Black Traces of Childhood (2025)

Waltz with Bashir

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

Fuego

Xóchitl is an indigenous woman who must fight for her freedom before the birth of her baby, since she finds herself trapped in an abusive relationship. She will have to face a town full of prejudices and accomplices of her abuser. However, Xóchitl has the inner strength of her lineage, which will manifest itself in her favor.

Blush: An Extraordinary Voyage

For 18-year-old Finnish–Kosovan Fatu, a simple visit to the grocery store feels as nerve-racking as a lunar expedition: for the first time in his life, he’s wearing makeup in public. Luckily his best friend Rai, a young woman on the spectrum of autism, is there to ferociously support him through the voyage.

A Better Man

Following a series of intimate conversations between a former couple who lived through two years of domestic abuse, A Better Man infuses new energy and possibility into the movement to end violence against women.

The Damned of the Paris Commune

Exclusively created with period engravings, this animated feature explores the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the ensuing Paris Commune revolution in 1871.

Chris Brown: A History of Violence

A biographical documentary that delves into the controversial personal life of iconic singer Chris Brown, charting his journey from a troubled childhood to global superstardom. It explores his violent public record, including allegations of domestic violence, assault charges and sexual misconduct, while questioning how a man with such a turbulent history maintains his celebrity status. With expert and cultural commentary layered throughout, the film offers thoughtful reflections on the cycle of abuse and its lasting psychological impact, shedding light on the experiences of survivors and the aftermath of their trauma.

Chicago 10

Archival footage, animation and music are used to look back at the eight anti-war protesters who were put on trial following the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

What Happened, Miss Simone?

The film chronicles Nina Simone's journey from child piano prodigy to iconic musician and passionate activist, told in her own words.

Piece by Piece

A unique cinematic experience that invites audiences on a vibrant journey through the life of cultural icon Pharrell Williams. Told through the lens of LEGO® animation, turn up the volume on your imagination and witness the evolution of one of music's most innovative minds.

Flee

Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.

Untold: Deal with the Devil

Christy Martin broke boundaries and noses as she rose in the boxing world, but her public persona belied personal demons, abuse and a threat on her life.

Violently in Love

Behind the closed doors of the Copenhagen-based women's shelter, the women and children are slowly recovering after having escaped domestic violence. Day by day the women are processing their traumas, building confidence and slowly understanding what it takes to break the cycle of violence.

Welcome Home Freckles

For the first time in four years, a daughter returns to Daegu, South Korea, determined to end the domestic war that plagued her childhood. They have been hurting each other for years as they never learned to live harmoniously. Despite their efforts to find peace, the scars of the past remain unresolved. Through conversations with her parents, she uncovers a pattern of domestic violence deeply ingrained in her family's history. At last, she realizes that only she can break this cycle.

This Hits Home

This Hits Home is a feature length documentary that reveals the invisible and silent epidemic of permanent traumatic brain injury in women devastated by domestic violence. The intimate and compelling stories of courageous women, insights from lawmakers and domestic violence authorities, and the shocking revelations from world renowned experts combine to paint a chilling portrait of brain injury that forever changes the lives of one in every four women and their children.

Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story

The incredible true story of how Jelena Dokic became a tennis star while surviving war, bullying and extreme domestic violence at the hands of Damir Dokic, the tennis father from hell.

Abused by My Girlfriend

The remarkable story of Alex Skeel, a 23-year-old man from Bedford who survived an abusive relationship with his girlfriend Jordan Worth

The Song

A woman is forced by her husband to be shut-up for ever. But when she listens to nature's song, she refinds her own song and the hope of a different life.

And So I Stayed

AND SO I STAYED is an award-winning documentary about survivors of abuse fighting for their lives and spending years behind bars. These women paid a steep price with long prison sentences, lost time with loved ones, and painful memories. Formerly incarcerated survivor-advocate Kim Dadou Brown, who met her wife while incarcerated, is a driving force in the passage of New York’s Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA), a new law meant to prevent survivors from receiving harsh prison sentences for their acts of survival. Nikki Addimando, a mother of two young children, suffered the consequences when a judge didn’t follow the law’s guidelines. Tanisha Davis, a single mother who was ripped away from her son in 2013, is hopeful the new law is her way out of a harsh prison sentence.

The Police Tapes

Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond spent three months in 1976 riding along with patrol officers in the 44th Precinct of the South Bronx, which had the highest crime rate in New York City at that time.

American Hollow

This documentary follows the lives of the Bowling family as they fight to survive in dirt-poor Appalachia. Matriarch Iree has given birth to 13 children, but only two have left to seek better lives in Ohio while the rest have married and started their own impoverished families near home. Uneducated and unskilled, all are unemployed, and domestic violence and alcoholism pose serious problems. The filmmakers explore the family's relationships through interviews and footage of their daily lives.

Beaten by My Boyfriend

Stacey Dooley goes behind closed doors and speaks to the now younger face of domestic violence. She questions victims and abusers to try and understand how deep the issues surrounding domestic abuse are for those who have survived and those currently experiencing the abuse.

Momsy

‘Over the course of several summer days in Split I talked to my mom about everything. I mean, really everything.’

A Love Letter to My Sister

A brother and sister discuss domestic violence that has occurred by looking back at family photo albums.

Coups de Foudre

Five women tell their « love story ». Each of them had the wonderful experience of ‘love at first sight’ with a man that will become their downfall. The influence settles slowly but strongly. Eventually it turns to violence, protecting the children and running away. Through five poignant stories, this film shows us the chronology of a love story that ends in a drama.

Loving Martha

Having broken free from the domestic violence she suffered during 39 years of marriage to her ex-husband Amando, Martha tells her granddaughter Daniela, who is beginning her career as a filmmaker, to make a film out of the personal memoirs in which she narrates her painful past. In this process, despite having gotten a divorce, for over 15 years her family has continued to pressure Martha into spending time with her abuser.

Silêncio das Inocentes

Plot unavailable

Afloat

"Afloat" is a short animated film on domestic abuse based on the poem "A Smile to Remember’"by Charles Bukowski. This is a story about courage, a story about staying afloat.

Cook F**k Kill

Jaroslav is a handsome and seemingly good-natured son, father and decent husband. But in fact he is pathologically jealous of his wife Blanka and very much afraid that she will leave him one day with their three children. Jaroslav and his family do not hesitate to employ violence, deceit and terror against others, which ultimately leads to a family tragedy.

Enough

Working-class waitress Slim thought she was entering a life of domestic bliss when she married Mitch, the man of her dreams. After the arrival of their first child, her picture perfect life is shattered when she discovers Mitch's hidden possessive dark side, a controlling and abusive alter ego that can turn trust, love and tranquility into terror. Terrified for her child's safety, Slim flees with her daughter. Relentless in his pursuit and enlisting the aid of lethal henchmen, Mitch continually stalks the prey that was once his family.

Raging Bull

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.

L.A. Confidential

Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.

After Mother

A son struggles with his father’s violent tendencies while his late mother attempts to help him.

Boys on the Side

After breaking up with her girlfriend, a nightclub singer, Jane, answers a personal ad from Robin, a real estate agent with AIDS, seeking a cross-country travel partner. On their journey from New York City to Los Angeles, the two stop by Pittsburgh to pick up Jane's friend Holly, who is trying to escape an abusive relationship. With three distinct personalities, the women must overcome their differences to help one another.

Murder at 1600

A secretary is found dead in a White House bathroom during an international crisis, and Detective Harlan Regis is in charge of the investigation. Despite resistance from the Secret Service, Regis partners with agent Nina Chance. As political tensions rise, they learn that the crime could be part of an elaborate cover-up. Framed as traitors, the pair, plus Regis' partner, break into the White House in order to expose the true culprit.

The Savages

A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.

A Place Called Silence

Chen Yutong, a girl's middle school student, was bullied at school, but her mother Li Han was unable to save her daughter from the "hell." Everyone around her turned a blind eye, and a collective silence brewed greater violence.

Sleeping with the Enemy

A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.

Cover Up

Plot unavailable

Karla

Based on real events, Canada's most notorious serial killers, Paul Bernardo and wife Karla Homolka kidnap, sexually abuse, and murder three young girls.

Dolores Claiborne

Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan, and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores when her daughter Selena, a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story.

Waitress

Jenna is a pregnant, unhappily married waitress in the deep south. She meets a newcomer to her town and falls into an unlikely relationship as a last attempt at happiness.

Pulk

A sensational crime story is at the centre of three disconnected narratives: a self-destructive driver, a violent family of three, and the relationship between a quiet warehouse worker and her boss.