Co-presented by International Documentary Association and La Peña Cultural Center

Two Syrian directors in Za’atari Refugee Camp, Jordan and two Indigenous Shipibo-Konibo directors in Lima, Peru correspond through film diaries in a cross-border project from Another Kind of Girl Collective. ONLY THE OCEAN BETWEEN US tells four profoundly personal stories of motherhood, displacement, and the power of both personal and communal resistance.

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2021

Atlanta Film and Video Festival 2021

Festival de Cine de Lima 2021

Amman International Film Festival 2021

About the Filmmakers

Khaldiya Amer Ali (Jordan) is a Syrian filmmaker living in Za'atari Refugee Camp, Jordan. Her short film Another Kind of Girl (2015) premiered at Sundance, screened at Cannes, SXSW, won numerous awards, and was featured on the New York Times’ Op-docs. She won a 2015 Kassel Documentary Film Festival A-38 Production Grant. Her first feature-length film, Only the Ocean Between Us, supported by the Sundance Institute and Creative Capital, had its world premiere at Hot Docs 2021.

Marah Mohammed Alkhateeb (Jordan) is a Syrian filmmaker living in Za'atari Refugee Camp, Jordan. Her short film Children (2015) won numerous awards at film festivals. She also won a top award at Punto De Vista Internation- al Documentary Film Festival. More recently, she created a short film for the Thomson Reuters Association and completed a 360 film. Her first feature-length film, Only the Ocean Between Us, supported by the Sundance Institute and Creative Capital, will have its world premiere at Hot Docs 2021.

Karoli Bautista Pizarro (Perú) is a Shipibo-Konibo filmmaker, cultural practi- tioner and activist living in Cantagallo, Lima, Peru. Her short film Escúchame Cantar (2016) screened at the North Carolina Latin American Film Festival and Alice Fest. Her photographs were featured in an article in the Peruvian inves- tigative journal Ojo Público about human rights issues in her community during the 2020 lockdown. Her first feature-length film, Only the Ocean Between Us, supported by the Sundance Institute and Creative Capital, had its world premiere at Hot Docs 2021.

Christy Cauper Silvano (Perú) is a Shipibo-Konibo photographer, filmmaker and cultural practitioner living in Cantagallo, Lima, Peru. She co-directed the short film Un Pedacito de la Selva en la Ciudad (2015), which won an audience award at Mi Primer Festival, in Lima. Her photographs were also featured in the group exhibit “Fotos por el Cambio” at the Peruvian North American Cultural Institute. Her first feature-length film, Only the Ocean Between Us, supported by the Sundance Institute and Creative Capital, had its world premiere at Hot Docs 2021.

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