We have an exciting weekend behind us and a whole week full of meetings ahead! There is no slowing down - on Monday we invite you to join us for:

5:00 p.m. A talk with Christopher Smith, director of "Current Sea"

About the film: In this environmental thriller, Christopher Smith follows Australian investigative journalist Matt Bloomberg and activist Paul Ferber as they fight to save a unique marine ecosystem off the Cambodian coast. Ferber used to run a diving school in the area but now leads a group of local young people who refuse to ignore the poaching destroying the unique marine fauna. Fighting the fishing mafia can be dangerous, especially since the local fishermen have nothing to lose. Working the sea here is the only way to earn a few pennies while the authorities seem oblivious to the problem. Unexpected encounters at sea bring out spearguns as poachers try to sink or at least damage the activists' boats, while the latter will still find a way to stop the great trawls that strip the seabed of all living things.

6:00 p.m. DISCUSSION: The Irish example. Strategies of fighting for reproductive rights.

A conversation about the historical and contemporary experiences of Polish and Irish activists. On the changing strategies of the movement for reproductive rights and changes in the public debate on abortion. In reference to the film by Aideen Kane, Lucy Kennedy and Maeve O'Boyle "The 8th."

8:00 p.m. A talk with Andrei Kutsila, director of "I Need The Handshakes" and "Forced Retirement"

About the films:

"I Need The Handshakes"

Time seems to have come to a standstill in this tiny Belarusian village. In a house off the beaten track, a feeble old woman takes care of her daughter—who has been paralyzed since birth—all on her own. She can’t count on state support, and her grandchildren rarely visit. Tania, trapped inside the shell of her body and completely reliant on her mother, finds comfort by creating extremely moving poems and drawings. Who better to understand what loneliness is, what it means to long for physical and spiritual intimacy? Andrei Kutsila, one of Belarus’s most talented documentary filmmakers, beautifully tells a story of boundless love, loneliness, and the pain of existence that both protagonists have to face.

"Forced Retirement"

Produced literally just a few days after the outbreak of mass protests in Belarus, the film features the story of a well-known Belarusian TV journalist. Andrei Kutsila watches her in the hospital, where she ended up after being beaten by the police during a demonstration against the rigged elections. Why, with so much to lose, did she decide to risk her position, and how does she envision the future?