What Comes from Sitting in Silence? - 2026

Au cœur de Mumbai, Khatoon est l’une des premières femmes à exercer comme juge de la charia en Inde. Depuis son minuscule bureau de fortune, elle préside le premier tribunal islamique féminin de la ville, un espace unique où plaignant.e.s, couples en crise et voix longtemps étouffées viennent enfin chercher écoute et justice.

– monté et co-produit par Isidore Bethel (États-Unis) / réalisé et co-produit par Sophie Schrago (Suisse) / produit par Pauline Tran Van Lieu et Lucie Rego (Hutong Productions, France), Heejung Oh et Sarah Kang (Seesaw Pictures, Corée du Sud)

– Hutong Productions, Seesaw Pictures, Stranger Films Sales

– Visions du Réel Special Jury Award

– Hot Docs, True/False FF, DOXA

– 76 minutes

– avec le soutien de 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, 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, Gotham Film & Media Institute Documentary Lab, Logan Nonfiction Program, Wenner-Gren Foundation, 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

PRESSE :
– one of the Wall Street Journal’s highlights of the 2026 True/False Film Fest
– Business Doc Europe review: “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 Visions du Réel preview: “An ambitious feature at the intersection of the chamber piece and the [concept] film.”
– Vancouver Foreign Film Society: “The film itself is anything but small. It extends beyond the individual stories it presents, situating them within a broader movement toward gender equality in the world’s largest democracy…It makes strong use of the documentary form and marks an important step in documenting, and perhaps advancing, the struggle for women’s rights in contemporary India.”
– 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.”
– Kate 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.”