The Happiness Shop is more than just a retail shop in the streets of Vietnam - it’s a beacon of empowerment and inclusivity. Founded with a unique mission to provide meaningful employment opportunities for women with disabilities. Through their work crafting souvenirs from recycled materials, these remarkable individuals not only earn livelihoods but also gain a sense of purpose and independent. The Happiness Shop values fostering a community where everyone is valued and given the chance to thrive.

The Happiness Shop

THE HAPPINESS SHOP is more than a retail shop on the streets of Vietnam. It was founded with the unique mission of providing meaningful employment opportunities for women with disabilities.

This film aims to destigmatize miscarriage through telling one woman's story of surviving multiple pregnancy losses while struggling to build a family.

Voices of Miscarriage: Lauren's Story

Lauren shares her story of pregnancy loss and her journey to build a family.

As the first female Maasai filmmaker, Laissa Malih initially set out to document the land-based practices of her forefathers and ways in which climate change is reshaping Maasai communities. In returning to the IL-Laikipiak Maasai village that her parents left when she was a child, Malih experiences an epiphany: her own life is a reflection of the myriad challenges between Maasai youth and elders, women and men, ancestral ways of passing down essential knowledge and modern methods of education. In ENCHUKUNOTO, Malih’s singular perspective also challenges ways in which the Maasai peoples have long been seen and documented by tourists and other outsiders. “Many tourists come to our Maa lands to film the lions, the gazelles,” she observes. “The camera takes and takes. I wonder what my camera can give my people in return?” In moments of clarity as well as vulnerability, Malih offers a heretofore unseen perspective as an insider and an outsider, a woman among men, a filmmaker carrying on sacred Maasai traditions of storytelling in an era defined by uncertainty.

ENCHUKUNOTO (The Return)

Returning to the IL-Laikipiak Maasai village that her parents left when she was a child, Malih experiences ancestral ways of passing down essential knowledge and modern education methods.

Thirty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, three former political prisoners recall their moments of violation and humiliation in the clutches of state security in East Berlin and their experiences in the then Hohenschönhausen Interrogation Centre. This documentary offers an insight into their individual experiences of this period in and out of prison, from a historical and personal point of view. The stories of Edda Schönherz, a former TV news presenter, Hans-Joachim (Akki) Lietsche, a former window dresser, and Matthias Leupold, a fashion magazine driver at the time, will make you reflect not only about the past but also about the present.

Beyond the Berlin Wall – Reports from Stasi Prisoners

Thirty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, three former political prisoners recall their moments of violation and humiliation in the clutches of state security in East Berlin.

North America

SJFF 25 - Film Block - D

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You can watch most films in the 2025 SJFF program at home on our Eventive Virtual Cinema platform from April 14 – 20.

Join us as we celebrate another year of insightful storytelling, amazing visuals, and memorable moments in social justice film. 

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