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What does freedom mean to you?
WHY FREEDOM? is THE WHY Foundation’s latest global documentary campaign, bringing together powerful stories from around the world that explore how freedom shapes people’s lives.Through compelling films by renowned filmmakers, the series invites audiences to reflect on the value of freedom, the forces that threaten it, and why it matters now more than ever. It’s time to ask: Why freedom?
Freedom to choose
In Diary from La Paz, we meet four young people living on the streets in the heart of the
Cordillera Real mountain range in the world’s highest capital city, La Paz. Hoping that
freedom is just around the corner, they endure, facing overwhelming poverty,
homelessness, and addiction — conditions that affect 400,000 street children in La Paz.
Through this deeply personal narrative, we become part of their struggle to find a better
future for themselves.
Freedom from fear
In Myanmar Nightmare we meet Hninn, we learn that she is a diligent student who dreams of becoming a nun. Then suddenly, her freedom is taken from her, and her family is
confronted by the brutal civil war that broke out in Myanmar in 2021.
In the years that follow, we witness the family’s constant state of fear in their ongoing
struggle to find safety. Yet within the sanctity of family, their faith and their strong
emotional bonds, they find courage, strength, and even moments of joy — as they fight
their way toward freedom while the country is torn apart by violent political conflict.
Freedom to think
In Catching Them Young, we become a fly on the wall at Vidya Mutth, an ancient renowned Hindu school resting along the banks of the sacred Ganges River in Varanasi, India, where Sanskrit and Hindu literature are taught. We follow 100 students as they leave their families to experience their new lives at the school. Through the eyes of two young boys, we see how their freedom to thinkbecomes constrained, and how behind the spiritual façade lies another reality — one where devotion merges with ideology and seeks to maintain caste hierarchies and prejudice against religious minorities.
Freedom to speak
Speechless is a journey through a deeply polarized and politically charged landscape
across American educational institutions. What happens when public debate gives way to self-censorship? This film seeks to understand that question by entering into a dialogue with students and educators who find themselves in conflict over something they have said or done — and the consequences that follow.
Freedom from war
In February 2022, everything changed in Ukraine when Russia invaded Kyiv and began
the bloodiest war in Europe since the Second World War. This is a story about the
struggle for freedom and liberation. In Shards of Light, we meet four individuals trying to navigate a new everyday reality marked by conflict, trauma, and hope — each having lost, grieved, and endured profound change. It serves as a powerful illustration of how freedom is impacted by war: the freedom to study, the freedom to be with a loved one, the freedom to live without fear.
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