by Vera von Kreutzbruck
- Germany -

• In Happy Tears, Parker Posey (left) and Demi Moore play sisters caring for their elderly father.
Photograph courtesy of The Berlinale. •

In her quest for authentic storytelling, she has opted for riskier projects. Barely forty, Posey already has 53 movie credits to her name. Some of her most memorable and celebrated roles have required taut emotional performances, portraying mostly eccentric and conflicted women. She is well known for her turns in Party Girl, where she played a hard partying 20-something in New York City, Best in Show as a hilariously high-strung dog owner and the controversial art film, House of Yes which deals with incest. Her sporadic appearances in blockbuster movies can be counted on one hand with small parts in Scream 3, Superman Returns and You’ve got Mail.

by Melissa Hahn
- USA -

“They start arriving an hour before we open, and by the time we unlock the doors at 9 am there is a crowd of people waiting to get in. Within seconds, all of the computers are taken – and they are full for the next twelve hours until we close.” That’s how my husband Michael Hahn, Technology Coordinator, describes the need for free computers and Internet in this Phoenix suburb of around 250,000. It doesn’t surprise him that upon my arrival just before opening, I nearly trip over a middle-aged man and his son who are sitting on the sidewalk, hovering intently over a laptop.

by Suad Hamada
- Bahrain -

Getting a divorce and custody of one’s children is very difficult in Bahrain, even in cases where a husband sexually attacks his wife. The issue was exposed to the public last year, when an Arab woman married to a Bahraini was granted a divorce by the courts after she lost part of her breast during a violent sexual encounter with her spouse. A medical report submitted during the case citing the need for corrective surgery was valid enough evidence for the judge to call off the marriage. Though such cases are rarely highlighted in the media here, the plight of this woman made top headlines in many regional newspapers.

by Anna Clark
- USA -

See’s new novel, Shanghai Girls, follows the lives of Pearl and May Chin—two sisters enjoying the glamorous life of “the Paris of Asia”—Shanghai in 1937. Their father owns a prosperous rickshaw business while the sisters, as “Beautiful Girls,” pose in silk dresses for paintings on cigarette and soap ads.

Pearl and May don’t know it yet, but their lives are on the brink. Japan will soon invade China, bringing a world war to their country, and they are about to set off on a terrifying journey that takes them through wartime China, across the Pacific Ocean, and through interrogation and detainment at Angel Island (called the Ellis Island of the West). They find Los Angeles’ China City, experience the odd relationship between Hollywood and Chinese actresses, and brave the Communist witch-hunts that targeted Chinese during the 1950s. Shanghai Girls focuses on the tense and loving relationship of sisters in an epic context of war, immigration, racism, wealth and marriage.

by Shreyasi Singh
- India -

The UNDP’s Human Development Indices 2008 gives India a rather embarrassing rank in its crucial Gender Development Index (116th out of 157 countries). But, for many of us tracking politics in India today, the factoid is somewhat difficult to interpret.

by Sarah-Eva Carlson
- USA -

The concept of investing in what matters is not new to me. In fact, it’s where my life as an investor began. I was in the 8th grade and had won $2,000. Since I wouldn’t need it until college, my father suggested that we invest. “It’s a good time to invest in the U.S. market,” he advised, “you’ll end up with $3,000, maybe more.” These returns were good news in my family of four children, but I was looking to get even more out of my investment. I wanted it to piss off my older brother.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

For almost two years, I have been reviewing documentary films for The WIP. I have spent countless hours in dark movie theaters so moved by what is on screen that I promise myself that I will completely change my very existence, especially when the film is environmentally themed. I do make changes, real changes. Yet, at times I feel that I am failing as a burgeoning environmentalist.

by Mandy Van Deven
- India -

Couched in a story from Indian mythology, Deepa Mehta’s newest feature film, Heaven on Earth, blurs the line between reality and fantasy to provide a nuanced and authentic look at the struggles of a young Punjabi woman who has immigrated to Canada from her homeland for what turns out to be an abusive marriage. Never one to shy away from heavy and complex issues, Mehta’s film addresses arranged marriage, Indian family dynamics and expectations, domestic violence, and love.

