Barbara Miller
Switzerland | 2012 | 97 min
World premiere
Languages : English, Spanish, Chinese, Persian, French
Subtitles : English, French
Braving censorship, three exceptional women seized on the Internet as a way of denouncing their governments’ abuses and advancing democracy in their countries: Cuba, Iran and China. Every day, they pay a high price for their commitment. Based on their accounts, extracts from their blogs and gripping clandestine footage, this intense film is a tribute to their brave struggle.
The Internet has become a formidable weapon in combating the propaganda of dictatorial regimes. This film follows the struggle of three exceptional women who seized on the Web as a way of denouncing governmental abuses and advancing democracy in their countries: Cuba, Iran and China. Every day, they pay a high price for their courage. When they are not censored, their messages are systematically discredited by the official media, as in these edifying extracts from Cuban television. Based on the accounts of these militants, quotation from their blogs and gripping clandestine images, Forbidden Voices invites us to contemplate the reality behind the facade. This intense and well-researched film also stresses the paradoxical status of this form of virtual activism, which is heavily reliant on the international reaction it provokes… outside the country which would gag it. This is the character of the modern “blogosphere”: in the Internet era, freedom of expression is played out on a world stage.
Alessia Bottani
Translation BMP Translations
