Social & External
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.
In 2008, Natasha, a newly rich woman, decides to open an independent TV station in Russia and builds an open-minded team of outcasts. By 2020, Natasha has lost everything to Russia's war between Propaganda and Truth.
A portrait of the great theatre actor Evgeniy Lebedev.
Kirill can never see his hometown again: he fled Russia when Ukraine was attacked. His friend, Daniel, makes the journey and “cans Moscow” for him. Kirill discovers his “reconfigured” apartment; his bicycle hanging on the wall watches over his remaining comrades. In snowy Moscow, the lights are shining for the holidays. Kirill looks at the images: engulfed passers-by, war posters: “This is not my city”.
“There’s a bus stop I want to photograph.” This may sound like a parody of an esoteric festival film, but Canadian Christopher Herwig’s photography project is entirely in earnest, and likely you will be won over by his passion for this unusual subject within the first five minutes. Soviet architecture of the 1960s and 70s was by and large utilitarian, regimented, and mass-produced. Yet the bus stops Herwig discovers on his journeys criss-crossing the vast former Soviet Bloc are something else entirely: whimsical, eccentric, flamboyantly artistic, audacious, colourful. They speak of individualism and locality, concepts anathema to the Communist doctrine. Herwig wants to know how this came to pass and tracks down some of the original unsung designers, but above all he wants to capture these exceptional roadside way stations on film before they disappear.
A profile of Putin, exploring his complicated relationship with Ukraine. Why does this neighbouring nation threaten his power and identity?
United by the same dream, Yves Fagniart and Olivier Larrey, watercolorist and wildlife photographer respectively, set up home in a shack just a few square meters square, in the middle of the no-man's-land between Finland and Russia. Their aim: to document the intimate life of a pack of wolves, presumed to frequent this frozen peat bog landscape.
September 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the Summit Series, the iconic hockey tournament that pitted the best players from Canada against the best from the Soviet Union. This documentary enlarges the canvas to tell the story from the unique perspectives of a diverse group who are rarely, if ever, heard: diplomats, NHL hockey legends, Soviet players, journalists, fans, broadcasters, business leaders and Team Canada’s Chairman – all reveal untold stories about what happened before, during, and after September ‘72.
A Russian-Australian cinematographer travels to Albany to find out about the time when a 19th Century town at the end of the world was put on high alert of a Russian invasion.
Eldar Ryazanov reads his poetry. An introspective movie on his multifaceted work.
This lesson in political revelation focuses on the shooting down of the Malaysian passenger jet MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. A meticulous, investigative exposé that lays bare the mechanisms of Russian warfare.
Don't Call Him Dimon is a 2017 Russian documentary film about the corrupt affairs of Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. According to the film, Dmitry Medvedev has stolen property estimated to be worth about $1.2 billion.
This documentary investigates the financial fraud of persons close to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika.
Personal stories from civilians, children, soldiers, doctors, the country’s elderly, journalists, religious leaders, and international volunteers - a handful of the millions of people whose lives have been turned upside-down by nine years (and counting) of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Filmmaker Steve York explores the controversial 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, during which candidate Viktor Yushchenko suffered a near-fatal poisoning and his unpopular opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, was declared the winner. In the aftermath, more than a million people -- including the ailing Yushchenko -- took to the streets of Kiev, protesting the results that contradicted exit polls showing Yushchenko with an impressive lead.
Triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early spring of 2022, Ukrainian journalist and writer Ivan Avramov struggles to navigate his fluid identity and the shifting reality around him.
A look inside the Russian assault on Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, told by displaced families, civilians caught in the fight and first responders.
As Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, primary schools across Russia’s hinterlands are transformed into recruitment stages for the war. Facing the ethical dilemma of working in a system defined by propaganda and violence, a brave teacher goes undercover to film what’s really happening in his own school.
Alexander McQueen's rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of McQueen's own world, both tortured and inspired, which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence.
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
A night of drunken chaos rocks a quiet Dutch town in this shocking documentary about a teen's birthday invite that accidentally went viral on Facebook.
This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.
Vulgar, taunting texts blow up the phones of a teen and her boyfriend. Who's sending them — and why? This twisty documentary reveals the shocking answer.
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
The life and career of one of comedy's most inimitable modern voices, Mr. Gilbert Gottfried.
The film is based on interviews with 2,000 women from 50 countries, and covers the status of women all over the world. The topics covered include forced marriages, sexual assault, female genital mutilation, acid attacks, motherhood, sexuality, menstruation, education and the professional success of women.
When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Set within the stark Icelandic landscape, OUT OF THIN AIR examines the 1976 police investigation into the disappearance of two men in the early 1970s.
This raucous journey into the heart of democracy captures an unusual rite of passage: 1,100 teenage boys from across Texas coming together to build a representative government from the ground up.
A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.
Ten of Muhammad Ali's former rivals pay tribute to the three-time world heavyweight champion.
9to5 - Days in Porn focuses on the people behind a controversial and multi-billion dollar industry "The Adult Entertainment industry". It depicts their stories, each one different, unadorned and authentic, without glorification or prejudice. It delivers deep insight into their personal lives - from glamorous to grotesque - strange, fascinating, offensive, absurd and sometimes funny moments all at once.
Chronicles the history, ideology and aesthetic of Norwegian black metal, a musical subculture infamous as much for a series of murders and church arsons as it is for its unique musical and visual aesthetics. This is the first film to truly shed light on a movement that has heretofore been shrouded by rumor and obscured by inaccurate and shallow depictions. Featuring exclusive interviews with the musicians themselves, Until the Light Takes Us explores every aspect of the controversial movement that has captured the attention of the world.
This documentary examines the 1999 London bombings that targeted Black, Bangladeshi and gay communities, and the race to find the far-right perpetrator. He terrorized a city, seeking to ignite a race war but justice was served by those who wouldn't let his hate win.
A heartfelt documentary focusing on the day-to-day lives of professional wrestlers, some on the rise, some on the wane, and others fighting for their lives.
He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.
Belgian pop star Angèle reflects on her life and hopes as she finds balance amid the tears, joys and loneliness of fame. Told through her own words.
