A stop-motion journey through beautiful countries of Bolivia and Peru. If you want to teleport yourself to South America right away, just press PLAY.
INDIA: Timelapse in Mumbai and Bangalore
This short film is a timelapse throughout Mumbai and Bangalore. The film shows India's cultures in the cities and beaches. Through aerial shots and video on the ground, the video shows India to all viewers.
Gulf of Thailand
A travel to the islands of the Gulf of Thailand, discovering 3 contrasting places : Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. Three islands with immaculate beaches, jungle, venerated temples, great aquatic life and of course the smile of Thai people.
Filmed & Edited by Gilles Havet
Ethiopia
Filmmaker Leo Plunkett takes viewers around Ethiopia through shots of the mountains, farmland, and red rocks. The short film shows the natural beauty of Ethiopia and captures many different areas of the country. Music by Jon Hopkins.
ICELAND: 10 Days, One Road
Filmmaker Daniel Kemes travelled around the ring road for 10 days capturing the beautiful landscapes of Iceland through every weather condition you could think of. Whilst on the road, he and his companion experienced heightened emotions – they were scared, happy, nervously panicking at random points during our trip... they drove under the sunshine, through a blizzard, climbed a mountain as it hailed, rained... they cried, laughed and loved every moment in this beautiful country. This experience was emotionally draining yet rewarding in so many ways.
Arctic
I think over again my small adventures, my fears
Those small ones that seemed so big.
For all the vital things I had to get and to reach.
And yet there is only one great thing,
The only thing,
To live to see the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world.
-Inuit poem
Filmmaker: Tim Kellner
INDIA: The Road Story
This short film is the story of a road trip in India. The filmmaker, Georgy Tarasov, traveled 14,000 miles across 15 states for a 3 month long adventure.
Rohingya Testimony
The Rohingya are Muslim Indo-Aryan peoples from the Rakhine State, Myanmar. Human rights organizations have often described Rohingyas as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Rohingya Testimony is a film about young Rohingya women, some as young as 14, who shared with the filmmaker their stories of murder and rape. Shot in Teknaf region near the Myanmar/Bangladesh border. December 2016 & January 2017.
Filmmaker: Shafiur Rahman
SIMA RAMA Cinema Club Launch: International Film Screening and Cooperative Crowd-Sourcing
The first Sunday of every month, SIMA RAMA Cinema Club will release a Social Impact Media Award (SIMA) selected film online to its club members. Each month brings a new theme and after viewing the film, members across the globe can then discuss the movie, brainstorm ways to problem solve and affect change, remotely attend a panel discussion with field experts, and take action. The idea behind this cinema club gives a nod to the power of cooperative actions. SIMA Director of Programs, Erinn Sullivan asks, “What if people around the world saw the same doc each month and crowd-sourced solutions around the social issue it illuminates?” Well, SIMA RAMA Cinema Club will find out later this month.
Its inaugural film for their new digital film club is Elemental. This environmental documentary follows three diverse characters from around the globe who are affected by or attempting to fix pollution problems.
In India, the once pristine Ganges River, is now so contaminated that government official, Rajendra Singh, has made it his personal duty to shut down factories that contribute to its pollution. His seemingly well-intentioned actions also put him at odds with locals who, equally as passionately, feel that the hydroelectric energy industry brings jobs, and help create wealth and stability. In Canada, tar sands—a mixture of clay, sand, water, and black oil—are being heavily mined and processed, to the objection of many, including “indigenous rights activist” Eriel Deranger. She and her supporters are at strife with the Keystone XL pipeline developers. Australian born, California based inventor, Jay Harmon is developing technology to diffuse atmospheric and environmental pollutants. He is hampered, however, by cautious investors wary of his claims.
SIMA RAMA Cinema Club members were able to access this documentary April 2nd. Thursday, April 6th, an online panel was held where panelists Katharina Rall of Human Rights Watch, Joshua Sheridan Fouts of Bioneers, and Elemental director, Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee answered member-sourced questions. The following week, in the Cinema Club’s Facebook group, discussions were held among members about how to best tackle global environmental issues. SIMA RAMA also provided action items, including petitions, boycotts, social media hashtags, and energy saving tips. Podcasts, articles, additional film links, and other educational information were also distributed. Club membership is $5 per month or $55 per year.
Next month’s theme will highlight freedom of the press, or lack thereof. May’s movie, Frame by Frame, will feature Afghan photojournalists post war.
For additional SIMA RAMA Cinema Club information, please visit https://simarama.club/
ALEXANDREA THORNTON
Alexandrea Thornton is a journalist and producer living in NY. A graduate of UC Berkeley and Columbia University, she splits her time between California and New York. She's an avid reader and is penning her first non-fiction book.
VIDEO: My Other Life as a Photographer in Denmark
The subject of this short piece is a professional photographer, Lars Schneider, specifically focusing on travel and lifestyle photography. This was shot during his trip to the Faroe Islands to shoot landscapes. Witness the wild nature of this environment yourself in his short film.
VIDEO: E-Waste Tsunami in Delhi
AFGHANISTAN: Touch Down in Flight
This short film by Augustin Pictures takes us on a breathtaking tour of Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan. "As each of us has his own impression of Afghanistan that is predominantly marked with pictures of foreign forces, explosions and terror," the filmmakers have said, "we were privileged to have access to capture daily life and portray the people of Afghanistan."