Nov. 19, 2021

Global Health Film Festival 25 Nov to 05 Dec 2021

The basics
This year's festival takes place online over eleven days from Thursday 25 November, bringing you excellent storytelling and discussion from all around the world on all aspects of global health including refugee and migrant health, planetary health, gender violence, the politics of aid and post-colonialism.

Film festival passes
All-access passes are now on sale on our festival platform; at just £55, your all-access pass offers you the best value, with access to the full programme of on-demand films, as well as all the live screenings, panel discussions and workshops throughout the duration of the festival.

Individual tickets and ticket bundles
Five-ticket and three-ticket bundles are also available, costing £19.50 and £12.50 respectively as well as individual tickets at £4.75 for each film or series of shorts.

Ways to watch
You can watch your chosen films on the VOD platform at anytime during the eleven days of the festival - and you can also sign up to join us for the live-stream screening and panel discussion using the registration link in your ticket confirmation email.

This week's spotlight
Details of FOUR more of this year's festival films below

Be My Voice

Journalist and activist Masih Alinejad is the voice of millions of Iranian women rebelling against the forced hijab on social media. 

Leading one the largest acts of civil disobedience in today’s Iran, Masih uses her freedom in exile to amplify the protest in her home country. The regime tightens its grip to regain control, and Masih’s courage is tested when violence and oppression threaten her own family members

This brilliant film is one of several jewels in our crown this year and is, in our eyes, quite simply unmissable. The panel will include the director Nahid Persson - many more details to follow next week!

Watch the trailer and get your festival pass, ticket bundle, or individual ticket here!

Men Who Sing

This humorous and melancholic portrait of a male voice choir begins when the filmmaker’s father, widower Ed, 90, sells the family home and arranges his own funeral.

His only remaining solace is Tuesday night practice, but with an average age of 74 and suffering a haemorrhaging of the bass section, his beloved choir is facing a crisis of its own. They must act or face extinction.

So the hunt begins to find ‘brown haired men’ in their 40s and 50s who can take the choir forward. As their search intensifies we come closer to them. Whilst Ed finds new meaning, Merf deals with his own bad news by focusing on the choir's revival and Gwyn laughs at his prostate cancer diagnosis and walks on the wing of a plane to raise money. Finally, they raise themselves and travel to Northern Ireland to perform for the first time in 20 years.

We will also feature a 14-minute short film Lousy: Love in the time of dementia, directed by Frank Silverstein and documenting his parents' decline due to dementia.

We are delighted to programme this session in partnership with the Institute of Public Health in Ireland; the panel discussion will be moderated by Professor Roger O'Sullivan, Director of the Ageing Research and Development Division within the Institute of Public Health and will include Men Who Sing director Dylan Williams.

Read on and get your festival pass, ticket bundle, or individual ticket here!

The Kitchenistas

International Premiere

What started as a seven-week nutrition programme seven years ago in National City, California for women seeking healthier diets, has become a Latina-led movement to raise the health, wellbeing, and resilience of the community.

National City has one of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in San Diego County and in the state of California, and the programme graduates, called “Kitchenistas”, are out to change that, one healthy meal at a time.

By 2021 and after 18 graduating classes, more than 275 Kitchenistas stay the course to overcome systemic barriers in bringing high-quality food solutions into their homes, schools, and city. Not to be underestimated, these women show how a range of small advocacy actions over time lead to big changes. The Kitchenistas are community builders and advocates for "real food" and re-connection through the kitchen.  

The panel will be moderated by Amy Stratton, Global Health Film, and will include Executive Producer Mary Ann Beyster,  Cooking for Salud Coordinator, Patty Corona, and Sabrina Falquier Montgrain, MD and culinary medicine expert.

More details here - and a link to the box office for festival passes, ticket bundles, or individual tickets!

Your Mum and Dad

Preview screening

From the moment we are born we play a role. Is this role enforced on us by our parents or is it the direct consequence of their behaviour? Nature versus nurture, in a personal documentary essay with a psychoanalytic dimension.

Film maker Klaartje Quirijns turns the camera on herself and her family - on what has not been dealt with from the past and the way her life has been shaped by this.

The panel will be moderated by Global Health Film Trustee and retired psychiatrist Dr Peter Jarrett, and will include director Klaartje Quirijns - more details to follow.

Find out more and get your festival pass, ticket bundle, or individual ticket here!

Global Health Film Festival all-access pass - get yours today!