GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD
Six documentary films
A collection of extraordinary documentaries on seventeen-year-old girls across the globe. Each focuses on one girl – her hopes and dreams,world and worldview. Directed by local women filmmakers in Peru, Pakistan, Benin, China, Germany and Finland, a mosaic emerges that not only depicts the great diversity in the lives of these girls, but also embodies the perspectives of an international roster of contemporary women filmmakers.
Production: Trafik Film (Germany), Kroma Productions (Finland), Karaba Productions (France) In association with: ZDF/3sat, YLE TV1, Euroarts Entertainment, AVEK
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DAUGHTERS OF WAR (orig. Sodan tyttäret)
The Perugian part of the series GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD
45´
by Maria Barea
"Daughters of war" documents the life of Gabriela, the leader of a girl gang and mother of a 7 month old daughter.Gabriela lives in Ayacucho, Peru, the former Maoist guerrilla stronghold ravaged by civil war in the 1980´s. Her mother mysteriously disappeared when Gabriela was five. She and her sister were passed to their Grandmother who didn´t want them. Violence, neglect and abuse drove Gabriela to the streets where survival meant fighting with knives and stealing. Her story is typical for the region where many children lost their parents to the civil war or the drug trade. Gabriela is leader of a gang of girls with similar histories. They have grown so used to violence and abuse that they no longer recognise when they are victims to it. Her daughter is named after her mother, Evila and is the only person Gabriela trusts.
Script, direction: Maria Barea
Camera: Sophie Maintignuex, Micaela Cajhuaringa
Sound: Rosa Maria Oliari
Editor: Stephan Sautter, Uwe Gebert
Lighting: Artemio Ruiz
A Trafik film Production 1998, © ZDF / Trafik Film
Co - production: Kroma Productions Ltd. (Finland), Karaba Productions (France)
In association with: ZDF/3sat, YLE TV1, Euroarts Entertainment, AVEK
Original language: Spanish
FRONTIER (orig. 52 km Kuhmosta mehtään)
The finnish part of the series GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD
45´
by Kaija Juurikkala
In Finland, director Kaija Juurikkala makes a film about TARJA, a girl from an isolated region near Russian border. The location chosen for the theme's enactment, has Finland's highest rate of unemployment. A local study has shown that at the root of the girls' value systems is an inherent drive to escape their hometown. No one can imagine staying and not even the mothers hope that their daughters will remain. Film takes us into Tarja's life in a small farm in the long dark Nordic winter. In the summer she will leave home for the first time. This journey serves as a rite of passage for the youth. When she returns to her daily routine, she inevitably sees it in a new light.
Script and direction: Kaija Juurikkala
Original idea: Outi Rousu
Camera: Marita Hällfors
Editing: Raimo Uunila, Kaija Juurikkala
Sound recording: Laura Kuivalainen
Sound design: Pekka Karjalainen / Kikeono ® Film Sound
Producers: Outi Rousu, Brenda Parkerson
A Kroma Productions film 1999
Co - production: Trafik Film (Germany), Karaba Productions (France)
In association with: ZDF/3sat, YLE TV1, Euroarts Entertainment, AVEK
Original language: Finnish
NIGHTGIRL (orig. Lin Pekingistä)
A Chinese part of the series "GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD"
45´
by Yingli Ma
"Nightgirl" presents the poignant story of Han Lin, a 17-year old girl prematurely made to enter into the workforce as a Go-Go dancer in order to help her family eek out a living in modern-day Peking. Born in the center of the metropolis, on the surface she is an ordinary girl from a traditional Chinese family. On closer inspection Han Lin is mature beyond her years and faces an enormous burden of responsability unfamiliar to most young women in the West.
Script and direction: Yingli Ma
Camera: Zeng Jan
Editing: Calle Overweg
Sound: Zheng Jiaqing
Research: Liu Peng
Producers: Pascale Schmidt, Brenda Parkerson, Marikki Hakola
A Trafik film Production 2001
Co - production: Kroma Productions Ltd. (Finland), Karaba Productions (France)
In association with: ZDF/3sat, YLE TV1, Euroarts Entertainment, AVEK
Original language: Chinese
ANNA FROM BENIN (orig. Anna Beninistä)
An African part of the series "GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD"
45´
by Monique Phoba
"Anna from Benin" is an extraordinary portrait of an extraordinary 17-year-old. Anna is one of 31 children that her father has had with 5 wives. As the star of her family´s orchestra, The Tek Stars, she went to study in France on scholarship – a rare event in Central Africa, where most girls don´t get the opportunity to get an education. As a result the entire country´s hopes are pinned on her success. This beautiful documentary focuses on Anna´s struggles as an independent teenager with a domineering father in Central Africa and as an African teenager in France without the protection of her siblings and her five mothers.
