ON HER SHOULDERS (2018)
Director: Alexandria Bombach
Producer: Hayley Pappas, Brock WilliamsProduction
Companies: Ryot Films, Oscilloscope Laboratories
Mobbed by iPhone cameras and pushy reporters, 23-year-old Nadia Murad leads a harrowing but vital crusade: to find the most influential platforms in the world and speak out on behalf of the embattled Yazidi community who face mass extermination by ISIS militants. Having narrowly escaped with her own life, Nadia must now relentlessly recount on radio shows, at rallies, and even on the floor of the United Nation’s general assembly her ordeal as a Yazidi sex slave and witness to her family’s brutal killings.
With a formal precision and elegance that matches Nadia’s calm and steely demeanor, filmmaker Alexandria Bombach brings us inside an exhausting, destabilizing journey fraught with personal pain and profound ethical urgency. From the refugee camps in Greece to the gilded halls of power, we observe a woman repurpose unimaginable trauma into a powerful rallying cry for justice.
- “On Her Shoulders feels triumphant in how it demonstrates the power of persistence and grace under immeasurable pressure, it’s even stronger in what it suggests can happen when we listen in the first place.” — MoveableFest
- “Make no mistake, OnHerShoulders offers a profound testament to Nadia’s suffering, courage and unfathomable tenacity, but also recognizes that compassion has never been so competitive, or in such short supply.” — IndieWire
- “...aided by a visceral score from Patrick Jonsson (The White Helmets) which will leave you in pieces.” — Little White Lies
Festivals & Awards:
- SXSW 2018
- Sundance 2018 (Best Director, Documentary)