These Silences are all the Words(2017)
Madiha Aijaz’s observational documentary on public libraries in Karachi, Pakistan, provides an entry point into present-day Karachi, where irredeemable changes feel imminent. While the libraries become a bastion for the literary tradition of Urdu, their frequent visitors lament the increasing dominance of English – a residual reminder of colonialism, partition and the ‘globalising’ present. Wrapped in quiet solitude, seated readers are shown hiding away from the hustle and bustle of urban life that can be seen outside.
Movie: These Silences are all the Words
Video Trailer These Silences are all the Words
All 1 videos
These Silences Are All the Words - Trailer | IFFR 2019 - Trailer
Similar Movies
All the World's Memory(fr)
A documentary about the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. It presents the building, with its processes of cataloguing and preserving all sorts of printed material, as both a monument of cultural memory and as a monstrous, alien being.
Displaced Perssons(sv)
Per Persson left Sweden 40 years ago. In Pakistan he fell in love and became the father of two daughters. Trouble starts when the girls grow up and the family decides to emigrate to Sweden. When they end up living in a caravan outside Hässleholm, all their expectations are dashed.
In the Shadow of Karakorum(de)
In 1954, a German-Austrian expedition led by Mathias Rebitsch set off for the difficult-to-access Karakoram Mountains, geographically north of the Himalayas. They come across the Hunza, a people who live in the valley of the same name and believe they are descended from the soldiers of Alexander the Great. The documentary conveys impressions of the poor life of the Hunza people, the harvest, a court hearing, festivals and the children's everyday school life. Finally, the expedition sets off again and sets up its main camp on the moraine ridge of a glacier, where they measure the glacier and the earth's magnetic field. Finally, some men from the research community set off for a sub-peak of Batura.
American Animals(en)
Lexington, Kentucky, 2004. Four young men attempt to execute one of the most audacious art heists in the history of the United States.
Mazar Sharif(fa)
An Iranian diplomat who miraculously survived Taliban's raid on the Iranian consulate in Mazar E Sharif (Afghanistan) narrates his 19 days of hide and escape to reach Iran's borders meanwhile on the other side, the Iranian troops are preparing for retaliation.
In Zainab's Heaven(fa)
A Hazara film director follows a gravestone maker, a water girl and a man who buried his limb, as their daily lives unfold in a graveyard.
Information for/from Outsiders: Chronicles from Kashmir(en)
Chronicles from Kashmir seeks to create a sense of “balance”: between differently positioned voices that emerge when speaking about Kashmir; between differently placed narratives on the “victim”/“perpetrator” spectrum. While there is an inevitable streak of political commentary that runs throughout the work – a political current that cannot be escaped when talking about Kashmir – Chronicles from Kashmir does not espouse any one political ideology. We see ourselves as being artists and educators, using aesthetics and pedagogy to engage audiences with diverse perspectives from/about the Valley.
A Word for Human(en)
The library is a stronghold of humanism, but today libraries are more than places for borrowing books. At the Royal Library in the heart of Copenhagen, researchers and intermediaries work side by side with the library's visitors who come to read and study, but also to participate in talks, concerts, lectures and exhibitions that fill the halls all year round. This documentary looks behind the scenes in a year where Marina Abramovic and Olafur Eliasson contribute to the program, and where colonial history and climate change take center stage.
Bengal Memory(en)
A Bangladeshi American undertakes a journey to learn about the liberation war in his native country, traveling there for the first time in nearly two decades, and uncovering the controversial role the U.S. played in a forgotten genocide that occurred there over 50 years ago. From 1971 to the present day, this is a story of Bangladesh’s independence, a family’s journey immigrating to America, and the cognitive dissonance of a person belonging to both homelands. Driven by interviews with his father and other family members, along with experts and witnesses, archival videos, declassified recordings, and animations, BENGAL MEMORY is a unique and untold oral history through a personal lens.
Behind the Doors of Umberto Eco(fr)
Umberto Eco, the author of best-selling novels who passed away in February 2016, unveils the secrets behind his undertakings and novels.
A Message from the East(en)
The story of Muhammad Iqbal, a turn of the century poet/philosopher from South Asia. Through Iqbal's work we open a dialog between the East and West, refute the notion of a class of civilizations and discover our shared humanity.
Behind Closed Doors(en)
Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) are people who hold a public function and as a result, present higher risks of being involved in bribery or corruption. Offshore leaks have revealed repeatedly that PEPs use British finance and British offshore jurisdictions to launder their wealth, hide their wealth and re-invest it into the global financial system. London is the place where they buy property, where they take legal action against their critics and where they live when they fall from grace. But what happens when a developing country fights back and attempts to get Britain to return the money that it claims has been stolen? Watch Behind Closed Doors and find out.
The Last Days of Osama Bin Laden(en)
After the United States mounted a covert mission to eliminate America's number-one terrorist target, celebration turned to mounting questions. Now, Peter Bergen obtains rare access to interview former CIA agents, Navy Seal operatives, and a Black Hawk pilot who reveal how the United States gathered the intelligence needed to pull off the surprise attack. He'll talk to White House and Pakistani intelligence officials, as well as neighbors of the Pakistani compound and eyewitnesses to the raid.
Zabardast(fr)
An expedition film in the form of a multi-voice travel diary, where all emotions pass through the spectators who are immersed for three weeks with these riders and guides in the Karakoram massif in Pakistan.
Indus Blues(ur)
Pakistani folk artists talk about their struggle to keep a fading art form alive while reminding the world what they are about to lose.
Saving Face(en)
Every year hundreds of people - mostly women - are attacked with acid in Pakistan. Follow several of these survivors, their fight for justice, and a Pakistani plastic surgeon who has returned to his homeland to help them restore their faces and their lives.
Glorious Resolve(en)
The film based on a true story, tells the story of two soldiers who fought off an assault by 1500 attackers while defending section level outpost of an Infantry Battalion in South Waziristan Agency. 43 soldiers were killed in the battle on the night of 29 May 2009.