The Painter's Room (2024)

Made in Ethiopia

When a massive Chinese factory complex attempts a high-stakes expansion in rural Ethiopia, three women in search of prosperity have their faith in industrialization tested to the limit. Filmed over four years with singular access, Made in Ethiopia lifts the curtain on China’s historic but misunderstood impact on Africa, and explores contemporary Ethiopia at a moment of profound crisis. The film was awarded the Jury Special Mention at Tribeca Festival.

İris

Biographical trans documentary film in which Iris Mozalar, a young artist, shares her diversity of being a bisexual transgender woman, the process of creating herself and her reflections against society.

Persona Non Grata

2003 documentary film produced by Oliver Stone for the HBO series America Undercover about the conflict in occupied Palestine. He speaks with Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu, former prime ministers of Israel, Yasser Arafat, late president of the Palestinian National Authority, and various Palestinian activists resisting the oppression of the zionist regime.

Big Brother: A World Under Surveillance

Under the pretext of fighting terrorism or crime, the major powers have embarked on a dangerous race for surveillance technologies. Facial recognition cameras, emotion detectors, citizen rating systems, autonomous drones… A security obsession that in some countries is giving rise to a new form of political regime: numerical totalitarianism. Orwell's nightmare.

Architects of Denial

Though both the historical and modern-day persecution of Armenians and other Christians is relatively uncovered in the mainstream media and not on the radar of many average Americans, it is a subject that has gotten far more attention in recent years.

Free Tibet

A film about the Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco in 1996.

Yanuni

Indigenous chief Juma Xipaia fights to protect tribal lands despite assassination attempts. Her struggle intensifies after learning she's pregnant, while her husband, Special Forces ranger Hugo Loss, stands by her side.

Poland 1939: When German Soldiers Became War Criminals

September 1st, 1939. Nazi Germany invades Poland. The campaign is fast, cruel and ruthless. In these circumstances, how is it that ordinary German soldiers suddenly became vicious killers, terrorizing the local population? Did everyone turn into something worse than wild animals? The true story of the first World War II offensive that marks in the history of infamy the beginning of a carnage and a historical tragedy.

Acasă, My Home

In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, nine children and their parents lived in perfect harmony with nature for 20 years – until they are chased out and forced to adapt to life in the big city.

Once Upon a Time in Venezuela

Once upon a time, the Venezuelan village of Congo Mirador was prosperous, alive with fisherman and poets. Now it is decaying and disintegrating—a small but prophetic reflection of Venezuela itself.

The Flag

A furious, iconoclastic attack on power and the media in a modern France where Islamophobia has become mainstream and inequality is growing from the suburbs to the boulevards.

Not Even in a Wildest Dream

The challenges of the present, expectations for the future, and the dreams of those who experience the reality of public high school in Brazil. Through the voices of students, principals, teachers and experts, "Not Even In a Wildest Dream" offers a reflection on the value of education.

Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini

The documentary begins when the fictionalized drama ends. Sara spent three years volunteering to save refugees on the same journey that made her so famous, and was suddenly arrested in Aug. 2018, accused by Greek authorities of running a criminal enterprise with charges including “international espionage and people smuggling.” If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison and the end of her humanitarian career. Shot over three years, the film follows Sara’s fight for justice and journey of self-discovery.

Earning a Living - Ten Years in Marta's Life

Marta and Karina are sex workers also studying to become lawyers. Filmed over ten years, this documentary captures their unlikely journey from prostitution to the defense of women's rights.

China: The Uighur Tragedy

A relentless chronicle of the tragedy of the Uighurs, an ethnic minority of some eleven million people who live in the Xinjiang region of northwest China, speak a Turkic language and practice the Muslim religion. The Uighurs suffer brutal cultural and political oppression by Xin Jinping's tyrannical government: torture, disappearances, forced labor, re-education of children and adults, mass sterilizations, extensive surveillance and destruction of historical heritage.

Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989

Archival film maestro Göran Hugo Olsson has assembled—from a vast catalogue of footage in the vaults of Sweden’s national television service SVT—accounts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as witnessed and represented by Swedish journalists. Stories of the beginning of the Israeli state interwoven with the Palestinian struggle for independence. News coverage with Yasser Arafat and interviews with Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban during a visit to Sweden unseen since first broadcast. From the tenth anniversary of Israel’s founding to the First Intifada, perspectives and encounters with statesmen, civilians, revolutionaries, and intellectuals tell the story from myriad angles of an evolving media landscape, revivifying a history of the ongoing conflict.

