Ignite Lasting Change with Community Film Events

The 2025 Edition of Cinema Across Borders (CAB) continues its journey, delivering the transformative power of global impact storytelling to communities worldwide!

In collaboration with local leaders, human rights forums, film festivals, and grassroots organizations, SIMA’s year-round traveling series brings award-winning films to diverse communities to spark meaningful conversations, build coalitions, and inspire change around the issues that matter most.

Across Africa and beyond, this season of Cinema Across Borders unfolded as a tapestry of community gatherings, youth engagement, and powerful documentary storytelling. In Nigeria, Change a Child Community, Story Mi, Park Radio, LEAP Africa, and Yobe State University hosted screenings of The Happiness Shop, Made in Ethiopia, Only If the Baby Cries, Into The Blue, Between Earth and Sky, Zurawski vs. Texas, Waking Up in Silence, A Hand to Hold, Burnt Country, and Radio Dadaab—igniting conversations on global citizenship, filmmaking, and climate advocacy, and transforming schools, festivals, and community hubs and local radios into spaces of dialogue and reflection. In South Africa, DocLOVE brought films such as  Ifine (Beauty), Igualada, One Million Experiments, Only If the Baby Cries, and Between the Rains to audiences in Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, and Makhanda, where students, residents, and journalists explored themes of democracy, identity, and the climate crisis through thoughtful post-screening exchanges with filmmakers.

This momentum reached across continents. In Bangladesh, Historias en Kilómetros carried Testimony of Ana to the International Community Film Festival, demonstrating how local stories transcend borders. In November, screenings facilitated by DocLOVE in South Africa and by Park Radio and Yobe State University in Nigeria continued to channel community energy toward healing, hope, and critical reflection—particularly following moments of social tension and environmental upheaval.

December brought a powerful close to the year. Africa’s Voices of Change Film Festival presented Between the Rains, Only If the Baby Cries, and Ifine (Beauty), centering youth activism and community storytelling. In Kenya, Spice Without Borders hosted a rich lineup—from Grey Power to Samuel and the Ligh—sparking intergenerational dialogue on reforestation and climate resilience. In Cambodia, META HOUSE organized an expansive five-day program reaching nearly 450 attendees, bringing visibility to the rights of women and people with disabilities through a diverse slate of 12 award-winning documentaries.

Together, these screenings affirmed the profound and unifying power of film—cultivating empathy, amplifying local voices, and turning shared stories into catalysts for collective action.

Thank you so much for enabling us to continue transforming witnesses into agents of change through Cinema Across Borders!

With warmth and gratitude from all of us at SIMA.

Links:

• Cinema Across Borders
• Cinema Across Borders Fellows (2024-26)
• Event Schedule

Welcome to the 2025 Edition of Cinema Across Borders (CAB). We are thrilled to have launched another powerful year of global impact storytelling!

In collaboration with local leaders, human rights forums, film festivals, and grassroots organizations, SIMA’s year-round traveling series brings award-winning films to diverse communities around the globe. These screenings are designed to spark meaningful conversations, build coalitions, and inspire change around the issues that matter most.

This year, 35 partners across 30 countries are uniting under the CAB umbrella to amplify voices, foster empathy, and mobilize action through film.

In May, South Africa led the way with docLOVE hosting screenings in Cape Town, East London and Bloemfontein. The films Union and Twice Colonized at Bertha House in Cape Town encouraged dialogue on social justice issues within urban communities. In East London, Twice Colonized screened at Film Hub promoted local documentary appreciation and Made in Ethiopia connected audiences to global narratives of resilience. Meanwhile Family in Transition brought awareness and celebration of queer narratives in Bloemfontein.

In June, our partner in San Pedro Sula, Honduras screened Ifine (Beauty) at UNITEC inspiring youth to reflect on gender equality and their own agency for change.

In July, Marea Producciones hosted an impactful line up in Tumaco, Colombia with the screenings of  the short The Barber of Little Rock offering insights into economic equity and community resilience and the featured documentary Igualada celebrating grassroots activism. Both screenings were hosted at La Perla independent cinema to increase cultural access in underserved areas.

Finally, in August we witnessed a continental wave of impact in Africa with 17 screenings across Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Malawi, and Liberia. With our partners Leap Africa, docLOVE, Mental Voices Africa, Change A Child Community Initiative and Leemah addressing issues such as gender equality, human rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ narratives, sustainability, peace and justice, and disability inclusion through a diverse and powerful line up of eye opening films such as Union, Twice Colonized, And So I Stayed, Weaving Dreams, The Happiness Shop, A Hand to Hold, Jack and Sam, Zurawski v. Texas, This Is Where I Learned Not to Sleep, Empowerment in Action, Into The Blue, Minerita, and Eternal Father.

Thank you so much for enabling us to continue transforming witnesses into agents of change through Cinema Across Borders!

With warmth and gratitude from all of us at SIMA.

Links:

• Cinema Across Borders
• 2024-25 Fellows
• Global Events Schedule