One Must Wash Eyes/Not Afraid

About Sepideh YadegarAs a young girl growing up in Iran, where the idea of gender equality is equated with the end of civilizations, Sepideh always struggled to find a means to express her emotions to tell her story. Everywhere she went she sought proof that females, too, could use their creative outlets, but found instead, punishment and strife. She envied the lives of her male counterparts, a shimmer in their eyes betrayed the pleasant knowledge that they, at least, could fulfill their destinies. In the winter of 2011, she was finally driven to reject the predetermined role her society sought to weigh her down with; she left her homeland.She was elated with her newfound ability to express herself when she arrived in Canada. Free speech first gave birth to the most simple form of self-expression: she took to social media to educate her fellow Canadians about the injustices done to her peers in the Middle East. She initially sought to find her voice by speaking on the radio. She joined a radio station called Pazhvak, where, besides speaking about her personal experiences, she helped to create a larger narrative about life under a radically religious government. Still, something was missing, and she didn’t know what it was until she watched a close friend turn a five-year struggle for funding into a wildly successful campaign through a single amateur film. The same people who had merely liked and commented on his work previously were now the ambassadors of his story, all thanks to the combination of beautiful imagery and a gripping narrative. Sepideh knew instantly that this was her outlet.

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‍Not Afraid
9m / USA / Mikaela BruceAfter a period of absence, OLIVIA (Jashaun St. John) is eager to get back on her high school basketball team, or at least that’s what she thought. Reality hits when she starts practicing with her team again and painful memories resurface.