The Harvest

Gurwinder comes from Punjab, he’s been working for years as a farm hand in Agro Pontino, not far from Rome. Since he first came in Italy, he’s been living with the rest of the Sikh community in Latina province. Hardeep is also Indian, but her stress is Roman, and she works as a cultural mediator. She, born and raised in Italy, is trying to free herself from the memories of a family that emigrated in another age, while he is forced, against his faith, to take methamphetamine and doping to bear the heavy work pace, to be able to send money in India.

Resistance Climbing

In 2014, during a trip, American Tim Bruns discovered cliffs in a small village five minutes north of Ramallah in Palestine and got to work equipping all the easy routes, then setting up climbing routes so that we can start teaching people how to climb. Bruns and Harris also opened Wadi Climbing, the first indoor climbing gym in Palestine. Today, gathered in the conflict-torn hills of Palestine, a diverse team of Bedouins, activists and urban professionals have embraced climbing as a much-needed respite from the burden of Israeli occupation. American writer and climber Andrew Bisharat visits the West Bank to explore his own roots and the power of climbing to transform lives. This documentary is part of the Reel Rock 17 series released in 2023.

Memorándum

Plot unavailable

Caste Aside

Caste Aside is a documentary about the British government's controversial decision on whether or not to introduce legislation against caste discrimination in the UK. Highlighting both sides of this heated debate, the documentary speaks to Dalit rights activists, Hindu community leaders, academics and lawyers, as well as those who say they have been discriminated against on the basis of their caste - here in Britain.

Refuge(e)

Refuge(e) traces the incredible journey of two refugees, Alpha and Zeferino. Each fled violent threats to their lives in their home countries and presented themselves at the US border asking for political asylum, only to be incarcerated in a for-profit prison for months on end without having committed any crime. Thousands more like them can't tell their stories.

Solidarnosc, la première brèche

Plot unavailable

State of Fear

STATE OF FEAR takes place in Peru, yet serves as a cautionary tale for a world engaged in a "global war on terror." It dramatizes the human and societal costs a democracy faces when it embarks on a "war" against terror, a "war" potentially without end, all too easily exploited by unscrupulous leaders seeking personal political gain.

GROW VASU

Grow Vasu is a biographical documentary on the life of comrade Ayinoor Vasu aka Grow Vasu, a leader of the working class, as well as a champion of Muslim, Dalit, and marginalized communities and human rights movements. At 94 years young, he was jailed for questioning the authority, yet, Vasu continues his fight against oppression, for justice, and for the revolution. The film follows a narrative style divided into ten chapters consists of his personal-political up and downs.

The New Greatness Case

Anya was an ordinary Moscow teenager who found a chat group of her choice online. They talked about animals, the stars and social issues. A man called Ruslan D joined the group, who set up an office space for the online group to meet. Step by step, he began to lead young people who were critical of the Putin's regime towards political activism. Ruslan D placed a camera in the meeting room, and when he had enough footage, he handed it over to the prosecutor. The police raided the teenagers' homes and they were arrested on charges of planning to overthrow the government and terrorism. Three years of legal proceedings transformed Anya's mother from a loyal follower of Putin to a hunger-striking activist. Moscow-based director Anna Shishova followed Anya and her mother's life throughout the event and eventually revealed the true identity of Ruslan D.

The Walk

Asil is a young Syrian refugee awaiting documents in Turkey while processing the trauma of losing her home and family. Her story gives voice to a charming gigantic puppet named Amal, who represents millions of migrant and displaced children in a walk from the Syrian border in Turkey all the way across Europe. Escorted and animated by a group of puppeteers who are themselves refugees, Amal’s epic journey is one of compassion and discovery.

Behind the Mask

Survivor Abduweli flees a Chinese Uyghur internment camp to Norway. Now, heading to Germany to confront a past torturer, his daughter’s panic attack forces a choice: exposing Uyghur genocide for the world, or shielding his family from painful memories.

Political Animals

The story of four pioneering lesbian politicians and the battles they fought to pass a wide range of anti-discrimination laws.

