Movies about Violence against a woman
Women for Women International continues the16 Days of Activism with documentaries to educate our supporters and followers about the plight of systemic violence that many women around the world are constantly faced with.
We are dedicated to helping women struggling against traditional systems to fully embrace their rights and believe that showing solidarity through seeking to learn about their experiences is #WhatMakesUsStronger.
Please be advised that some scenes contain graphic detail of sexual violence, genocide and torture.
Calling the Ghosts: A Story about Rape, War and Women (1997)
While Nusreta Sivac was imprisoned at the Omarska concentration camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina, she made a promise to herself to expose the horrors she and 36 other women were subjected to if she survived. Her story of survival is told as Sivac, along with fellow activist Jadranka Cigelj, recount their experiences as survivors of the ethnic cleansing attempt by Bosnian Serb forces during the Bosnian war.
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo (2007)
Producer Lisa Jackson travels to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to interview women survivors of rape by rebel forces and soldiers, who used sexual torture and mutilation to terrorize women and enforce control over the communities they invaded. Contending with the physical and mental trauma of sexual violence without the assurance of consequences for their rapists, these women tell their stories and encourage Jackson to share them with “someone who will make a difference.”
Love Crimes of Kabul (2011)
The documentary begins with a prison guard stating that if the detainees of the Badam Bagh Women’s Prison were “good women,” they would not be there. This remark sets the precedent for the examination of attitudes and beliefs which see the women of Kabul, Afghanistan punished for “moral crimes” like pre-marital sex, leaving their homes and adultery. One woman, who received a four-year sentence, says of the offense she committed: “I loved a boy, and I ran away with him.”
No Burqas Behind Bars (2012)
In a society where women arrested for running away from their homes could receive harsher penalties than murderers, criminal justice for women in Afghanistan is explored at the Takhar prison. There, women are detained for romantic relationships, fleeing abusive partners or homes, and other “moral crimes” that have resulted in multiple year prison sentences.
The War Against Women (2013)
Directed by Hernan Zin, The War Against Women is a moving documentary that explores the prevalence of sexual violence against women in war zones with ongoing conflict. The lives of women survivors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda are documented as they share their experiences of kidnapping, detainment and brutal sexual assault by the military forces who invaded their communities.
The Pixel Project Selection 2021: 16 Films About Violence Against Women
This is the 10th year The Pixel Project has curated a selection of thought-provoking and powerful documentaries, feature films, and television series that depict violence against women (VAW) in its various forms.
This year’s list predominantly highlights programmes that have debuted over the past two years; a period of time in which the momentum of the #MeToo movement has continued to inspire stories based on true events of women reporting harassment and abuse and receiving (or being denied) justice. We have also included a small number of older films and documentaries that depict forms of VAW that are not at all new – child marriage, rape as a weapon of war, sex trafficking – but that continue to be unresolved and shoved aside.
Refreshingly, a number of the films on this list tell stories of VAW from a new perspective, dealing with intersectionality better than before, and depicting comeuppance for the perpetrators of VAW, whether in the form of legal and social justice or deliciously brutal and entertaining revenge. Some are unsettling and heartbreaking, but all are thought-provoking. Once again, most of the films are new productions and available for streaming through on-demand services.
We hope that these films, documentaries, and TV series not only bring you more understanding about gender-based violence, but also inspire you to examine the world around you and take some kind of action to bring about change to stop VAW in your own community. And if you are specifically interested in revenge movies about VAW, check out our list of 10 feminist revenge films about VAW that make you think.
Introduction by Anushia Kandasivam with additional content by Regina Yau. Written and compiled by Anushia Kandasivam.
Inspired to support The Pixel Project’s anti-violence against women work? Make a donation to us today OR buy our 1 st charity anthology, Giving The Devil His Due . All donations and net proceeds from book sales go towards supporting our campaigns, programmes, and initiatives.
Film Selection #1: Angela Black (2021 – )
The new six-part drama Angela Černá is about a woman living through the horror of domestic abuse. Inspired by personal accounts of coercive control from survivors in the wake of the #MeToo movement, it also coincides with the UK’s current national conversation about femicide and calling on men to end their violence against women. The titular Angela seems to have an idyllic marriage but, in reality, she is suffering in silence from emotional, psychological, and physical abuse at the hands of her husband. The violence is almost entirely off screen but the show makes it clear that it has happened. Part thriller – a mysterious stranger appears with shocking revelations – the series still deftly handles the indiscriminate nature of domestic abuse, including the reactions of friends and family. This series is available to stream on ITV.
