SIMA FILMS FROM BANGLADESH, HAITI, NEPAL

4PM: DOCUMENTARIES - Unleashing the power of the free market to eliminate poverty, hunger, and inequality, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, did his part to fight poverty by micro-lending $27 to 42 people. This initial act, which has now grown to 8 million women and 8 billion dollars, has been replicated around the world. But he didn’t stop there… whenever he sees a problem he starts a business, creating a mix between business and social work, which he’s coined “social business” demonstrating to the world that complex problems sometimes do have simple answers. Find out more in Holly Mosher’s BONSAI PEOPLE – THE VISION OF MUHAMMAD YUNUS (2011, 79 min, Bangladesh/USA)

7PM: BASEBALL IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA (2012, 28 min, Haiti/Canada)
by David Darg & Bryn Mooser is a powerful insight into the tragedy and scandal of Haiti's Cholera Epidemic through the eyes of a young baseball player.

Every year in Sub-Saharan Africa 200,000 mothers die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. A great many of these deaths are preventable, when women have access to quality prevention, diagnostic, and treatment services. Paulo Patruno’s BIRTH IS A DREAM (2012, 15 mn, DRC/Malawi/Uganda) aims to document and raise awareness about the maternity crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa.

8.15PM: The Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit, his American colleague Dr. Geoff Tabin, and their team of local assistants hike with an entire hospital on porter’s backs to the very remote highlands of Nepal’s Northeast. For 25 USD and 5 min per operation, they restore sight to cataract blinded people in the most remote and inaccessible areas on Earth. Stefano Levi’s OUT OF THE DARKNESS (2011, 82 min, Nepal/Germany) is an emotional documentary that shows how this simple and inexpensive surgical procedure is not only life-changing for those affected by cataract, but also influences the economic structure of these remote communities which are dependent on the well being of the family.