The Global Cinema Film Festival aims to bring the pains of the rest of the world to viewers

Boston Globe

15-05-2025

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'Cinema saved me in a way that it transported me out of a hostile reality,' he said. 'Now what's funny is I'm bringing people into a hostile reality to show what is happening — not so they do not forget, but rather so they wake up.'
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This year's lineup at the
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The festival is showcasing 14 films
from around the world. There are multiple North American premieres slated, including 'Tongo Saa,' or 'Rising Up At Night,' a Congolese film about the darkness surrounding the capital, Kinshasa, due to a lack of electricity; 'Faithful Unto Death,' a Latvian observational documentary centered around an elderly married couple forced to remain together out of economic necessity, and 'My Memory Is Full of Ghosts,' a snapshot of the destruction ravaging the Syrian city of Horns throughout the nation's civil war.
The lineup will also feature films from countries new to the festival, including 'The Congress' (Indonesia), about the fight to unite Indigenous communities in the face of climate crisis, and opening-night film 'The Treasure Hunter' (Philippines), about a father and son who travel to the Southeast Asian archipelago in search of treasure buried by the Japanese Imperial Army.
A documentary filmmaker himself, Jacob, 36, has produced films with similar themes as the films he screens yearly, exploring the broader ramifications
of genocide ('In A Blind World') and the civil war in his home country ('Sierra Leone: A Culture of Silence'). When first conceiving of the festival, he sensed a hole in the film festival circuit for international documentaries. With the many challenges surrounding funding and presenting these projects in front of large audiences, he wanted to make sure the work got its proper due.
'It's hard to sell documentary films, it's hard to get distribution for documentary films,' he said. ' I'm proud to say that we're still continuing that mission, if not expanding our goal, to give documentary filmmaking the platform it deserves.'
The annual event has survived turbulent periods before, and this year may prove to be another one to endure. Jacob said there's been a sense of unease in the international filmmaker community, pointing to
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Recently,
made the trip to Boston. As Executive Director Patrick Jerome told Boston.com at the time, 'you have a group of people that are protesting, you have a group of people that are scared, and then you have another group of people that didn't even have the option to obtain a visa.'
Although Jacob asserted there are a variety of other factors that can affect a filmmaker's decision to come to the U.S., he expressed some concern about the future of production and distribution. However, he is heartened by the drive of documentary filmmakers under duress, and puts that same faith in audiences.
'I think if anything, people are going to come out and be exposed to the truth,' he said. 'People are seeking out what lies beneath and going to the front lines through cinema.'
As the state of global affairs gets more and more tumultuous, documentary film should continue to be a beacon for highlighting injustices, he said.
'These people are demanding to be seen,' he said. 'They're raising their hand or they're raising a torch and they're saying, let there be light here, please. We're bringing stories that spark conversation, and we spotlight films that make us care.'
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Global Cinema Film Festival of Boston
May 16-18, West Newton Cinema. 1296 Washington St, West Newton, MA,