South-East Asia - political movies
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- DirectorAndreas DalsgaardStarsJan GehlRob AdamsRobert DoyleHalf of the human population lives in urban areas. By 2050, this will increase to 80%. Life in a megacity is both enchanting and problematic. Today we face peak oil, climate change, loneliness and severe health issues due to our way of life. But why? The Danish architect and professor Jan Gehl has studied human behavior in cities through four decades. He has documented how modern cities repel human interaction, and argues that we can build cities in a way, which takes human needs for inclusion and intimacy into account. 'The Human Scale' meets thinkers, architects and urban planners across the globe. It questions our assumptions about modernity, exploring what happens when we put people into the centre of our planning.
- DirectorMichael Matheson MillerStarsRobert SiricoFrom Toms Shoes to international adoptions, from solar panels to U.S. agricultural subsidies, drawing from over 200 interviews filmed in 20 countries, Poverty, Inc. unearths an uncomfortable side of charity we can no longer ignore.
- DirectorKhushboo RankaVinay ShuklaStarsArvind KejriwalSaurabh BhardwajPrashant BhushanA non-fiction drama chronicling the most outrageous political debut in the largest democracy in the world, "An Insignificant Man" follows Arvind Kejriwal and his insurgent party as they look to shake up Indian politics while struggling to keep their own idealism alive.
- DirectorLeonardo Cinieri LombrosoStarsEric KhooBrillante MendozaGarin NugrohoSoutheast Asia Cinema: When the Rooster Crows is a voice of diversity reaching for change. Brillante Mendoza, Eric Khoo, Garin Nugroho, and Pen Ek Ratanaruang give voice to a region rich with traditions, ethnic groups, languages, politics, and religions. It is cinema at its purest form, fighting for freedom of expression, documenting real lives of ordinary people, giving voice to the underdogs and the outcasts. The amalgamation of these aspects gives birth to an ultra-neo-realistic cinema language currently unique to films from this region.
- DirectorPasakorn PramoolwongPen-Ek RatanaruangSociopolitical Documentary directed by Pen Ek Ratanaruang and Pasakorn Pramoolwong narrating the forward of (sometimes backward) Thai politics since People's Party (Khana Ratsadon) established a constitutional monarchy on 24 June 1932.
- DirectorGarin NugrohoStarsMuhammad KhanRaditya EvandraRiantoA pre-teen boy who abandoned by his father joins a Lengger dance center where men assume feminine appearances, but the political and social upheaval in Indonesia forces him to move away and meet with remarkable people on his journey.
- DirectorGarin NugrohoStarsReza RahadianChristoffer NelwanPutri AyudyaIn 1912, Javanese activist Omar Said Tjokroaminoto (Reza Rahadian) co-founds the Sarekat Islam party to fight injustices of the Dutch East Indies' colonial regime.
- DirectorJohn de RantauGarin NugrohoDosy OmarStarsBimbim SlankAkhadi Wira SatriajiMohammad Ridwan HafiedzSlank is a legendary rock band on the Indonesian scene, known for their politicized lyrics and activism, and for its fanatical fan base - known as "Slankers" - who see the band as something to coalesce around to promote peace and unity in their country. 'The Blue Generation' uniquely combines dance sequences, footage of live performances, interviews, and animations about Indonesia's political history in a gloriously energetic and inspiring manner.
- DirectorGarin NugrohoStarsIbrahim KadirBerliana FebryantiJosé Rizal ManuaTells the true story of the didong (a style of ballad) poet Ibrahim Kadir. He was in prison and was present during the mass killings of an estimated 500,000 suspected communists when Indonesian President Suharto came to power in 1965. His humanistic poems recreate that era.
- DirectorYuan Bin Lei03-FLATS follows the domestic experiences of three single women who are at different stages of their lives. It records how domestic resilience might resist the ennui of mass housing, turning housing into home.
- DirectorJames JonesOlivier SarbilStarsRodrigo DuterteJemar ModequilloThe searing story of President Duterte's bloody campaign against drug dealers and addicts in the Philippines, told with unprecedented and intimate access to both sides of the war - the Manila police, and an ordinary family from the slum. Shot in the style of a thriller, this observational film combines the look and feel of a narrative feature film with a real life revelatory journalistic investigation into a campaign of killings. The film uncovers a murky world where crime, drugs and politics meet in a deathly embrace - and reveal that although the police have been publicly ordered to stop extra-judicial killings, the deaths continue.
- DirectorVan Thuy TranA Vietnamese documentary on human suffering and the meaning of kindness.