Freedom From Choice

Freedom From Choice explores the endless layers of backroom dealing that is the US lobbying industry. Through a series of thought-provoking interviews, experts from numerous industries explain in simple terms how the political 'revolving door' creates unfair regulations which affect their industry. Supplemented by recent news clips and archival footage, the experts paint a startling picture of the overregulation of modern American life.

The World According to Xi Jinping

Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China is on its way to becoming the leading world power of the 21st century. What goals is the mysterious autocrat, who was deeply influenced by Maoism in his youth, pursuing? What drives him? In terms of domestic policy, Xi is striving for the "perfect dictatorship"; in terms of foreign policy, he wants to rewrite the international rules.

Grozny Blues

«Grozny Blues» follows a few people around Grozny, the capital of war-torn Chechnya where daily life is defined by political repression, constricting customs, forced Islamification and the failure to come to terms with recent history. The film revolves around four women who have been fighting for human rights under worsening conditions for many years but get more and more disillusioned with the situation in Putin’s Russia. The building where they work is also home to a Blues Club that is frequented by a group of young people. Having only vague memories of the Chechen wars in the 90s, they try to make sense of the strange things that are happening in their country. In linking the personal and intimate to the political, Nicola Bellucci shows in a dramatic and yet very poetic way what it means to live in a divided society that navigates a no-man’s land between war and peace, repression and freedom, archaic traditions and modern life.

Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf

Focuses on one of the most talked about and important issues of our time – how to find yourself and your truth. It follows model and transgender activist Munroe Bergdorf’s journey and provides hope for those facing similar challenges.

We Are Not Princesses

We Are Not Princesses is a documentary film about the incredible strength and spirit of four Syrian women living as refugees in Beirut as they come together to tell their stories of love, loss, pain and hope through the ancient Greek play, Antigone.

Last Chance

This feature documentary tells the stories of 5 asylum seekers who flee their native countries to escape homophobic violence. They face hurdles integrating into Canada, fear deportation and anxiously await a decision that will change their lives forever.

Option Zero

There are countless stories of Cubans reaching their dream destination of Florida as boat refugees. A lesser known route to the United States starts with a flight in a ramshackle plane to Guyana. Then the refugees travel to Colombia where they cross the jungle to arrive in Central America, from where they hope to reach the promised land of America—a hard and dangerous journey. Cuban filmmaker Marcel Beltrán visits them in a refugee camp in Panama, where one of the residents gives him an idea. Many people here have filmed their journey, she says, and these videos tell their real story. These jerky, shocking videos are interspersed with Beltrán’s footage of the camp, tangibly illustrating the difference between the hectic pace of the journey and the insecure life at the reception center.

The Right to Love: An American Family

Chronicling one story of courage born out of the highly mediatized and controversial Prop 8 2008 election results in California. A Californian married gay couple and their two adopted children fight back against discrimination, ignorance and hate through home videos posted on their YouTube channel, Gay Family Values. As they pursue their American Dream, the opposing political, social and religious opinions that pervade society attempt to strip it from them.

Politzek, the voices that challenge the Kremlin

In Russia, criticizing the war in Ukraine or Vladimir Putin’s regime has become a crime. Thousands of ordinary citizens are being arrested, tried, and imprisoned. They are called “Politzek”: political prisoners. Filmed clandestinely over the course of more than a year, Politzek gives a platform to those who, despite the fear, continue to speak out against Putin’s repressive Russia. Through the intersecting stories of a teenager sentenced to five years in prison for criticizing the government on social media, a young artist jailed for placing anti-war stickers, a human rights activist, and two theater directors facing Kafkaesque trials, the film unveils the machinery of state repression in Russia. With rare footage, broken yet unyielding voices, this is a story of silenced resistance.

America's War Against Women

In America women can go to jail for their husbands’ crimes, men are allowed to marry ten-year-olds, and abortions in some states are illegal, even in cases of rape. Documentary filmmaker Brice Lambert journeys through the American South and meets women who are at the receiving end of the attack on women’s rights since Donald Trump’s return to power.

Wars Don't End

During World War II, 12 000 children were born to Norwegian mothers and German soldiers. In WARS DON’T END five of these children tell their stories about lives of discrimination and abuse stemming from the choices of their mothers and the actions of their fathers.