Film Selection #2: Bombshell (2019)
Puma tells the true story of the sexual harassment scandal that took down the head of Fox News, Roger Ailes. The films follows journalists Gretchen Carlson, the woman who first accused Ailes, Megyn Kelly, at that time the network’s rising star, and a young woman who stands for a combination of several real-life characters. (In the end, more than 20 women accused Ailes of harassment). Highly entertaining with stellar performances from the leads – the viewer watches the situation at the network spin slowly out of control before power is regained by the women – it is also a shocking insight into how men in power abuse that power with impunity, secure in the knowledge that nobody will call them out.
Film Selection #3: Bulbbul (2020)
Set against the backdrop of 1880s Bengal Presidency, bulbbul starts with a precocious child bride, the titular character, who forms a sweet friendship with her husband’s youngest brother Satya, who is closer to her age. Satya is sent overseas to study and returns years later to a much changed home: his oldest brother has disappeared, his second brother was murdered in his sleep, Bulbbul now has an unsettling self-assured energy, and the villagers tell whispered tales of a demon-woman haunting the forest and killing men. While Satya tries to solve the mystery of murdered men with logic, Jonathan Harker style, the viewer slowly learns about the horrors that happened during his absence and why the demon is targeting these particular men. An atmospheric gothic horror, this film is about abuse and revenge, with an underlying message about the far-reaching consequences of violence against women. This Hindi-language film is available on Netflix.
Film Selection #4: Captive (2021)
This documentary by journalist and filmmaker Mellissa Fung is about three girls trying to piece their lives back together after being held captive by terror group Boko Haram during the brutal war in northeastern Nigeria. Zajatý follows Zara, Asa’u, and Gambo over four years as they grapple with the physical, psychological, and social scars of abduction, rape, and violence, and being marked by stigma by their own communities. Fung herself was once a captive of a terror group, having been kidnapped by Afghan rebels in 2009 and held in a pit for a month. Because of this, she tells the girls’ stories with empathy and the documentary sometimes feels like an exchange of stories by survivors.
Film Selection #5: Delhi Crime (2019 – )
This Indian crime drama depicts the infamous 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case and follows a tenacious Deputy Commissioner of Police and police officer, both women, as they investigate the crime and lead the manhunt for the perpetrators. Gripping yet difficult to watch, the series focuses on the investigation and police actions rather than the brutal events of the crime. Director Richie Mehta, who obtained permission from the victim’s family for the series, said that he realised that an “analysis of hunting these guys is also a way of understanding why these things happen.” The series will continue with a different case in season two and live on as an anthology on Netflix.
Film Selection #6: India’s Rape Scandal (2021)
Another difficult-to-watch but necessary film about the pervasiveness of violence against women in India, India’s Rape Scandal is a documentary that follows two of the most high-profile rape cases in the country and explores how police, political corruption, and societal bias led to their cover-ups. This documentary is produced by Channel 4’s current affairs programme Dispatches and presents an unflinching report about the depth and breadth of corruption and how little women, especially those from low-caste families, matter to men in power. The full documentary is available on Channel 4’s website (requires a sign-in).
Film Selection #7: Knots: A Forced Marriage Story (2021)
Child marriage is a huge and pervasive problem in the US; it is legal in 46 out of 50 states and affects children as young as 12. This feature-length documentary follows three forced marriage survivors – Nina, Sara, and Fraidy – as they talk about their lives and the circumstances of their marriages to adult men while they were children, and about their fight to escape and survive. The film also follows the advocates, experts, and lawmakers who are fighting to end this human rights abuse in the U.S. Eye-opening in that it explains current laws, reveals traditions that lead to child marriage, and shows how it impacts communities, the film is also about the strength of the women who survive to fight for future generations.
Film Selection #8: Maid (2021)
This limited drama series was inspired by American author Stephanie Land’s memoir Služka: Tvrdá práce, nízké platy a vůle matky přežít. It tells the story of young mother Alex Russel just after she has left an abusive partner, running with her two-year-old daughter to a shelter. She gets a low-paying job cleaning houses and starts to piece her life back together while raising her daughter and dealing with government assistance, a dysfunctional family, and her abusive ex-boyfriend in a system that does not make it easy for single mothers or abused women. The film shows the insidious effects of emotional abuse and the demoralising formal procedures of completing labyrinthine forms to obtain government help, as well as how it’s possible to survive world-destroying changes with persistence and support. This series streams on Netflix.
