There are so many lessons Malala has taught us already in her young life. In interviews she always says that she does not feel anger towards the people who shot her and she never has. As her father says in the documentary, “ it was not a man that shot Malala, it was an ideology”.
Malala is shy by nature. She doesn’t want to be the center of attention, but would rather use her spotlight to shine it on other girls who have equally harrowing stories but lack the platform or international media attention required to share their stories with the broader world. The night of her premiere, Malala made sure to incorporate almost a dozen young women from places such as Syria and Kenya; girls who as a result of their refusal to be silenced, have been raped and brutalized. Yet, in a room that could have been filled with despair and tragedy, there was a tremendous sense of hope, forgiveness and the capacity for change. You can’t help but feel when you are with Malala that you are in the presence of someone otherworldly. A girl whose name in years to come will become as familiar to others as Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa or Gandhi .
In the words of Massoud, the Pulitzer Prize winning Afghan photographer, whose story is highlighted in the documentary, “We are all part of one living body and when one part feels pain the whole body should know”.
It is with great pride that we announce that The Greenwich International Film Festival will focus it’s 2016 year on highlighting artists, panels, films and other non profits that bring awareness to human rights issues we are facing at home and abroad. Film provides a tremendous medium for storytelling and we are thrilled that the Greenwich International Film Festival will be able to provide a platform for these stories to be heard.