Award-Winning Film · Speak Truth to Power · 2021
OPEN ARMS: A VIEW INTO SOCIAL FRAGILITY
A short film on the fragility of the social bonds that hold communities together — and the human dignity at stake when they break.
Role
Director · Editor
Year
2021
Type
Short Film · Human Rights
Contest
Speak Truth to Power
Recognition
Finalist (2021)
The Idea
Human rights as everyday acts of care
Open Arms examines the fragility of the social bonds that hold communities together and the human dignity at stake when those bonds break down. Made for the RFK Human Rights “Speak Truth to Power” Video Contest, it frames human rights not as abstractions but as everyday acts of care and openness toward one another.
Finalist
RFK Human Rights — Speak Truth to Power Video Contest (2021)
Dignity
Empathy and openness as the thing we choose to protect
Empathy is something we build, not something we inherit.
The Film
Watch the film
Reflection
Reflection
Making Open Arms forced me to sit with how easily the structures that protect human dignity can fray, and how much that fragility depends on whether we choose to turn toward each other or away. Being named a finalist in RFK Human Rights’ Speak Truth to Power contest meant a great deal, because it tied my work to a tradition of defenders who insisted that ordinary people can confront injustice. I wanted the film to feel less like an argument and more like an invitation — a reminder that empathy is something we build, not something we inherit.