DIRECTED by : Céline HUE

DIRECTED by: Céline HUE

In a country where a woman is considered «a delicate piece of furniture that requires care», her role is often limited to taking care of the home. She must be submissive and obedient. Céline Hue finds women who have decided to go against the grain and change mentalities.

In Ivohibe, Céline Hue spends time with Honorine Razafindrafara, a farmer sponsored by the WWF who offers solutions to other farmers to increase the yield of their rice harvest. A vital contribution in the fight against malnutrition, as every Malagasy consumes an average of 125 kilos of rice per year.

On the western coast, the Vezos are a fishing people. Yet instead of spending their days waiting for their husbands who are out to sea, some of the women take part in an activity that’s for females only: algae farming. A great opportunity to earn their own money… and their independence.

Madagascar’s sub-soil is teeming with mineral resources. Thirty meters underground, 23-year-old Iritsoa is hunting for the sapphire or the precious gem that could change her life. A descent into darkness that’s become practically routine and that Céline will share with the female miner, down in these unfriendly galleries where danger is omnipresent.

These unvarnished portraits of everyday women reveal a little known facet of Malagasy society that is slowly evolving, thanks to these women who’ve decided to take their destiny in hand.

DIRECTED by: Céline HUE

Welcome to Mexico, one of the most chauvinist countries in Latin America. To change these attitudes, women here have decided to take action, to lift up their heads and make their presence known in Mexican society.

Like Leticia Martinez, who became a woman plumber. She traded in her handbag for a toolbox and when night falls she swaps her pipe wrench for knitting needles…

Or Alexandra Contreras who collects empty milk cartons to recycle them into thermal insulation. Because Mexico’s most impoverished people also live in the mountains, without basic comforts or heating. A social as much as an ecological gesture.

Céline Hue then takes us to Ciudad Juarez in the north of Mexico. A region where 1500 women have disappeared in the past 20 years. Here, Victoria Cavareo has broken the law of silence and is fighting against a government that has too often given up on its mission or been corrupted by the drug cartels.

The ‘Guerreras” have also entered the fight. Astride their pink motorcycles, dressed in leather, these women with hearts of gold collect food to give to the regions poorest families.

In Mexico a few years ago, Leticia Hinojosa opened a tiny artificial nail parlor. Today, more than 200 stands have opened up: waxing, facials, manicures, you can have it all on the ‘Street of Miracles’, a gigantic open-air beauty parlor.

Between commitment and emotion, in a violent society where simply being a woman is a challenge everyday, Céline takes us on a colorful and hopeful journey.

Directed by: Jean-Marie BARRERE

Fjords, forests, verdant prairies, Celine Hue discovers a land where nature is omnipresent and innovation is an everyday affair.

Bastoy is an island where organic is king. No alcohol, no drugs… and no women. Not so unusual given our visit is to a prison. A correctional facility built in the open air where the guards don’t carry weapons. A successful rehabilitation experiment.

In Kvaenangen, a reindeer breeder saddened by collisions between his herd members and automobiles took the problem by the horns and simply equipped his animal’s antlers with reflective strips!

Longyearbyen is the world’s northernmost city and also where we find a Fort Knox of sorts – but here the safes are filled with grains and seeds imported from the world over. At -18°, the storage conditions for our vegetable patrimony are impeccable.

Visionary and innovative projects, at times just simple ideas, but all with one goal: insuring the well-being of current and future generations.

DIRECTED by: Céline HUE

Céline Hue gives us an unexpected view of Kenya, where instead of safaris and wild animals, it's women that are exceptional.

In Nairobi, at Korogocho – one of Africa largest slums–Sheila Karuiki decided to help elderly women defend themselves by giving them lessons in self-defense.  More than just a class, these women come to find comfort as well as a way to heal their souls and their broken bodies.

In Tsavo, the country’s biggest wild animal park, Céline accompanies Raabia Hawa on her anti-poaching patrols. She is one of the only women to have received the ranger’s medal of honor. Highly criticized at first for taking on a traditionally male job, she managed to change attitudes about women. Now 5 other women have joined her in patrolling this sanctuary that houses the most important population of elephants in Kenya.

In the north, three women trained for six months in India to become “solar engineers”! Ever since, they build and install solar panels on the roofs of homes without electricity and that up to then ran entirely… on kerosene.

On the Kenyan coast, Julie Church decided to safeguard the maritime landscape and collect thousands of pairs of flip-flops that washed onto the shores every year. Gathered by local women and then recycled in a workshop that employs sixty people. A perfect initiative for the economy and for the environment…