Maria defied the odds by starting her aviation journey at the age of 31. Fuelled by her passion, she earned her pilot license and embarked on a quest for greater challenges. Today, Maria captains the Boeing 737 at Aeroflot. However, she acknowledges that the profession demands immense commitment, stamina, and sacrifices, with unpredictable schedules and limited personal time.
She is one of the four Russian women who have dedicated their lives to the sky, pursuing careers as aerobatic and commercial aviation pilots. Why did they choose the aviation industry, and how did they progress in this demanding career?
Sons of the Graveyard / 2019
#Iraq
More than 5 million people are buried at the Wadi al-Salaam, which makes it the largest cemetery in the world. It covers some 10 square kilometres, equivalent to 900 football fields, and has a special significance for Shia Muslims. Imam Ali, the founder of Shia Islam, is buried there, so pious Shiites desire to be buried close to the imam.
The Najaf cemetery is also a testimony to various chapters of Iraqi history. It grew after the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf War, the US invasion, the rise of Islamic State and the Covid pandemic. The cemetery workers know every nook and cranny of this giant burial ground. Hereditary gravediggers, and their families who have worked on the site for generations share their stories in the documentary.
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Anna Halrpin Dance to Heal / 2017
#USA
Almost all her life, Anna fought cancer with the help of dancing. For 55 years, she had been teaching others to cope with their illnesses. She also used the concept of healing through dance to address global issues such as racism and world peace.
The dance helped Anna better understand the unity of the body and nature, making her an ardent environmentalist. Despite her illness, she did what she loved and helped people by giving all of herself.
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Brighton Beach, Back to USSR / 2020
#USA
Brighton Beach, or Little Odessa, is a microcosm of Russia in New York City. Its residents are mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union who have preserved their culture and habits very well in Brooklyn.
If you walk into a local grocery store, you can find gingerbread from Tula, borscht, rye bread, and buckwheat. Apart from the tastes of home, Russian culture is readily apparent from the Cyrillic signs and newspapers, the goods in the markets, and even the fur coats worn by babushkas. Brighton Beach is also home to Runglish, a bizarre mixture of Russian and English.
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Art at the Stake / 2018
#Afghanistan
During the Taliban's reign in the late 1990s, fashion, music, and cinema were banned. After the Islamists were ousted by a US invasion in 2001, it took years for the Afghan art scene to revive. A group of Afghan designers and models was brave enough to shoot in the streets, displaying traditional garments and talking about their mission.
When they were being filmed for the Art at the Stake documentary in 2018, the artists received threats and insults from people who considered their work ‘un-Islamic’. With the Taliban silencing cultural expression once again, will the country’s artistic scene survive?
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World War II Leaders / 2022
#world
Clementine Churchill, Winston Churchill’s wife, visited the USSR during WWII. As a result, she created a foundation to help the Soviet people. From 1941 to 1951, it raised £9 million, which today equals $200 million. The foundation shipped medicine, food and equipment to Soviet hospitals. For her charity work, Clementine Churchill was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in the Soviet Union. But at the end of WWII, while his wife was helping the Soviet people, Churchill was considering an attack along with the remaining German troops on the USSR. Find out more about the Big Three’s rocky relationship and how the United States and Great Britain used the war to weaken the Soviet Union.
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PsychiARTry / 2021
#Russia
Lisa suffers from a schizo-affective disorder, has a keen sense of colour and paints with amazing flair and panache. Yury takes seven drugs to help him function, but only music allows him to stay in control. Elina is a professional artist who’s never been accepted because of her ‘otherness’. Andrey, a former psychiatric patient, draws on tree trunks to watch his art transform as his ‘canvas’ grows. All have found support from Outsiderville, a nonprofit in St. Petersburg that helps artists like them be seen and get better through art.
Today is World Mental Health Day! Check out this documentary about people who use art as an outlet.
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Spyfall / 2021
#Syria
Eli Cohen was an Egyptian-born Jewish Mossad agent. He was deployed as a spy to Damascus where he successfully lived in the guise of a Syrian businessman. He was thought responsible for missions that could shape the fate of the whole region. Using his connections, Cohen visited military bases and outposts and gathered intelligence ‘that saved Israel many brigades’ during the 1967 war, according to former prime minister Levi Eshkol. A mysterious film discovered in a Moscow flat 60 years later provides a glimpse of the spy war in the region in the 1960s.
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In Afghanistan, parents sell their daughters just to survive. There is hunger and poverty in the country and no jobs. Even school children are trying to fight poverty. Among them is Mahtab, a student at a school for the deaf and mute.
‘I want to share my picture with the world, to tell others about the poverty and hardships the Afghan people face,’ she said. For Mahtab, the drawing is an opportunity to share her feelings with others. See her story in our new film, **Afghanistan’s Loud, Mute Voices**.
#premiere
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Marijuana Victims: Colorado / 2021
#USA
Can marijuana be dangerous and even deadly? Johnny Stack was only 19 when he took his own life.
His parents blame recreational marijuana that flooded Colorado’s many marijuana shops. Johnny had used marijuana since the age of 14, abusing high-THC concentrates, such as wax, oil and shatter.
In 2012, Colorado became the first state to legalise recreational pot. Since then, it has become more acceptable and legal in 18 more states.
In 2020, an estimated 3.43 million used recreational cannabis. But the cannabis they’re consuming is far more potent than joints passed around at Woodstock. Cannabis has become a lucrative business claiming lives.
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