Living the Chinese Dream

ALICE MCCOOL

21 mins   |   Malawi   |    One World Media Fellowship

‘Malawi Gold’ is known as one of the finest cannabis strains on the planet. But can it transform the economy of this small southeastern African nation? This film follows Boniface Kadzamira, an independent MP fighting for the legalisation of industrial hemp (Malawi Gold’s lesser known cousin), and Ras Bongo Maseko, a Rastafarian priest, musician and long time campaigner for marijuana legalisation.

CHEN SHANSHAN

15 mins   |   China   |    One World Media Fellowship

For years the Chinese city of Yiwu has welcomed business-savvy Syrians, Yemenis, Libyans and Iraqis. Although China does not have laws recognising refugees, it has granted visas to migrants who want to set up businesses or pursue higher education in the country. This film by the Thomson Reuters Foundation tells the stories of three people. Ammar Albaadani first came to China from Yemen 19 years ago as a student on a state scholarship. When fighting in his country escalated three years ago, he decided to settle in Yiwu. Manar Abdulhussein, 38, left behind bombings and attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad five years ago and moved her family business to Yiwu with her husband and sons. Mike, a 24-year-old actor from Syria, who goes by his professional name, is a newcomer to the city. Mike, whose student visa expires soon, plans to apply for a business visa, and hopes to achieve permanent residency one day. Yet that is difficult to achieve under China’s immigration rules which are among the strictest in the world for foreigners seeking permanent residency. As a result, many of the city’s migrants are worried about how long they will be able to stay in what has become their second home.

LARISSA KARL

3 mins   |   Brazil   |    One World Media Fellowship

JIANG CHAO

23 mins   |   China   |    One World Media Fellowship

Called ‘little garden’, this old community is in the city center of Jinhua, China, which will be demolished soon. This film will see how three old men react differently to the ruthless fact that they have to leave their homes in their eighties.

TRISTAN MARTIN

11 mins   |   Ethiopia  |    One World Media Fellowship

Feyisa Lilesa completed the marathon at the Rio Olympics with his arms raised in a gesture of defiance against the Ethiopian government. For many this was their first glimpse of the trouble brewing in this largely peaceful East African country.

But protests over land rights and political exclusion have been gathering momentum for almost a year, especially amongst the country’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo. A government crackdown has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 500 protesters.

Running from Ethiopia tells the story of Muaz, a student who fled Ethiopia after being detained and tortured by security forces, and Jawar, who runs a popular Oromo TV channel from exile in Minneapolis. Jawar’s channel closely followed the story of Muaz as he made the treacherous journey to Europe, only to be caught in one of the deadliest migrant shipwrecks of 2016.

LUCY PROVAN

25 mins   |   Sudan  |    One World Media Fellowship

Hatem and Mohammed are two Sudanese inventors determined to stop the desert from swallowing up their country. They are obsessed with drones and robots and even though they are isolated by international sanctions and frustrated by a failing economy they succeed in building Sudan’s first robot farmer.

They decide to take part in a local inventor’s television competition to raise awareness and investment in their dream – Sudan’s first and only agricultural drone company. Their drone can plant trees, increase harvests and reduce crop damage. And they are bound by their shared belief that Africa can change its destiny with technology.

EVE WATLING

10 mins   |   Cambodia  |    One World Media Fellowship

Love In The Factories: LGBT individuals are not tolerated in Cambodia, where gay marriage is illegal. Pressured into conforming to heterosexual expectations, many LGBT women seek refuge by going to work in garment factories.

55,000 Cambodians are victims of forced marriage each year, while 50% believe that homosexuality is caused by karma from a past life. Sor Kanika, an LGBT woman from Phnom Penh whose sexuality was unacceptable to her parents, escaped to a local factory: “I had to leave home so I could have more freedom”. Many Cambodian women find greater liberty in factories, but such safe spaces are not wholly free from predominant social expectations. Houn Sorphon fell in love with her girlfriend at work, but her parents separated them by forcing Houn to change jobs. “I was heartbroken”, she recalls, reflecting on the injustice of most Cambodians’ outlook: “love is all the same”.

JOSHUA SMITH

Article   |   Nepal  |    One World Media Fellowship

It was 11.56am on Saturday April 25 2015 when everything started shaking. A devastating earthquake of 7.8 magnitude hit Nepal. Over the next 24 hours, 35 aftershocks above 4.0 magnitude hit the country. The National Seismological Centre, located in Kathmandu, recorded a total of 3,000 aftershocks in the following 45 days. 

Read full article

ANNA PATTON

Article   |   Uganda  |    One World Media Fellowship

Uganda’s open policy allows refugees to start a new life—and even a new business. But not all of them thrive.

Read story on Vice

Read story on The Guardian

Read story on Devex

ARIJ AL-SOLTAN

25 mins   |   Iraq  |    One World Media Fellowship

Heba is a young Iraqi woman with a good job as an electrical engineer and the prospect of a decent future. Heba represents a new and growing trend among young Iraqis who find in South Korea a vision for the future. While life in Iraq seems chaotic and unpredictable, South Korea offers them an enticing example of order and stability.

But moving to South Korea is a huge undertaking. Heba risks losing her job and, along with it, her family’s main source of income. Not all of her family are supportive of it.

Korean Lovers in Baghdad follows Heba on an emotional journey as she pursues her dream and goes in search of her place in the world, encountering seemingly insurmountable obstacles along the way.

SIMISOLA JOLAOSO

12 mins   |   South Africa  |    One World Media Fellowship

Forensic nurses assist victims of sexual crimes in South Africa, through counselling, physical examinations and testifying against perpetrators. Despite their high success rate in convicting rapists and abusers, in a country where only 14% of them go to jail, forensic nursing as a profession faces extinction.

Read article on The Guardian

COSIMA BARZINI

2 mins   |   India  |    One World Media Fellowship

In the harsh Himalayan winter, a group of women are taking charge of their future. They are India’s Women’s Ice Hockey Team.

DAN FABER

14 mins   |   Panama  |    One World Media Fellowship

Down and Out: In Panama’s poorest areas, poverty and gang violence threaten the future of young people. But Panamanians hope that the national football team’s participation at the World Cup will be a catalyst for positive change.

TATSIANA YANUTSEVICH

9 mins   |   Russia  |    One World Media Fellowship

This short film highlights the challenges faced by those living with mental illness in Russia. The central figure of it is Misha, a radio DJ whose main hope in life is a chance for being part of the crew.

FERNANDO MITJÁNS

39 mins   |   UK  |    One World Media Fellowship

Limpiadores (meaning ‘Cleaners’ in Spanish) follows the history of the SOAS Justice for Cleaners campaign and provides a glimpse into the daily routine of Consuelo Moreno Yusti – a key figure in the campaign.