Resistance is a perpetual form of existence – not only during  war times, but also when it comes to maintaining already won rights. Democratic rights acquired by standing up to injustice or galvanizing public consciousness, plant foundational seeds that require constant supervision, and do not exonerate us from guarding and growing them.

Especially now, in a climate where authoritarian reflexes and persistent forms of exploitation are gaining ground and steering the ship. We must resist complacency and remain vigilant, questioning power structures, opposing narratives of hate-speech and dehumanisation to become normalized.

Proof of individual or collective resistance can be found in the seven films compiled in EXIST TO RESIST, each documenting forms of resilience against strenuous odds. While differing in subject-matter from each other, Sergei Loznitsa’s THE INVASION and Matteo Severi’s WE ARE NOT OUR PARENTS bear witness to the ‘strength of numbers.’ Whether fighting a war or profit-oriented indifference, solidarity becomes the binding element that holds individuals together in a common fight - with tragic or victorious results.

Stepping closer towards smaller, but nevertheless significant gestures of resistance, FORBIDDEN (dir. Anelise Salan) and THE GUEST (Zvika Gregory Portnoy and Zuzanna Solakiewicz), we see how individual actions chip away at systemic forms of oppression and discrimination. Resistance takes on a more internalized form in DAD’S LULLABY, MARCHING IN THE DARK and THE SHARDS. As battles rage to various degrees in the surrounding environment (be it war torn Ukraine, poverty-stricken India or authoritarian-Russia) their respective protagonists refuse to become victims of circumstance. Instead, they confirm with empowering perseverance mankind’s will, and right, to live.

It is for this reason that we chose to screen once more the Oscar-winning film NO OTHER LAND - an urgent and vital testimony of a people’s resolute resistance to occupation and their erasure.