Human rights activists organized a screening of Malika Musayeva's film in Berlin.
The film "A Cage is Seeking a Bird" by Chechen director Malika Musayeva will be shown on March 14 in Berlin as part of the "Symbol of Freedom" exhibition organized by human rights activists. A meeting with the film's director is scheduled after the screening.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in February 2023, "A Cage is Seeking a Bird" by Malika Musayeva, a student of Alexander Sokurov, was shown at the Berlinale. It was the only film from Russia and the first in the festival's history to be entirely in Chechen. "A Bird is Seeking a Cage" received a prize at the 21st International Debut Film Festival "Spirit of Fire." It was released in general release in the fall of 2023.
Malika Musayeva's debut film, "A Cage is Seeking a Bird," filmed entirely in the Chechen language, is dedicated to the fates of women and their attempts to overcome their lack of freedom. In the mountain villages of Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria, director Musayeva's home village, local residents prevented the filming of a film on this topic. According to Malika, the film has no chance of being released in Chechnya.
The human rights group "Marem" organized a screening of Chechen director Malika Musayeva's film, "A Cage is Seeking a Bird," in Berlin. The screening will take place as part of the "Symbol of Freedom" exhibition, created by members of the human rights group.
The exhibition "Symbol of Freedom," which opened today at Reforum Space Berlin, tells the stories of women from the North Caucasus who fled domestic violence. It's a fully multimedia project—each story is told as an animated episode.
The women and girls whose stories are told in the exhibition turned to human rights activists for help in fleeing their relatives. "We know them all personally, and they are very dear to us. They fled from those seemingly closest to them—husbands, brothers, fathers, and mothers. They fled without money or documents, wearing slippers and dresses. They fled from beatings, sexualized violence, the threat of having their child taken away during a divorce, or from a forced marriage," according to a message from the Marem Telegram channel.
A screening of the film "The Cage Seeks a Bird" is scheduled at the exhibition space for 7:00 PM on Saturday, March 14. Human rights activists recalled that Malika Musayeva, a graduate of director Alexander Sokurov's workshop, filmed her film in Ingushetia, on the border with Chechnya, because permission to shoot in Chechnya, where she had originally planned to work on the film, was not obtained.
At the screening, viewers will meet Malika Musayeva herself, who will talk about her work and what the film means to her, the organizers noted.
Musaeva's film, dedicated to the choice between tradition and freedom, is about a Chechen teenage girl, her dreams, and her hopes. "About the power of the frameworks built around us by generations. About the desire to find balance between the past and the future. And about how dreams collide with the reality of the surrounding world, where we must endure for the sake of our children," the Marem publication says.