The Body Politic (2024)

In Delusion: Trump and the American Catastrophe

In 2020, the USA experienced a multiple catastrophe: No other country in the world was hit so badly by the coronavirus pandemic, the economic slump was dramatic, and so was the rise in unemployment. A rift ran through society. In the streets there were protests of both camps with violent riots, authoritarian traits were evident in the actions of the leader of the nation. And all of this in the middle of the election year, when the self-centered president fought vehemently for his re-election. From the start of his presidency, Donald Trump had divided American society, incited individual sections of the population against one another, fueled racism, hatred, xenophobia and prejudice, insulted competitors and denigrated critical journalists as enemies of the people. The documentary shows how this could happen and what role the targeted disinformation of certain sections of the population through manipulative media played.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Michael Moore's view on how the Bush administration allegedly used the tragic events on 9/11 to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

An Inconvenient Truth

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

El Equipo del Pueblo

Documentary tells the story of the Chilean football club Colo-Colo, exploring its profound impact on popular culture and the everyday lives of its fans. Throughout the film, it shows how the club has transcended sport to become a symbol of resistance, pride, and class struggle in Chile.

Sassnitz vs. Trump: The Dispute Over Nord Stream 2

Sassnitz is a small coastal town at the Baltic Sea on the Island of Rügen. In its vicinity are the world-famous chalk cliffs, a tourist magnet. The Mukran Port is also part of the municipality. The overseas port is the starting point for the construction of Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline that connects Germany directly with Russia. In 2020, the port town hit the international headlines. Even the New York Times reported and cited Mayor Frank Kracht as a staunch opponent from the northeast German province against the rumbling America of Donald Trump. The reason is the undisguised threat from Washington to ruin the international port economically if the natural gas pipeline continues to be built from there. Many jobs and the region's economic stability are at risk. Reporter Klaus Scherer documents the case, questions experts as well as those affected and looks at the behavior of national politicians towards the USA and how they react to the interference in internal affairs.

The Society of the Spectacle

Guy Debord's analysis of a consumer society.

The US and Their Guns: An American Story

Tracing the story of a student uprising this documentary explores how the NRA manages to keep a permissive gun law alive, and why it has such a strong hold over American society.

Operation InfeKtion: How Russia Perfected the Art of War

A New York Times documentary mini-series revealing the dark and troubling history of Soviet and Russian misinformation campaigns on foreign governments.

The Dark Side of Green Energies

Faced with climate change, many countries have embarked on the energy transition. Since the COP21 in 2015, which set demanding targets for reducing greenhouse gases, green energies have been on the rise. The electric car has thus become the mascot of this revolution. But manufacturers remain discreet about the carbon footprint of their cars marked "zero emission". Because not only do they consume electricity that is not always clean, but they also consume rare metals such as cobalt or lithium, the extraction of which causes havoc on the other side of the world. In China, for example, champion of rare metals, in Heilongjiang province, a carpet of toxic dust covers agricultural regions.

It's Hard Being Loved by Jerks

The murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic extremist in 2004, followed by the publishing of twelve satirical cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed that was commissioned for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, provides the incendiary framework for Daniel Leconte's provocative documentary, It's Hard Being Loved by Jerks.

Michael Sheen's Valleys Rebellion

Actor Michael Sheen goes on a personal journey to explore the reasons for political disillusionment in Wales. Walking in the footsteps of the Chartists, who gave their lives for democracy 175 years ago, he asks why ordinary people and politicians seem so far apart.

Manufacturing Ignorance

Tobacco, climate change, pesticides,... Never has scientific knowledge seemed so vast, detailed and shared. And yet it appears to be increasingly challenged. It is no longer surprising to see private corporations put strategies in place to confuse the public debate and paralyze political decision-making. Overwhelmed by excess of information, how can we, as citizens, sort out fact from fiction? One by one, this film dismantles the workings of this clever manoeuvre that aims to turn science against itself. Thanks to declassified archives, graphic animations and testimonies from experts, lobbyists and politicians, this investigation plunges us into the science of doubt. Along with a team of experts (philosophers, economists, cognitive scientists, political men, or even agnotologists), we explore concrete examples of doubt making and try to understand the whole process and the issues behind it.

Against All Enemies

Over one thousand people have been charged with storming the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, as part of a widely televised insurrection attempt. Approximately 15% of them worked as police or military personnel. This staggering statistic begs an important question: how can a service member who took an oath to protect the country’s democracy do something that puts that very democracy in jeopardy?

