuries. We follow the leadership of the indigenous organization, MASTA, as they speak to their elders and explore solutions to be...

After a decade as a sex worker, Iman attempts to pursue her dream of becoming a social worker to help her fellow transgender community members. As she explores the option of going back to college, One Leg In, One Leg Out questions whether tenacity, ambition and a life long dream are enough to ove...

In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, failed reconstruction has pushed social unrest to the breaking point. Protests erupt in the streets, and armed UN soldiers stalk the angry crowds. But a group of young Haitians, driven by their passion for a new Haiti, is sparking social change. To d...

[Trigger Warning] Nefertiti’s Daughters is a story of women, art, and revolution. Told by prominent Egyptian artists, this documentary witnesses the critical role revolutionary street art played during the Egyptian uprisings. Focused on the role of women artists in the struggle for social and pol...

The community of Lago do Mainá have lived with the forest and the river, nature for them is the most fundamental thing they have. However a military training base and increasing incursions by soldiers created tension between the community and the army. Through the use of social mapping the people...

Yoiner Machado – The founder of a dance academy in Manrique, teacher and professional in dance as well as creator of methodologies for the coexistence and peace-building through dance. For 13 years he has been dedicated to the transformation of communities and has impacted 1,500 lives. He empower...

Step into Geramy’s world, a scrappy, budding inventor, who is trying to find a better way to commute to school. Based in the Philippines, this story highlights the students that swim between the small islands in order to travel to the nearest elementary or high schools in their remote areas.

Dir...

In this 360° VR blend of animation and live-action video, Holocaust survivor Roman Kent shares his story of a dog in Nazi-occupied Poland who taught him a timeless lesson: that love is stronger than hate.

Produced by USC Shoah Foundation
Creative Director: Stephen D. Smith
Producers: Kori Street...

Beirut's Shatila camp was built in 1949 for 3,000 Palestinian refugees, but now hosts up to 40,000 people, including many Syrians displaced by war. Appalling conditions and bleak prospects for the future leave families longing for their lost homes. Three generations of a Palestinian family descri...

La Casita Rosa is a short documentary based on the humanitarian efforts of Las Patronas, a group of Mexican women determined to help feed the countless immigrants riding on top of cargo trains heading to the U.S.

Director: Elvin Herrera
Producers: Elvin Herrera
12 min | Mexico
Languages: Spanish...

Kayayo means “girl-carrier” in the Ga language.
In the capital of Ghana, 10,000 girls from the ages of 6 work as real life shopping baskets - called Kayayo. This documentary is about Bamunu, an 8-year old girl who hasn’t seen her family since she was sent away from home two years ago to work as a...

In Indonesia where 14 million people suffer from mental health disorders and shackling is still practised, this story is about how a man’s decade-long struggle with schizophrenia almost cost him his family and how he reclaimed his life with the help of Rumah Berdaya (meaning Home of Empowerment)....

Into the Sea follows the family of Suleiman Hajazzi as they are relocated from a refugee camp in Greece to more permanent housing. Suleiman, his son and wife recount their journey escaping violence in Afghanistan and their hopes and dreams for their future.

Director: Daphne Matziaraki
2020 | 15 ...

While following Jemima, a little curious girl who wanders through dusty roads, crowded markets, slaughterhouses, furnaces and bat hunters we get acquainted with three women who describe the harsh realities of being born female and deaf in a society that discriminates against both women and people...

[Trigger Warning] In March 2016 Kausalya and her husband Shankar were brutally attacked on a crowded street in southern India. Shankar, who came from a lower Dalit caste, died of his injuries. Kausalya survives and accuses her parents of orchestrating an honour killing. She fights for justice thr...

In the midst of Trump's immigration ban, a teenage refugee Ahmed and his sister Ruba find a home at a Cleveland school for immigrants. Will they be able to reach their dreams?

Director: Apo Bazidi
2020 | 21 min | USA
Language: English

FILMMAKER Q&A:
https://simaacademy.com/filmmaker-qa/how-far-...

A roadside motel in Newark New Jersey harbors refugees during their first night in America. “Hotel U.S.A.” captures a group of newcomers during their first moments in the country, exploring the sense of loss and hope that pervades the refugee experience.

Director: Andrea Meller
Producers: Andrea...

In Tanzania, women are expected to stay home, cook, clean, and take care of the children while their husbands are away at work. Like a typical teenager, Winnie needed an outlet for her curious mind and in 2013, she joined Apps & Girls, an organization that teaches young girls how to code their ow...

On any given day millions of girls and women worldwide are menstruating. In Tanzania, 75% of rural schoolgirls never used commercial sanitary pads. This is a striking story of Vanencia, a 14-year-old student. As the leader of the school Health Club she aims to break the silence on menstruation- w...

The film portrays the lives of two gay men and one transgender woman who left their home countries because of discrimination and persecution. Now in South Africa they applied for refugee status on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Despite the fact that in South Africa both national law...

Brazil’s African slave descendants, the Quilombola, have fought a long and hard struggle for recognition. After the abolition of the slave trade they were left abandoned and ostracised, devoid of rights and outside of Brazilian mainstream society. But things are slowly changing amongst rural comm...

Fortune's Gift is an interactive web documentary. It captures 14 positive stories of refugees and ordinary Danish citizens who seek to strengthen our common humanity. In the wake of the refugee crisis that has swept across Europe, and the negative sentiments expressed through our politics and med...

Fortune's Gift is an interactive web documentary. It captures 14 positive stories of refugees and ordinary Danish citizens who seek to strengthen our common humanity. In the wake of the refugee crisis that has swept across Europe, and the negative sentiments expressed through our politics and med...