Script and direction: Monique Phoba
Camera: Valérie Le Gurun
Editing: Calle Overweg
Supervising Editor: Bettina Böhler
Sound: Issa Traoré Senior
Sound design: Epa Tamminen
Music: Anna Teko, Eric Teko
Producers: Gaëlle Guiny, Pascale Schmidt, Brenda Parkerson, Marikki Hakola
Commissioning Editors: Udo Bremer, Inge Classen, Eila Werning
A Karaba Productions Film 2000 - France/Germany/Benin/Finland
Co - production: Kroma Productions Ltd. (Finland), Trafik Film (Germany), Lagunimages, O.R.T.B
In association with: ZDF/3sat, YLE TV1, Euroarts Entertainment, AVEK
Original language: French/Mina
DON´T ASK WHY (orig. Älä kysy miksi)
A Pakistani part of the series "GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD"
58´
by Sabiha Sumar
Anousheh lives with her strict Muslim parents and two brothers in Karachi, Pakistan. At 17, she is at an age where daughters are usually married off. But Anousheh wants to study and refuses to accept the restrictions her religion and culture have imposed on her personal freedom.
It causes conflict with her mother and lengthy discussions with her father about the interpretation of the Koran and its position on the role of women in society. Her desire to be "as free as her brothers" is drawing her close to the Islamic political party, Jamaat-i-Islami which, although dominated by men, promises the liberating power of Islam for both men and women. The film allows Anousheh as she struggles to realise her dreams and cope with her share of disappointment. It is a beautifully realised and rare portrait of girls in South Asia and their relationship to Islam at the beginning of the 21´st century.
Script and direction: Sabiha Sumar
Camera: M. Claire Pijman, M. Iqbal, Sven Sauer
Editing: Calle Overweg
Supervising Editor: Bettina Böhler
Sound: Ludo Keeris, G M Chand
Music: Sawan Dutta
Producers: Pascale Schmidt, Brenda Parkerson
Co-producers: Gaëlle Guiny, Outi Rousu, Bernd Hellthaler
A Trafik Film Production - Germany/Pakistan 1999
Co - production Kroma Productions Ltd.(Finland), Karaba Productions (France)
In association with: ZDF/3sat, YLE TV1, Euroarts Entertainment, AVEK
Original language: Urdu/English
HEAVEN AND EARTH (orig. Taivas ja maa)
A German part of the series "GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD"
45´
by Pascale Schmidt
Ramona lives in Munich, Germany. She is 17, the same age her mother was when Ramona was born. Her mother wants Ramona to have all the freedoms that she didn´t have when she was 17. She is allowed to stay out as long as she wants, sleep at a boyfriend´s, and do all those things you can´t do if you marry and have children too young. But Ramona takes her freedom when and how she wants, and not as her mother would like her to.
She defies the youth clichŽ of the 1990´s. The latest trends pass her by. Techno, designer drugs and "DJ Bobo" leave her cold. Ramona is decidedly different from other girls her age. A student at an all girl Catholicschool, Ramona has chosen to follow a religious path. With self-confidence and courage, Ramona searches for a way to live her life between the anachronistic traditions of the Catholic Church and the one-dimensional demands which society today puts on youths. With stamina, she resists the pressure of her vivacious mother to lead a more "youthful" life.
Script and direction: Pascale Schmidt
Camera: Sophie Maintigneux
Editing: B.J. Prassino, Uwe Gebert
Supervising Editor: Bettina Böhler
Sound: Annegret Fricke
Sound Mix: Toine Maertens, Martin Hertel
Producer: Brenda Parkerson
Co-producers: Outi Rousu, Bernd Hellthaler
Commissioning Editors: Inge Classen, Eila Werning
A Trafik Film Production 1998
Co - production Kroma Productions Ltd.(Finland), EuroArts Entertainment
In association with: ZDF/3sat, YLE TV1, AVEK, Medien - und Filmg esellschaft Baden-Württemberg, MEDIA Programme of the European Union, E.A.V.E.