| Living Rights |
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| Directed By:
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Duco Tellegen
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| Produced In:
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Japan/Kenya/Belarus 2004
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| Running Time:
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83 minutes
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| Genre:
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Documentary
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| Language:
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In Japanese, Maasai and Russian with English Subtitles
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| Themes:
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Gender, Disability,Education,Childrens RightsFoster Care
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| Distributor:
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Dovana Films
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Synopsis:
Filmmaker Duco Tellegen (whose Behind Closed Eyes featured is also
included in the HRWIFFHSP) has made a career of exploring the rich
psychological terrain of children and young adults in critical
moments of change. In Living Rights, his emotionally powerful and
visually striking new film, Tellegen explores dilemmas facing three
young people on three different continents. His remarkable ability
to relate to these youths is evident as their lives unfold before
our eyes.
YOSHI tells the story of sixteen-year-old Yoshinori who has
Asperger’s Syndrome—a form of autism exposed in Mark Haddon’s
extraordinary novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Yoshi’s dream is to attend a regular Japanese high school. With humor,
wit, and creativity Yoshi makes a strong case for all of us to believe
he should.
TOTI is a Maasai girl of fourteen. When she was eleven, her mother told
her that she would be married off. The cattle her family would receive
from her marriage were badly needed for the family to survive. Toti
decided to run away, so her twin sister was married off in her place.
Three years later, Toti tries to reconnect with her sister and family.
Eleven-year-old LENA lives with her foster mother Galah in a village near
the nuclear reactor of Chernobyl. Lena’s biological mother lives in Minsk,
where radioactivity readings are much lower. She is unable to take care of
Lena who is exhibiting health problems, and hopes Lena will choose to go
live with an Italian family that has offered to adopt her. Pulling Lena the
other way is Galah, who hopes Lena will choose to stay with her.
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