- DirectorRiri RizaStarsNicholas SaputraJonathan MuliaThomas NawilisSoe Hok Gie is an activist who lived in the sixties. Set in the darkest era of Indonesian modern history, "Gie" is an interpretation of what happened based on his journal.
- DirectorMike De LeonStarsVilma SantosJay IlaganGina AlajarA nun becomes involved in an on-going labor strike. She starts out non-politicized, but later learns about the plight of the simple working man and inevitably, the government's neglect of the poor masses. Filipino Tagalog movie.
- DirectorAmir MuhammadStarsAmir MuhammadGhafir AkbarSoh Boon TatOn the night of 18 October 1987, a soldier ran amok with an M16 in the area of Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. Due to the thorny circumstances of the time and place, his amok triggered a citywide panic and rumours of racial riots. Why did he do it? Why were Malaysians so jittery at the time? And what happened next? "The Big Durian" speaks to 23 Malaysians (some real, some fictional) to find out.
- DirectorJoshua OppenheimerStarsAdi RukunM.Y. BasrunVolker HanischA family that survived the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers.
- DirectorAnders ØstergaardStarsGeorge W. BushJoshua Min HtutKo MuangUsing smuggled footage, this documentary tells the story of the 2007 protests in Burma by thousands of monks.
- DirectorJoel LamanganStarsAJ MuhlachAlan PauleAlex MedinaFelix Ysagun Manalo is a sprawling historical epic that traces the origin of Iglesia Ni Cristo (The Church of Christ), established in the Philippines, from its humble beginnings in 1914 through to the present day.
- DirectorRithy PanhStarsPeng PhanMom SothChhim NalineIn Cambodian refugee camps, when children are asked where rice comes from, they answer, "from UN lorries". They have never seen a rice field. One day, these children will have to learn to live in Cambodia, i.e., they will have to learn to cultivate, to plough, to work the land. Rice people tries to share this way of life, to demonstrate the fragile equilibrium on which it lies and the freedom it represents.
- DirectorGarin NugrohoStarsSarah AzhariDeni ChristantraChristine HakimThe Indonesian society is seen through a middle-aged lady's eyes in her daily encounters with the street children who work and live off the harsh and sleazy world of adults.
- DirectorChito S. RoñoStarsVilma SantosChristopher De LeonPiolo PascualA middle-class Filipino family struggles to survive in the era of dictatorship.
- DirectorBhandit RittakolStarsPunu SuwannoPimpan ChantaKriangkrai FookasemThe Moonhunter tells a true story of two young Thai revolutionaries. Seksan Prasertkul, a fearless student leader, who, in October 1973, commanded the biggest mass demonstration in modern Thai history. The event led to a popular uprising that toppled the military dictatorship and restored democracy. His life and that of his girlfriend, Chiranan Pitpreecha-a campus queen- took a drastic turn when they were caught in the wave of political violence, stirred up by remnants of the old ruling elite who still bid for the return of dictatorial rule. After the assassinations of many fellow activists, the two decided to join the illegal armed movement, led by the Communist Party of Thailand, fighting guerilla-style in the forests of Thailand. Seksan's dreams of redressing his country's grievances, however, were quickly shattered, for he found that his strain of idealism was not really shared by the party's old Guard.
- DirectorAndrzej FidykStarsWojciech GassowskiIl-Sung KimJong-Il KimNorth Korea, late 1980s. The communist authorities hold enormous parades celebrating the 40th anniversary of Democratic People's Republic of Korea and worshipping its leader, Kim Ir Sen. But all this splendor, pomp and incredible lavishness is also to eclipse sports olympics taking part in South Korea.
- DirectorWang BingThe impact of the decline of heavy industry on workers and their families in the Tiexi district of Shenyang, China, at the turn of the 21st century, documented unflinchingly by a fly-on-the-wall camera.
- 'Law of the Dragon' takes a fresh look at a vast and culturally rich China, examining how justice is served in rural areas so remote and isolated that the villagers have almost no contact with, and are deeply mistrustful of, the central government. Principally following the austere Judge Chen as he travels around the rural and sparsely populated Xuan-en province, resolving the grievances of the residents and dispensing nuggets of Confucian-Communist wisdom.
- DirectorShaun JeffordStarsLiu BaoNevin DomerShi Xu DongA film crew follows underground punks through Communist China in the year of the Olympics.
- DirectorWeijun ChenStarsCheng ChengLuo LeiXu XiaofeiDemocracy in China exists, that is, in a primary school in Wuhan where a grade 3 class can vote who they want as class monitor.
- DirectorLiang ZhaoStarsZhang WeiyeXiao YuanIt is a fantastic documentary about Chinese govt's systemic oppression and persecution toward ordinary folk who petition the government.
