Hot Docs

Every winter in a Stockholm cemetery activists gather to honour Fadime, a Turkish immigrant to Sweden murdered by her father in 2002. Internationalizing the debate over cultural traditions that accept the use of violence to control women’s behaviour in Western immigrant communities, four extraordinary activists tell their personal stories of physical and emotional violence, and chillingly outline the threats they continue to receive as they publicly challenge these traditions from the inside. They have different heritages and faiths—a Christian from India in Toronto, a Muslim from Turkey in Berlin and Iraqi Kurds in Sweden—but all make it clear that the justification for these crimes lies in a family power structure based in entrenched patriarchal cultures that cross borders and faiths. With the recent Shafia family murder of four women in Ontario, Crimes without Honour is a vital and urgent addition to the recent films about crimes related to traditions of family honour. Lynne Fernie

Media Coverage

• Canadian Newcomer review