Film Selection #9: Moxie (2021)
A fun and entertaining ride, Moxie is also an insightful look at the challenges girls face in navigating a conformist world, especially when they are told to keep their heads down and that ‘boys will be boys’. Based on the YA novel by Jennifer Mathieu and directed by Amy Poehler, the story is inspired by the riot girl era of the ‘90s. Present-day protagonist teen Vivian ignites a raging feminist movement at her high-school through an anonymous punk ‘zine that calls out the boorish behaviour of the boys at school and the sexist administration. The girls of the school come together, revealing their individual stories of harassment, assault, and exclusion and discover their strength and determination. The film also, refreshingly, addresses intersectionality in the feminist movement and shows different perspectives and reactions of girls and women to the movement. This film is available on Netflix.
Film Selection #10: Òlòturé (2021)
Òlòturé is a Nigerian crime drama film about the titular Nigerian journalist who goes undercover to expose the underworld of sex and human trafficking in Lagos. The film is based on the true story of Nigerian journalist Tobore Ovuorie, who in 2013 worked eight months undercover in Nigeria and emerged with a terrifying account of victims of sex trafficking. The film is a no-holds-barred depiction of the brutality of the world of sex trafficking, where women are treated like chattel to be bought and sold and their lives have no meaning. Òlòturé has triggered a passionate debate in Nigeria about the sex trade and what’s being done to stop it. This film is available on Netflix.
Film Selection #11: Polytechnique (2009)
Intense and atmospheric like all Denis Villeneuve films, Polytechnika uses this style to drive home the incomprehensible horrors of femicide and misogyny. This French Canadian film depicts the events of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, an antifeminist mass shooting at an engineering school in Montreal where a lone gunman murdered 14 women and injured 10 women and four men. The story is told through the eyes of two female students who witness and survive the incident. The film does not attempt to moralise what happened, instead showing the violence and resentment of the shooter as he cuts a swathe through his fellow students. Though it came out 12 years ago, the film and the events and emotions it depicts are still shocking and horribly familiar.
Výběr filmu č. 12: Nadějná mladá žena (2020)
This critically acclaimed thriller tells the story of Cassie, a medical school dropout who works at a coffee shop and spends her nights feigning being drunk and trapping creepy men who try to take advantage of her. It soon becomes clear that there is something driving Cassie’s need for punishment and revenge – her best friend was raped in college with no investigation or redress by the school or authorities. The film’s title is a play on the harmful belief of many a legal system that punishing a ‘promising young man’ for his crimes would rob him of his future. While watching men get their comeuppance is highly entertaining, the film really addresses issues that are seldom explored, including how sexual violence affects not just the victim but those closest to her for years, leaving them unable to reach their full potential.
Film Selection #13: She Will (2021)
Ona Will tells the story of an ageing actress who goes on a healing retreat to the Scottish highlands with her nurse after a double mastectomy. The surgery and healing process open up past traumas, causing her to remember and examine memories of mistreatment by powerful men when she was a young actress. Full of gothic symbolism and arthouse tricks to engage the viewer emotionally, this film explores the #MeToo movement from a unique perspective, reframing the consequences of VAW, and ultimately telling the story of female empowerment through collective understanding.
Film Selection #14: The War Against Women (2013)
This documentary explores the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, the use of women as a battleground, and the war tribunals that follow. The documentary was filmed over three years in ten different countries, including Bosnia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It tells survivors’ stories and examines why sexual violence is used in this way. Eye-opening and heartbreaking, the film is a call to action for governments and the international community to pay more attention to an oft-ignored war crime and crime against humanity. This film is streaming on Netflix.
Film Selection #15: The Whistleblower (2010)
Informátor is about an American police officer-turned UN peacekeeper who, while on assignment in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999, discovers a Bosnian sex trafficking ring serving and facilitated by an American military contractor. It is inspired by the story of Kathryn Bolkovac who filed a lawsuit against her military contractor employer for unfair dismissal after whistleblowing about the sex trafficking ring. The film has come under criticism for graphic scenes of violence but the filmmakers, who had conducted heavy research into the scandal, have said that everything depicted about the victims was accurate and even toned down. It depicts the moral quagmire of war and corruption, the hopelessness of fighting the system, and the moral strength and fortitude required to stand up for what’s right.