by Brittany Shoot
- Denmark -

Some people no doubt find it exciting to adjust to a new society or a new city. My time in Copenhagen – nearly nine months so far – has not been completely negative, but even as time passes and I meet more people, I don’t feel particularly at home or settled in my new country. I haven’t found a place to belong since I arrived.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

This summer Don Draper and company return to AMC for the third season of the hit TV show Mad Men. The stylized drama has made the 1960s advertising industry seem like the glory days of creative freedom, complete with noontime cocktails in the office and young feminists breaking through the almost impenetrable glass ceiling.

by Charukesi Ramadurai
- India -

“First day in Parliament. From the sublime (the historic Central Hall for the Cong legislators meeting) to the bureacratic (8 forms to fill)!” - 12:17 AM May 19th from TwitterBerry

"We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion. All of this happened because of you. Thanks." [Source: @BarackObama]

by Alice Alech
- France -

When the Tour de France started in 1903 as a stunt to promote a sports newspaper,
no one realized then that this bicycle race would turn out to be the biggest annual sporting event in the world. Today, another cycle race is taking place in France; major cities are hastening to adopt a collective bike scheme, a mode of transport which is proving to be affordable, workable and most importantly, produces zero C02 emissions. Cycling is beginning to play a major role in sustainable transport in France.

by Vera von Kreutzbruck
- Germany -

When I told British director and choreographer Sally Potter, 59, that I am from Argentina, she broke into song - “Don’t cry for me Argentina.” She has many fond memories from the time she spent in Buenos Aires in 1997 shooting her film The Tango Lesson with tango dancer Pablo Verón and herself as the protagonists. And her passion for tango has grown fervently ever since. “Next week I’m flying to London to dance with Verón,” she tells me before starting our interview at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

by Nancy St. Clair
- USA -

“Going green is not going to transform our planet unless everyone can embrace the movement on their own terms and scale… If we don’t embrace reducing and reusing, the green movement cannot make a real impact. Recycling alone isn’t enough to save us.” - Jessica Mosby

Long ago, when I was young, I regarded the sight of discarded roofing, lumber and cars rotting in fields as junk. Now I see these materials in an entirely different light and ask myself: Can we afford to throw things away?

by Saskia van Alphen
- Argentina -

The current Argentinean government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has made Justicia or human rights one of the main items on its political agenda, so much so that it aims to judge and imprison all military staff involved in the army’s illegal activities during the country’s latest dictatorship (1976-1983). It also intends to give (financial) reparations to the victims or their surviving relatives. With this Juicios por la Verdad or Judgements for Truth campaign, Fernández de Kirchner continues the work of her husband, former president Néstor Kirchner, who converted the ESMA, a navy school that operated as one of the biggest clandestine detention and torture centers during those years, into state property and a Space for Memory. By pursuing these initiatives, Fernández de Kirchner hopes to establish a collective memory for this tragic episode in Argentinean history.

by Sarah Wyatt
- USA -

In a largely neglected crisis, dogs and cats in Greece are struggling to survive due to overpopulation, apathy, and abuse. Sterilization is underutilized and sometimes rejected, and education about and support for the humane treatment and care of animals is lacking.

by Pilirani Semu-Banda
- Malawi -

The very survival of women and children in Africa may depend on the newly-launched Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA). According to latest estimates by the African Union (AU), over the next ten years there will be 2.5 million maternal deaths, another 2.5 million child deaths and 49 million maternal disabilities in Africa alone if urgent actions are not taken.

