Event
On Her Shoulders
100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes; New York Times Critic’s Pick
2018 Sundance Film Festival – Winner: Directing Award, U.S. Documentary
The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege “for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict,” according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee announcement on 5 October 2018 in Oslo, Norway. Nadia Murad is the first Iraqi to be awarded a Nobel prize.
Twenty-three-year-old Nadia Murad’s life is a dizzying array of exhausting undertakings-from giving testimony before the U.N. to visiting refugee camps to soul-bearing media interviews and one-on-one meetings with top government officials.
With deep compassion and a formal precision and elegance that matches Nadia’s calm and steely demeanor, filmmaker Alexandria Bombach follows this strong-willed young woman, who survived the 2014 genocide of the Yazidis in Northern Iraq and escaped the hands of ISIS.
Nadia has become a relentless beacon of hope for her people, even when at times she longs to lay aside this monumental burden and simply have an ordinary life.
"Alexandria Bombach's direction and editing are exceptional; she captures images that are both subtle and formidable."
"a moving, sensitive portrayal of a woman - and a people's - perseverance."
"The film catches Murad's delicate balancing act of speaking for the dead while trying to live her own life."
"On Her Shoulders is an intimate, empathetic documentary, made with discretion and power."
