Gender Montage: Films from Post-Soviet Space

Open Society Institute (OSI)'s Women's Program, the Institute for Social and Gender Policy, the International Gender Policy Network, and OSI partners from 11 countries launched a series of documentary films exploring the lives and struggles of women in post-Soviet countries. This collection aims to capture the challenges facing women in the former Soviet Union by focusing on a particular country and a single theme - from polygamy to labour migration, from domestic violence and paternity leave.

The 2006 Gender Montage catalog, trailer, and seven films in their entirety are available for download online. The films are as follows:

1. Return, on domestic violence in Georgia;
2. Elechek, on polygamy in Kyrgyzstan;
3. Who Will Sing a Lullaby, on fathers in non-traditional familial roles in Ukraine;
4. Kristina and Christ, on discrimination against women in the Lutheran Church in Lithuania;
5. New Penelope, on the challenges faced by women in Tajikistan whose husbands have migrated to Russia;
6. There Are Women in Russian Villages, which addresses domestic violence and poverty among rural women in Russia;
7. Woman's Happiness or Man's Dignity, on traditional women's roles in Armenia.

This is the second series of films from the Gender Montage project, which was established in 2001 with the support of OSI's Network Women's Program (NWP) to create visual advocacy tools that draw attention to women's human rights in the former Soviet Union, shed light on the impact of institutionalised and ingrained inequality, and expose the effects of gender stereotyping.

Gender Montage is a joint project of NWP, the Institute for Social and Gender Policy, the International Gender Policy Network, the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation - Armenia, the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation - Azerbaijan, the Open Estonia Foundation, the Open Society Georgia Foundation, the Feminist League (Kazakhstan), the Soros Foundation - Kyrgyzstan, the Center for Equality Advancement (Lithuania), the Women's Leadership Foundation (Mongolia), the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation - Tajikistan, and the Ukrainian Women's Fund.

Click here for a list of the films and access to download them online.

Click here to download a PDF document of the full Gender Montage catalog.

For more information, screening schedules, questions, or to request copies of the films, please contact the below contacts.