Lily and Ra by Armagan Ballantyne

Lily and Ra a short film by Armagan Ballantyne born in 1972 in New Zeeland. Armagan Ballantyne is a film director. The short film is about ten-year-old mates, Ra and Lily, who are playing outside an abandoned factory. When Ra hits a bird with his slingshot, Lily bravely rescues it and enlists Ra in its care. Under her guidance, the boy finds compassion where before there was nothing, but anger and he is so proud when the bird comes back to life. The fragility of the moment is broken when the kids turn up at Ra’s house to find the father standing over his crying mum. At the door Lily turns to her friend, “come home with me”, she says, but things have changed with Ra. “Keep your stinking bird”, he says, and Lily walks away, leaving him a lonely figure standing in the doorway, his eyes downcast. A segment of Stories on Human Rights 2009 produced by ART for The World commissioned by the High Commissioner of Human Rights with award-winning filmmakers and artists, using the universal language of art to sensitize people across the planet to what “human rights” actually means.