Directed by Keren Shayo

Meron Estefanos, Amaniel Tefai, Hariti Tesfai, Desalla Okbazgi, Semhar Mesfin, Philipos Tesfai

Live calls from the torture camps in Sinai: since Europe closed its borders in 2006, thousands of Eritrean refugees flee their military dictator-ruled country north to Israel, their gate to the west, crossing the Sinai desert. There, many are kidnapped by Bedouins and taken to one of the hidden camps. The film intimately follows Meron Estefanos, an Eritrean journalist-activist living in Sweden since many years, running a popular online radio program, publishing the stories of these camps while recording their inmates' pleas for help. We are with Meron when she searches for Timinit, a girl of 20 years who arrived at the Israeli border but from there is never seen again. And we follow the story of a man who desperately tries to free his wife, who gives birth to their child in captivity. When Eritrea gained independence in 1993, it became a military dictatorship. Military service is obligatory for everyone; women are exempted only when pregnant. Any critic or opponent of the regime faces immediate arrest. Around 3,000 Eritreans flee their country every month, despite a "shoot-to-kill" policy on the borders. In the last decade, more than 300,000 Eritreans have fled their homeland, also to Europe. SOUND OF TORTURE gives a face to those nobody cares about, touching political, cultural, and geographical matters

Not rated

Mode of access: World Wide Web