- DirectorMark VerkerkStarsPhra Khru Bah Neua Chai KosittoKhun EadPan SeanBuddha's Lost Children is a feature-length documentary film about a Thai Buddhist monk who - armed only with his faith and skills and master boxer skills - wages an inspirational battle to help orphaned children, fight drug abuse, and preserve a vanishing way of life.
- DirectorLixin FanStarsChanghua ZhangYang ZhangSuqin ChenA couple embarks on a journey home for Chinese new year along with 130 million other migrant workers, to reunite with their children and struggle for a future. Their unseen story plays out as China soars towards being a world superpower.
- DirectorLucy van BeekStarsBenjamin BedersonPeter BurchettWinston ChurchillA documentary about the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima/Nagasaki and their aftermaths in both Japan and the United States. It includes many eyewitness accounts and historical documentation from both US and Japanese citizens.
- DirectorWeikai HuangFootage collected from a dozen amateur videographers woven into a unique city symphony of social dysfunction.
- DirectorYung ChangStarsJerry Bo Yu ChenCampbell Ping HeCindy Shui YuAt the edge of the Yangtze River, not far from the Three Gorges Dam, young men and women take up employment on a cruise ship, where they confront rising waters and a radically changing China.
- DirectorGraham ColemanFrom a portrait of the Dalai lama as a spiritual and temporal leader, to an unprecedented revelation of the mystical inner world of monastic and an unflinching depiction of the moving response to a death in the community, the film takes the viewer on a journey deep into the heart of an ancient Buddhist way of life and brings you face to face with the unbroken continuity of Tibet's unique culture.
- DirectorAndrzej FidykStarsKim HyokKim Joung-SoonLee Min-bokToday, more than 200.000 men, women and children are locked up in North Korea's concentration camps. Systematic torture, starvation and murder is what faces the inmates. Few survive many years in the camps, but the population is kept stable by a steady influx of new persons considered to be 'class enemies'. A small group of people have managed to flee from the camps to a new life in the prosperous South Korea. Some of them gather and decide to make an extraordinary and controversial musical about their experiences in the Yodok concentration camp. Despite death treats and many obstacles the musical becomes a tour de force for this ensemble of refugees and for them a possibility opens to talk about their experiences and inspire others to protest the existence of the camps.
- DirectorVitaliy ManskiyStarsLee Zin-MiYu-YongHye-YongA propaganda documentary about North Korea that reveals a few hidden facts because the director continues filming between the scripted scenes.
- DirectorWang BingThree young sisters live and work in extreme poverty in the harsh environment of Yunnan, a province on the Sino Burmese border area of China.
- DirectorDaniel GordonStarsDamion CruzzBruce CumingsJames Joseph DresnokA British documentary about US Army defector James Dresnok currently living in North Korea after having defected during the 60s.
- DirectorWeijun ChenStarsZhenxiang WangChao WanPan WangIn ancient times in China, education was the only way out of poverty. In recent times it has been the best way. China's economic boom and talk of the merits of hard work have created an expectation that to study is to escape poverty. But these days, China's higher education system only leads to jobs for a few, educating a new generation to unemployment and despair.
- DirectorMads BrüggerStarsMads BrüggerSimon Jul JørgensenTommy KenterTwo Danish comedians join the director on a trip to North Korea, where they have been allowed access under the pretext of wanting to perform a vaudeville act.
- DirectorErin McGoffThis Little Land of Mines is an independent feature documentary about the resilience of the Lao people as they live among and work to clear 80 million unexploded bombs from when the United States secretly bombed Laos more heavily than any country on earth.
- DirectorKarol OrzechowskiMaximum Tolerated Dose (MTD) is the first feature-length documentary by Decipher Films. The film charts the lives of both humans and non-humans who have experienced animal testing first-hand, with hauntingly honest testimony of scientists and lab technicians who's ethics demanded they choose a different path, as well as the simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of animals who have seen both sides of the cage. MTD aims to re-ignite the debate about animal testing by bringing these rarely-heard perspectives to the fore.
- DirectorShelby BaldockTanner MatthewsBombie is the story of war, the people living day-to-day through its lasting effects, and those trying to make a difference, all through the lens of the most-bombed country on earth: the small landlocked nation of Laos.
- DirectorWen JiangStarsYu XiaWei ChenShaobo DaiBeijing, 1970s. Now that the CR has driven most adults to the provinces, 14-year-old Monkey and his pals have free reign over the city. They hang around, get up to no good, and discover that unsolvable mystery referred to as "girls."