Film Selection #16: Tina (2021)
Musician Tina Turner has been a best-selling artist and powerhouse performer for almost half a century. This documentary follows her life and career from the beginning to present day, with frank storytelling from Turner herself and anecdotes from her famous friends. In 1976, Turner ran away from her then husband, also a famous and talented musician, and filed for divorce after enduring years of abuse at his hands. It was a huge public scandal at the time and the story followed her around for years. Despite this, Turner staged a powerful comeback and seemed to have ‘overcome’ her problems but, as the documentary discovers, reality is more complicated and the past is “always lurking around the corner.” Even so, Tina depicts how a determined and tenacious woman can survive trauma to become a successful and powerful force. This film is available on HBO.
The Pixel Project Selection 2020: 16 Films About Violence Against Women
Welcome to The Pixel Project’s 9th annual selection of powerful and thought-provoking films, documentaries, and television shows from around the world that depict violence against women and girls (VAW) in various forms.
Last year, we remarked on how the #MeToo movement had inspired many films and series depicting VAW as part of efforts to keep the momentum of cultural change going worldwide. This momentum has not stopped and there is an increasing number of new films, documentaries, and television series coming out that examine VAW in new and interesting ways. Some are subtle and some provocative, but all are stimulating and enlightening.
The films on this list paint familiar and intimate pictures of everyday violence, examine decades-old issues still unresolved, and offer unique and shocking new views of abuse and culture. Again this year, most of the films are new productions – the oldest are from 2017 and the newest debuted a few months ago – and almost all are available for streaming through on-demand services.
Given that the vast majority of people worldwide have to stay at home under lockdown for stretches at a time while governments and the World Health Organisation battle the Coronavirus pandemic, there may be no better time to watch our recommended selections. We hope that these films and series not only bring you more understanding about violence, society, and transformation, but also inspire you to examine the world around you and take some kind of action to bring about change in your own community.
Introduction by Anushia Kandasivam and Regina Yau. Written and compiled by Anushia Kandasivam with additional selections by Regina Yau.
Film Selection #1: American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)
As the title suggests, the Watts family was the perfect American family – a loving couple with two young daughters. This Netflix documentary follows the investigation behind the disappearance of the pregnant Shanann Watts and her two daughters, which eventually evolved into a murder investigation, and explores the possible reasons why husband Christopher Watts murdered them.
Film Selection #2: Athlete A (2020)
This documentary released on Netflix follows a team of investigative journalists from a small American newspaper as they investigate claims of abuse of young female gymnasts by USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. The investigation not only led to Nassar’s eventual conviction but also revealed the institutionalised culture of systemic emotional and sexual abuse, impunity, and cruelty within elite-level gymnastics and the work still being done to try to change it. But it also highlights the tireless work of the lawyers and the bravery of the athletes who fought the system and refused to be silenced.
Film Selection #3: Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator (2019)
Almost everyone has heard of hot yoga, but do you know about the man who invented it? This Netflix documentary tells the story of Bikram Choudhury and how, in the 1970s, he made hot yoga into such a sensation and almost cultish experience that it is still incredibly popular today. Through investigations and interviews, it delves into the lies, fraud, and sexual abuse he perpetrated under the guise of guru and yogi and reveals the shocking truths behind the phenomenon of hot yoga.
Film Selection #4: Eve’s Apple (La Manzana de Eva) (2017)
This Spanish-language documentary, available on Netflix, reports on the horrors of female genital mutilation. The filmmakers took an interesting approach in their interviews about the fight against and alternative measures to the practice, speaking with survivors who discuss the brutal practice and their personal tragedies and triumphs, as well as authorities, policy makers, and public and private entities in Gambia and Kenya.
Film Selection #5: Mohu tě zničit (2020)
This comedy-drama series was created, written, co-directed, and executive produced by Michaela Coel and stars Coel as a young woman who is trying to get her life back together after being drugged and raped. Partly based on Coel’s own experiences, the series takes an engrossing, nimble, and tough look at trauma and how it affects everyday life, family, work, and relationships as the protagonist tries to remember what happened and comes to terms with the truth. The series aired on BBC and is available to stream on HBO.
Film Selection #6: Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich (2020)
Released just a year after the death, officially by suicide, of American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, this documentary mini-series explains how he used money and influence to prey on vulnerable young women and minor girls, and thwart investigations and reporting into his crimes. It shines a light on an underworld of people who use wealth and connections to abuse with impunity. It is available on Netflix.
Film Selection #7: Lost Girls (2020)
This film revolves around real-life activist Mari Gilbert’s search for her missing daughter and fight to get the authorities to re-open the case as a murder investigation. Along the way, the bodies of several women are found. An entertaining Netflix mystery-drama, the film is a first-time narrative work by a documentary filmmaker, so it is also a look at the struggle of family and friends to get authorities to take investigations into missing and murdered sex workers seriously.