The Revolt

La Revuelta accounts for the tension experienced by those who, as of October 2019, came out to express their social discontent. The work has as its main stage, renamed by the people, as "Plaza de la Dignidad". It is a choral story, woven with the reflections of the protesters under the protection of the contextualization of a story in off that is unraveling the causes and effects of the outbreak. Thus, more than three years after the social demonstration, La Revuelta, is presented as a critical and contestative reflection, around the popular protest maintained by a people that took 30 years to awaken.

The Times of Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.

When We Were Apollo

Who were the men and women of Project Apollo? Where are they today? What do they think of the extraordinary effort they helped make possible? Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing in 2019, When We Were Apollo is an intimate and personal look at the Apollo Space Program through the lives and experiences of some of its most inspiring behind-the-scenes figures: engineers, technicians, builders and contractors who spent the better part of a decade working to get us to the moon and back.

Total Trust

By exploring the relationship between the watched and the watching, our film uncovers the trauma and hope engendered by the Chinese all-surveilling state and lends a voice to those that stand in resilient defiance of such blatant abuse of power.

Rojek

After the impressive Gulistan, Land of Roses (VdR 2016), the Kurdish filmmaker Zaynê Akyol returns with these conversations with imprisoned members of the Islamic State, alternating their words with aerial views of the countryside. An unexpected look at a far-reaching current political issue and a film whose subject matter and rhythm create an impressive cinematic object.

Nach dem Sturm

The protests of 1968 had a significant impact on the great cities of the world. But people like to forget that the periphery went through the same social upheavals – Central Switzerland, for example. This is hardly surprising: in the founding cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy, society followed a strict order; tradition, shaped by centuries of Catholic rule, seemed untouchable. But in the 1960s, the local youth could not take these stifling conditions anymore: starting in 1969, resistance broke out across Central Switzerland.

HyperNormalisation

We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…

Here and Elsewhere

Here and Elsewhere takes its name from the contrasting footage it shows of the fedayeen and of a French family watching television at home. Originally shot by the Dziga Vertov Group as a film on Palestinian freedom fighters, Godard later reworked the material alongside Anne-Marie Miéville.

Public Enemy Number One

PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE looks at the war on drugs from 1968 until today and looks at trigger points in history that took cannabis from being a somewhat benign criminal activity into a self-perpetuating constantly expanding policy disaster.

Fuck

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy

A cheap, powerful drug emerges during a recession, igniting a moral panic fueled by racism. Explore the complex history of crack in the 1980s.

Girls State

What would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls? In this documentary, young female leaders from wildly different backgrounds in Missouri navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up.

The Choice - The Risks of Web Democracy

Italy’s biggest political party, the Five Star Movement, promotes direct democracy through internet voting. Five Star Movement uses a digital platform named Rousseau, that allows Movement’s members to vote online and express their opinion on various issues. But who governs this data?

Seaspiracy

Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species — and uncovers an alarming global conspiracy.

Don't Call Him Dimon

A 2017 Russian documentary film about alleged corruption by Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. The film claims that Dmitry Medvedev has embezzled an estimated $1.2 billion.

Son of the Mullah

In 2019, the multi-awarded filmmaker Nahid Persson Sarvestani (My Stolen Revolution, Prostitution Behind the Veil) filmed the Iranian journalist based in France Roholla Zam, who exposed the Iranian regime money laundering. Months later, Rohollah was lured by moles to Iraq and kidnapped to Iran. After 14 months in prison, he was executed.

Solidarność: How Solidarity Changed Europe

Gdańsk, Poland, September 1980. Lech Wałęsa and other Lenin shipyard workers found Solidarność (Solidarity), the first independent trade union behind the Iron Curtain. The long and hard battle to bring down communist dictatorship has begun.

The Words That Built America

In recognition of the 4th of July, several celebrities and politicians of differing ideologies join to read the historic documents which laid the foundation for the United States of America.

United States: Kamala Harris, a Californian rise

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Así sembramos nuestra agua

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Flux014: os rolês da quebrada

A city that has been living for two years with the law that prohibits "clandestine parties". A youth who, when reunited, risks receiving a police raid on their doorstep, in the street, in the park or in the square. Spatial segregation, denial of the right to the city and public space for the leisure of the poor, black and peripheral. Willingness to make art, create music, lyrics, poetry, beats, hits and spread culture in this repressive scenario.

Kamala Harris: USAs neste president?

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Campaign

Can a candidate with no political experience and no charisma win an election if he is backed by the political giant Prime Minister Koizumi and his Liberal Democratic Party? This cinema-verite documentary closely follows a heated election campaign in Kawasaki, Japan, revealing the true nature of "democracy."

CATANAS POINT - A Surf Documentary

"CATANAS POINT - A Surf Documentary" portrays the reality of the sport of surfing in Angola and compares it with what surfing was like in Brazil from the 1980s to the present day.