Around the world, a woman dies every minute from pregnancy-related causes. Globally, there are more than 500,000 maternal deaths per year, the majority of which are in Africa where in many places the maternal mortality rate (MMR) is as high as 1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births. And these death threats are only increasing: one in every 16 African women faces the lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy and delivery-related complications, particularly those from marginalized communities and those living in poverty.

by Lisa C. Kaczmarczyk
- USA -

Talking to my friend Nevada Flores* about her decision to leave her comfortable engineering job reminded me of one of our scary trips into the Cuyamaca Mountains outside San Diego. An avid hiker, she once suggested that we follow a dubious side trail down a steep canyon. In play as in work, Nevada is always ready to rationally assess the possibility of advancement versus failure. On the trail as on the job, her primary concern is to rapidly identify and neutralize the largest challenges – environmental on the one hand, cultural on the other. And as an assertive woman of mixed Mexican-American heritage in the very White male field of high technology, she always faces cultural challenges.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

Martin Strel does not look like an athlete. The overweight fiftysomething is an alcoholic, a flamenco guitarist, and a one-time professional gambler. But this Slovenian long-distance swimmer has swam the Mississippi, the Danube, the Yangtze – and now, the Amazon.

by Kimberly N. Chase
- USA -

In ancient times, warriors could look one another in the eye on the battlefield. War was fought with minimal weaponry, a person-to-person test of bravery and strength. Battlefields were clearly demarcated, extending only as far as an arrow could be shot or a stone could be slung.

But as the centuries advanced, so did the strategies and equipment used in human conflicts. Since then, humans have developed greater firepower, bomber planes, chemical weapons and the A-bomb, each making war at once more destructive and more distant.

by Constance Manika
- Zimbabwe -

It has been a year since I last wrote for The WIP and it’s really good to be able to share what has been happening in our country.

Every weekend for the past eight months, my husband and I have been forced to make the 20-kilometer trip by road from our home in the high-density suburbs of Harare to the affluent suburb of Belvedere to fetch clean water. In the early morning hours while our little angels are still fast asleep, we load up into the car empty 20-liter plastic containers for refill.

We have tap water where we live, but it can hardly be said to be safe for human consumption. When you pour the water into a clear cup or container and let it sit for a few minutes, a green, sewage-like substance settles to the bottom.

Although this journey is cumbersome and costly for us, it is has become a necessary expense for us to stay alive.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

"Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?"

That question, tearfully posed to comedian Chris Rock by his young daughter Lola, was all it took for Rock to travel the country (camera crew in tow) to find out what it actually means to have Good Hair, particularly in the African American community. From local barbershops and the Bonner Bros. International Hair Show to scientific laboratories and an Indian religious temple, Rock and director Jeff Stilson investigate the cultural messaging that has built a $9 billion industry.

by Nancy Sleeth
- USA -

In the next twenty-four hours I’ll be interviewed on three national radio shows. I’m feeling a bit nervous. Okay, terrified. But that’s what these interviews are about—walking out in faith, despite the terror. Doing what you are called to do, even if you look loony to the rest of the world.

My book, Go Green, Save Green, just launched. It’s filled with four hundred pages of stories about how my family has saved money while caring for the planet.

Sharing our faith and environmental journeys with the world feels a bit like walking into the store naked. On videotape. Broadcast internationally.

It all began with two simple questions.

by Mridu Khullar
- India -

The male vice-principal of a woman's college in Gwalior, India physically assaults fellow female faculty members and students by grabbing them and throwing them against walls. Kalpana Saxena, 37, publishes accounts of women affected by his behavior and he is immediately transferred, ensuring that he will never work in a woman's college again.

A six-year-old girl playing in an empty field is raped by a local dhobi (Hindi for a person who launders clothes for a living), and eventually dies as a result of her injuries. Sandhya Kaushik, 26, chances upon her story and finds that months later, the rapist still walks free. She writes about the details of the case and the girl's family is able to renew their fight for justice, this time with the media on their side.

by Emily Rose Herzlin
- USA -

I’ve never been able to remember my parents’ ages. I wrote my dad a birthday poem one year that began:

Dear Dad, don’t be blue,
Just because you’re 53 or maybe 52.

He taped it to his fridge next to my crayon scrawled sketches of Pocahontas. My father is having another birthday this year. So is my mother.

Everyone in my family except for me has had cancer. Even as I say this I worry that I am tempting the fates. Father: skin cancer. Sister: non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Mother: breast cancer. I wonder when it will be my turn, and what kind it will be, and what part of my life I will have to put on hold when it happens.