Policing
Friday, 15 September, 16:30 - 17:45 / Kijkhuis 1
Policing [noun]. The act of maintaining public order and security, enforcing the law, or regulating or controlling something.
As a practice, policing is not exclusive to law enforcement agencies, but takes many forms. The films in this session explore how bodies are regulated, constrained, and abused by official and unofficial forces. From Cuba to France, from China to Hong Kong, these films tell stories of exploitation, unequal power dynamics, and the desire to escape injustice.
Content warning: violence, strong language; 16+
Duration
75 min.
The story of a grandfather’s perilous swim from China to Hong Kong that parallels his granddaughter’s own quest for a new freedom.
Nighttime in a quarter of Havana. A couple of men are playing a game of dominos while the women pass the time gossiping. Out of the blue, a man finds the granddaughter of Mercedes and Ramón at a park close by. It looks like she's been raped. The situation escalates, as chauvinist tendencies are incited to the point that a culprit must be found at any cost.
Lu and Wei are two young girls living in a village nestled on the banks of a river. As the one-child policy has led some families to drown baby girls, they both have a special relationship with this river, which looks like a cradle of tragic stories.
France, November 2015. After the Paris terror attacks, the state of emergency is proclaimed to facilitate the work of police forces. 4 AM. A policewoman helps colleagues to conduct a search, but soon finds out that things aren’t going the way they’re supposed to.