Výběr filmů č. 8: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
Based on the 1981 children’s book of the same name, this horror film follows four teenagers in a small American town who find a book of scary stories that all seem to be coming true, causing all kinds of horrible things to happen. This film is a rollicking teen horror-fest but it also subtly explores how the torture and abuse of a young woman–the long-dead author of the scary stories–has long-term repercussions and literally comes back to haunt the town that turned a blind eye.
Film Selection #9: Shusenjo – The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue (2018)
This documentary started as filmmaker Miki Dezaki’s graduate thesis, in which he examines why a small but fervent group of politically influential conservatives in Japanese politics still, 75 years later, vehemently disputes internationally accepted accounts of Japan’s wartime atrocities, specifically the sexual enslavement of tens of thousands of Korean women and others during World War II. A fascinating examination of a complex international issue and revisionism, the film features interviews with some of these political conservatives, who have influence at the highest levels, even in public education and foreign policy. Dezaki was sued by some of them for defamation for the conclusions his documentary reached.
Film Selection #10: Thappad (2020)
thappad (Slap) is an Indian Hindi-language drama film about Amrita, a strong-headed woman, doting wife, and homemaker who fully supports her ambitious husband and takes care of her ailing grandmother – the perfect Indian woman. But everything changes when, in a fit of rage, her husband slaps her in public. Amrita becomes aware of the little aggressions she’s put up with over time and, amid friends and family telling her “it’s just a slap”, starts to question why her husband felt he had the right to hit her. In a culture that still believes “anything goes” in a marriage, this film examines what constitutes love and abuse, and shows the stark contrast between what we think an abuser looks like and what he really looks like.
Film Selection #11: The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)
Trans women experience some of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world. This documentary chronicles Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two prominent figures in the gay liberation and transgender rights movement in New York City from the 1960s to the 1990s and co-founders of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. The film centres on activist Victoria Cruz’s investigation into Johnson’s death in 1992, which was initially ruled a suicide by police despite suspicious circumstances, and her efforts to fight the tide of violence against trans women. This documentary is available on Netflix.
Film Selection #12: The Invisible Man (2020)
Loosely based on the H.G. Wells novel of the same name, this sci-fi horror takes a different perspective on men who abuse with impunity. It follows a woman who believes she is being stalked by her abusive boyfriend even after his apparent suicide. A classic thriller filled with jump scares, it also explores the violence and gaslighting that domestic abuse victims go through, the lingering fear they experience even after the abuser is gone (or should be gone), and the doubt they face from friends and family, this time with a shocking sci-fi twist. It also asks the question of how far an abuser will go to remain in control of a woman and every inch of her life.
Film Selection #13: The Vow (2020)
This true crime documentary series, available on HBO, is about the members of the self-improvement group NXIVM and the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse they experienced. The group’s leader Keith Raniere, who was convicted of sex trafficking among a slew of other crimes, persuaded women to sign a vow of commitment and allegedly branded them. The series takes a deep and nuanced look at the group and its practices, and reveals some shocking truths, including the fact that, like so many other “cult” leaders, Raniere was aided and abetted by women.
Film Selection #14: Tři billboardy mimo Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
In a fictional small town in the American Midwest, a mother grieves over the rape and murder of her teenage daughter and channels her anger over the lack of progress in the investigation into three giant billboards that very publicly question the authorities. This black comedy-drama, which won several awards, had its share of controversy about the plot (a well-known story of stalled or bungled investigations into VAW) and the characters (racist, misogynistic, abusive, angry, and vengeful), but does get people to question why VAW is tolerated and how cycles of abuse persist in the face of indifference.
Film Selection #15: Two Sentence Horror Stories (2019) – Season 1 Episode 3: Legacy
Based on an idea started in a Reddit thread that asked people for the best horror story they could come up with in two sentences, this American anthology is a series of 30-minute micro tales of vividly told scary stories. The episodes run the gamut of sub-genres but for this list we focus on the episode “Legacy,” where the ghost of an abusive husband literally comes back to terrorise his wife, a reflection of the figurative trauma survivors go through every day. This series is available on CW.
Film Selection #16: Uyare (Up Above) (2019)
This Indian Malayalam-language drama follows the life of a young female aviation student whose controlling and abusive boyfriend attacks her with acid when she stands up to him and breaks off their relationship. Produced by three women, the film is a fresh look at the lingering trauma a survivor of VAW goes through (including having to face an unsympathetic judicial system and justice being just out of reach), her struggle to rise out of it, and that triumph is possible. This film is available on Netflix.
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