Imagine you live in a land ruled by a dictator, where nobody feels free. Would you protest?
Imagine you live in a slum and you find a camera and a gun. Which would you choose?
Imagine you are fourteen years old and being married off to a man who is twenty years older. Would you accept this?

It may be hard to imagine, but there are young people out there who are actually confronted with decisions like these. In cooperation with Dagblad Trouw (Trouw newspaper) and Amnesty International, Movies that Matter selected two feature films and a documentary series focusing on children’s rights. These movies were awarded at festivals and show how hard these special kids have to fight for a good life.

Right on! Movies that open eyes.

THE WOODEN CAMERA by Ntshaveni Wa Luruli (France, UK, South Africa, 2003)
The Wooden Camera takes place in Cape Town, near the end of the apartheid era. One night, 14-year-old Madiba and his friend Sipho find a dead man with a video camera and a gun by the train tracks running past their slum. They divide the loot: Madina gets the camera and Sipho the gun. The boys have to go head to head when one of them wants to become a filmmaker while the other joins a gang.
Winner of the Crystal Bear, Berlinale, 2004
Nominated for Tiger Award, International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2004

THE WAY I SPENT THE END OF THE WORLD by Catalin Mitulescu (Romania, 2006)
Seven-year-old Lalalilu and his 17-year-old sister Eva grow up in Bucharest during Ceausescu’s communist regime. The both long for freedom: Eva wants to swim across the Danube and leave Romania behind, and Lalalilu thinks that all problems can be solved by getting rid of Ceausescu. An imaginative and quite suspenseful movie about dreams, freedom and life under a cruel regime.

LIVING RIGHTS by Duco Tellegen (Netherlands, 2004)
Four short documentaries show the reality of children’s rights and how that often differs from what we imagine it to be. Roy has to work with his family in the goldmines of Peru. Japanese Sushi has Asperger’s Syndrome and dreams about being ‘normal’. Maasai girl Toti has fled Kenya because she was about to be married off, and Lena, who lives in Tsjernobyl, is faced with a life changing decision: stay in her familiar surroundings, or move in with a family in Italy where there is no radio-activity.
Best Documentary, Buster Filmfestival 2005
Honorary mention, 58th Locarno Filmfestival

Right On! is available for € 24,95 via webshop.trouw.nl and www.amnesty.nl/webshop.