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Sound of Torture (2015)

1h    Documentary  

English, Tigrinya and Hebrew

Live calls from the torture camps in Sinai: since Europe closed its borders in 2006, thousands of Eritrean refugees flee their military dictator-ruled country north to Israel, their gate to the west, crossing the Sinai desert. There, many are kidnapped by Bedouins and taken to one of the hidden camps. The multi-award winning film intimately follows Meron Estefanos, an Eritrean journalist-activist living in Sweden since many years, running a popular online radio program, publishing the stories of these camps while recording their inmates' pleas for help. We are with Meron when she searches for Timinit, a girl of 20 years who arrived at the Israeli border but from there is never seen again. And we follow the story of a man who desperately tries to free his wife, who gives birth to their child in captivity. When Eritrea gained independence in 1993, it became a military dictatorship. Military service is obligatory for everyone; women are exempted only when pregnant. Any critic or opponent of the regime faces immediate arrest. Around 3,000 Eritreans flee their country every month, despite a "shoot-to-kill" policy on the borders. In the last decade, more than 300,000 Eritreans have fled their homeland, also to Europe. SOUND OF TORTURE gives a face to those nobody cares about, touching political, cultural, and geographical matters

CREW

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Written & Directed by:  Keren Shayo

Executive Producer: Osnat Trabelsi

Producers: Osnat Trabelsi and Galit Cahlon

Director of Photography: Daniel Kedem

Editor: Ayal Goldberg

Sound Designer: Itzik Cohen

Music: Yosef Babliki

Broadcasters: Yes Docu, ZDF/ARTE, Al Jazeera, VARA, SVT, SRF

International Sales: First Hand Films

Awards

Prix Europa Award (TV Iris category) Berlin, 2014

Ofir (The Israeli Film Academy) Award Israel 2014

Best Debut Film- DocAviv Film Festival, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2014

International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, Geneva, 2014

Audience Award- Movies that Matter Film Festival, Netherlands, 2014

Silver Palm Award- Mexico International Film Festival, Mexico City, 2014

Festivals 

IDFA, November 2013

Goteborg International Film Festival, January 2014

Sguardi Altrove Film Festival, March 2014 One World, March 2014

International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, Geneva, March 2014

Münchn Komitee Human Rights Watch, March 2014

Movies that Matter, March 2014

Doc Aviv, Tel Aviv, May 2014

Mexico International Film Festival, 2014

Mediteran Film Festival, Bosnia, August 2014

Bergen International Film Festival, Norway, September 2014

Prix Europe, Berlin, October 2014

28th Israel Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA, October 2014

Verzio Human Right International Film Festival, Budapest, Nov 2014

Rotas & Rituais Film Festival, Portugal, Nov 2014

Move It Film Festival, Germany, Nov 2014

Warsaw Jewish Film Festival, Poland, Nov 2014 18th

UK Jewish Film Festival, London, Nov 2014

Amnesty International Documentary FF, Hong Kong, Nov 2014

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