What Comes from Sitting in Silence? - 2026

In the heart of Mumbai, Khatoon runs India’s first women’s Sharia court, offering plaintiffs rare permission to speak out and seek justice.

– edited and co-produced by Isidore Bethel (USA) / directed and co-produced by Sophie Schrago (Switzerland) / produced by Pauline Tran Van Lieu and Lucie Rego (Hutong Productions, France), Heejung Oh and Sarah Kang (Seesaw Pictures, South Korea)

– Hutong Productions, Seesaw Pictures, Stranger Films Sales

– Visions du Réel Special Jury Award

– Hot Docs, True/False FF, DOXA

– 76 minutes

– with support from l’Aide aux Cinémas du Monde (Centre National du Cinéma – Institut Français), la Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, la SCAM (Brouillon d’un rêve), ARTE/Cofinova 18, the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea Communications Agency, Docs Up Fund, Normandy for Peace, la Région Normandie, INMAAT, Movies that Matter Rough Cut Service, Women Makes Movies, European Women’s Audiovisual Network, the Gotham Film & Media Institute Documentary Lab, the Logan Nonfiction Program, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the True/False & Catapult Rough Cut Retreat, Cannes Doc (Docs by the Sea Docs-in-Progress Showcase), EIDF K-Docs Prime Pitch Excellence Prize, Eurodoc, Medimed, Union Docs UNDO Fellowship, DOK.Leipzig’s Co-Pro Market

PRESS:
– one of the Wall Street Journal’s highlights of the 2026 True/False Film Fest
– Business Doc Europe: “This truly eye-opening film…is an important record of the process of women’s emancipation, across the world…but ultimately it is also about love.”
– Screen Daily: “Schrago remains a presence who is periodically acknowledged by others in the room. Her closeness with Judge Khatoon allows for some deeply personal motivations to come to light from both sides of the camera that give the whole enterprise additional depth.”
– Business Doc Europe: “An ambitious feature at the intersection of the chamber piece and the [concept] film.”
– one of the The Maneater’s recommendations for the 2026 True/False Film Fest
– The Maneater: “The kinship Schrago has built with Khatoon is apparent.”
– Katie at the Movies: “Intimate and engrossing…Khatoon addresses her personal experiences with men, as does Schrago, who inserts herself into the narrative from behind the camera. The emotions that those things stir are universal, but the most remarkable element about the intimacy of Schrago’s film is how it invites everyone to sit with them and truly listen.”
– Visions du Réel National Competition Jury: “The film confronts a difficult reality with extraordinary empathy for its courageous female protagonists, who strive for personal integrity. It portrays, with precision and care, the work of the judge who accompanies and supports them, offering a nuanced view of her role. Through its cinematic language, it offers a perspective that is sensitive without being sentimental – at once critical, constructive, and hopeful.”