Children play amidst cycles of thunder and violence.
Social & External
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.
In the fifties, when the future Democratic Republic of Congo was still a Belgian colony, an entire generation of musicians fused traditional African tunes with Afro-Cuban music to create the electrifying Congolese rumba, a style that conquered the entire continent thanks to an infectious rhythm, captivating guitar sounds and smooth vocals.
Carmela lives with her husband and eight children near the Ecuadorian-Colombian border. This 56-year-old Afro-Ecuadorian woman opened her home to provide free and temporary shelter for thousands who leave Venezuela on foot, hoping to find better days in other South American countries.
Explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his ten-man crew sailed their reed boat, the Tigris, over routes he believes were followed by Sumerian traders 5,000 years ago. The film goes beyond science to focus on the man, Heyerdahl, in an effort to explain what motivates him to risk his life in the search for knowledge.
Voices in Wartime is a 2004 documentary that explores the human experience of war through poetry. Combining interviews with soldiers, journalists, and historians, it reveals how war affects individuals and societies across time and place. The film features poets from around the world – from Homer and Wilfred Owen to Shoda Shinoe and modern writers in Iraq and Nigeria – showing how poetry expresses the pain, trauma, and truth of conflict. By linking verse with real-life accounts, Voices in Wartime highlights how poetry helps us understand the emotional and moral impact of war.
Some of the world's most innovative documentary filmmakers will explore the hidden side of everything.
A documentary about the legendary Japanese filmmaker.
Migrant families experience violence, but they also keep beautiful memories when they arrive in new lands. Fantastic and intimate stories, recalled from childhood, travel across time and space, magically intermingling with the help of the four elements and breaking the boundaries of cinema.
The modern history of the Congo, the heart of Africa, is a terrifying tale of appalling brutality: how the greedy and incredibly ruthless King Leopold II of Belgium (1935-1909) turned a vast country into his private estate (1885-1908) and how he plundered the land and raped the bodies and souls of its defenceless inhabitants, causing countless victims; and what exactly is the true impact of this often forgotten story of crime and horror today.
Documentary about the first German foreign deployment of German soldiers in Kosovo since the Second World War in 1995.
How have the changing views on children been reflected in their representation in art? From Baby Jesus to the first photographic portraits, an exploration of six centuries of art history through the prism of childhood.
The film follows five people who lost their sight in armed conflicts, gathering fragments of their present-day lives. Through an enveloping sound composition, veiled archival material, footage shot by the protagonists themselves, and a sensitive visual approach, the film explores memory, perception, and our relationship to the visible. Steering away from spectacle, it invites us to hear what often goes unheard, and to feel differently. In an age saturated with images, this documentary offers a sensory experience where listening becomes a gesture of resistance and human reconnection.
"letters to eleanore" is a poignant feature-length documentary that explores the intertwined journeys of two remarkable girls, Keith from Canto Grande in Lima, Peru, who bravely navigates life with cerebral palsy alongside her devoted mother, and Olivia from Litchfield, Minnesota, whose experiences highlight the stark contrasts in societal attitudes towards disability in their respective countries. As their narratives unfold, they are beautifully interwoven with the legacy of Eleanore and her family, whose life, untimely death, and the impact of her wheelchair ignited a powerful movement of hope for countless children and their families facing similar challenges. This film is not just a story of perseverance and love; it is a testament to the strength of community, brought to life through the collaborative efforts of volunteers, students, and communities across Peru and the United States, embodying a true grassroots style of storytelling that resonates with authenticity and compassion.
A partnership between the Government of Mali and an American agricultural investor may see 200-square kilometers of Malian land transformed into a large-scale sugar cane plantation. Land Rush documents the hopes, fears, wishes, and demands of small-scale subsistence farmers in the region who look to benefit, or lose out, from the deal.
When on February 24, 2022, Russian troops attacked Ukraine, the world stopped. The first shock, however, quickly turned into action. It was a natural impulse of the heart, Poles could not leave their neighbors, their friends from Ukraine completely alone. Almost everyone, residents of small and large cities, young and old, rich and poor, became involved in helping Ukrainians, opened their homes for those fleeing the war, and began to organize humanitarian aid. Did they pass the humanity test?
Since the late 1990s, more people have died in war-torn Congo than in any conflict since World War II. In addition to the dead, hundreds of thousands of woman and girls have been raped. Rape, explains a British colonel, is a weapon of war, part of a destabilization covering the theft of valuable minerals. Rape victims are traumatized, injured, abandoned by husbands, pregnant, and ravaged by disease.
INVASION is a documentary about the collective memory of a country. The invasion of Panama by the U.S in 1989 serves as an excuse to explore how a people remember, transform, and often forget their past in order to re-define their identity and become who they are today.
An unlikely collaboration between a forensic scientist from Texas and a group of Latin American students changes the course of forensic science and international human rights.
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Stars of "The Walking Dead," Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, walk down memory lane and visit iconic locations where pivotal moments between their characters, Rick and Michonne, were filmed.
An atmospheric essay, which is an alternative version of Count Dracula, a film directed by Jess Franco in 1970; a ghostly narration between fiction and reality.
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.
In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
An experimental documentary that explores Saudi Arabia's relationship with the U.S. and the role this has played in the war in Afghanistan.
Amber Heard and Nicole Kidman discuss their characters Mera and Atlanna.
This special explores the return of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to the screen, as well as Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to their classic roles. Director Deborah Chow leads the cast and crew as they create new heroes and villains that live alongside new incarnations of beloved Star Wars characters, and an epic story that dramatically bridges the saga films.
This revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.
In a crime-plagued neighborhood near Miami, brutal, bare-knuckled backyard fights give young men a chance to earn money -- and self-respect.
A documentary on kids who attend a summer camp hoping to become the next Billy Graham.
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.
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
A group of British children aged 7 from widely ranging backgrounds are interviewed about a range of subjects. The filmmakers plan to re-interview them at 7 year intervals to track how their lives and attitudes change as they age.
A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
In this documentary, recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction and believes it therefore to be his rightful property.
Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
Tells the history and importance of The National Film Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself.