What Comes From Sitting in Silence?

Sophie Schrago
France, South Korea, Switzerland, United States | 2026 | 77 min
International Premiere
Languages : Urdu, Hindi
Subtitles : English, French

Defying the conservative forces in her community, Judge Khatoon establishes the first female Islamic court in Mumbai. Women come forward to denounce the violence they face and seek justice, challenging and overturning the existing power dynamics. Sophie Schrago, sitting in a corner of the tiny office, witnesses these cases which resonate with the lives of many other women.

Defying the conservative forces in her community, Judge Khatoon establishes the first female Islamic court in Mumbai. Women come to denounce the violence they experience within their marriages and to seek justice, challenging the power dynamics and the patriarchal order. In this court, Khatoon, who strives to reinterpret the Quran to reform family law, has full legal authority to intervene with families in crisis. The many cases that come before the court reveal the relentless reproduction of systems of violence, family pressure and enforced silence in the face of parental and marital authority. Sophie Schrago, a Swiss-Indian filmmaker, attends these trials from a corner of the tiny office. Remaining silent, she keeps these courageous women in the centre of the frame, even as they are stifled by the presence of their husbands or families. Behind these testimonies, in the spaces between the words, two other stories unfold: That of Khatoon and the filmmaker.

Aurélien Marsais

What Comes From Sitting in Silence, 2026
Malcolm X and the Sudanese, 2020