The information age has connected disparate cultures around the world in ways that could not have been imagined a generation ago.

While some groups use this technology to take advantage of vulnerable communities, others use it to come to their aid.

The ninth annual Family of Woman Film Festival screenings will begin with the documentary “Sound of Torture,” directed by Keren Shayo, on Thursday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. at the Sun Valley Opera House.

Shayo is an independent filmmaker residing in Tel Aviv, Israel. Her film follows Meron Estefanos, an Eritrean journalist-activist living in Sweden whose cell phone is the only lifeline for desperate refugees held hostage in the Sinai Desert.

“The plight of refugees is in the forefront of everyone’s minds around the world today,” said Peggy Elliott Goldwyn, founder and co-director of the Family of Woman Film Festival. “‘Sound of Torture’ is a very intimate look at the plight of one family, and Meron and Sarah are both eyewitnesses to the difficulties refugees face and their courage and determination as they seek safety for themselves and their loved ones. We’re honored to be hosting them both.”

The Guardian newspaper recently reported on a 500-page United Nations commission inquiry on human rights in Eritrea, completed last year.

“The Eritrean government’s systematic use of extrajudicial killing, torture, rape, indefinite national service and forced labor may amount to crimes against humanity, according to an excoriating UN report,” The Guardian reported.

Thousands of Eritrean refugees have fled a military dictatorship to migrate toward Israel. Yet the route is across the Sinai Desert in Egypt, where many are kidnapped by Bedouin smugglers and taken to camps where they are tortured and raped. The hostages are forced to call their relatives, begging for ransom for their release.

“Sound of Torture” follows the story of Estefanos, who talks to hostages in the camps on her radio program from Sweden, recording their pleas for help. The filmmakers also interview the hostages’ family members in Europe as they struggle to raise money to pay ransoms for their relatives’ release.

During the filming, Estefanos traveled to the Sinai Desert, where an Eritrian refugee had managed to reach Israel, yet fears for his wife, who has been taken hostage by kidnappers. Estefanos is his only resource as an intermediary.

Estefanos will hold a discussion and presentation following the screening, along with Sarah Costa, executive director of the Women’s Refugee Commission.

For more information, go to www.soundoftorturefilm.com.

The Family of Woman Film Festival presents international filmmakers, film subjects and speakers to raise awareness of the difficulties women and girls face throughout the world to gain access to basic health care, education and human rights. The festival will continue through Sunday, Feb. 28.