3. Best World Documentaries 1
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- DirectorHumphrey JenningsStarsPhilip DicksonGeorge GravettFred GriffithsA tale of firefighters in London during the Blitz.
- DirectorPat JacksonStarsEric FullertonDuncan MacKenzieW. KerrA wartime film, made under the auspices of the Crown Film Unit, serving as a tribute to the Merchant Navy. During WWII, they kept the lifeline to America and the Commonwealth open so that this little island could fight on. Even as late as 1943/4 when this was made, the convoys still provided vital essential supplies as well as the materiel necessary to take the fight into Europe. This film dramatizes the experiences of many merchant seamen.
- DirectorChris MarkerAbout the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki, Finland. Made to educate the public, to enrich moral and intellectual life through sport, and to salve the wounds of the ongoing Cold War.
- StarsLaurence OlivierQueen Elizabeth IIPrince PhilipA lavish documentary film of Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation in 1953.
- DirectorGeorge LoweStarsMeredith EdwardsJohn HuntGeorge BandDocumentary that covers the famous and successful expedition of the Everest conquest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, the first climbers to reach its peak.
- DirectorFrank BagnallColin DeanStanley HawesStarsPeter FinchWilfrid ThomasQueen Elizabeth IIA record of the 1954 visit to Australia by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and his Royal Highness Prince Philip.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPablo PicassoHenri-Georges ClouzotClaude RenoirA filmed record of Pablo Picasso painting numerous canvases for the camera, allowing us to see his creative process at work.
- DirectorJacques-Yves CousteauLouis MalleStarsFrédéric DumasAlbert FalcoJacques-Yves CousteauA documentary about the undersea explorers and how they penetrate into the underwater world.
- DirectorGeorge MorrisonStarsLiam BudhlaeirPadraig O'RaghallaighMise Eire tells of events in Ireland leading up to, during, and immediately after the 1916 Easter Rising, extensively using original footage such as newsreels from the time.
- DirectorLionel RogosinStarsZacharia MgabiVinah BendileMiriam MakebaCome Back, Africa chronicles the life of Zachariah, a black South African living under the rule of the harsh apartheid government in 1959.
- DirectorFrançois ReichenbachStarsJean CocteauPaul KlingerJune RichmondSatirical documentary, shot in all parts of the US, showing various aspects of American behavior.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsAliPère GauthierMonsieur KleinA documentary about the then only twelve year old country of Israel, caught amidst the tensions of the Middle East and the ongoing Cold War.
- DirectorPaolo CavaraGualtiero JacopettiFranco ProsperiStarsStefano SibaldiRossano BrazziYves KleinA "shockumentary" consisting of a collection of mostly real archive footage displaying mankind at its most depraved and perverse, displaying bizarre rites, cruel behavior and bestial violence.
- DirectorChris MarkerPierre LhommeStarsChris MarkerYves MontandSimone SignoretChris Marker and Pierre Lhomme's LE JOLI MAI (The Lovely Month of May) is a portrait of Paris and Parisians during May 1962, the first springtime of peace after the ceasefire with Algeria and the first time in 23 years that France was not involved in any war.
- DirectorJacques-Yves CousteauStarsPierre BidaultLouis BidegantChristian BonniciFascinating underwater documentary filmed with hand-held cameras by frogmen and mostly filmed in deep-water seas from within a special designed batiscaff, by the Cousteau family of sea explorers.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsdon Andrea CarraroPier Paolo PasoliniWhile scouting locations for his classic "The Gospel According to St. Matthew", director Pier Paolo Pasolini noticed that filming in the actual site of the story, in Palestine, wouldn't be much of a great choice due to the modern invasion which completely altered the biblical settings. Here, the director explained his reasons of why his search in the Middle East end up being wrong - though somewhat fruitful and rewarding in other ways - and why his native Italy surprised him and became the scenario for his religious epic.
- DirectorGualtiero JacopettiFranco ProsperiStarsSergio RossiGualtiero JacopettiJomo KenyattaThe cruel acts of animal poaching and violence, executions, and tribal slaughtering, all taking place on the African continent.
- DirectorDonald BrittainJohn SpottonStarsBernard LauferEmil BednarekWilhelm BogerA Jewish Holocaust survivor travels through Germany recalling scenes from his memory.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardJoris IvensWilliam KleinStarsAnne BellecKaren BlanguernonFidel CastroIn seven different segments, Godard, Klein, Lelouch, Marker, Resnais, and Varda show their sympathy and support for the North Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War.
- DirectorPeter LennonStarsSean O'FaoláinConor Cruise O'BrienJohn HustonIrish-born journalist Peter Lennon exposed the truth of a repressed, suppressed and censored country, and the hypocrisy of church, politics and state, through a series of 'innocent' interviews.
- DirectorChris MarkerMario Marret1967, one year before may '68. The strike at the Rhodiaceta textile plant in Besançon sounds like the rehearsal of the rising to come. Indeed for the first time ever, the workers' claims are not only higher wages or better working conditions but also BETTER LIVING CONDITIONS. They first and foremost say no to the lifestyle capitalism wants to impose on them. One more year to go and the whole country of France will imitate the strikers of Besançon.
- DirectorOctavio GetinoFernando E. SolanasStarsMaría de la PazFernando E. SolanasEdgardo SuárezDivided into three segments, namely 1 Neocolonialism, 2 Act for liberation, 3 Violence and liberation, the documentary lasts more than 4 hours this deals with the defense of the revolution and the revolution of the third world such as the revolt of the students in the United States and Western Europe, Czech citizens protest against the Soviet Union's State bureaucracy and also the revolution that (probably) is unprecedented in Argentina.
- DirectorRichard CawstonStarsWalter AnnenbergKing Charles IIIMichael FlandersIntimate portrait of the daily life of the British Royal Family drawn from 18 months of filming within Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Balmoral.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsHelmut TausendMarcel VerdierAlexis GraveAn in-depth exploration of the various reactions by the French people to the Vichy government's acceptance of the German invasion.
- DirectorLionel RogosinStarsJim CollierGary DavisLarry JohnsonRogosin took the fight for equality to his homeland with his astonishing and powerful fourth feature Black Roots. The film, which is ripe for rediscovery, featured an extraordinary cast, including Reverend Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick; attorney and feminist activist Florynce ""Flo"" Kennedy; and musicians Jim Collier, Wende Smith, Larry Johnson and Reverend Gary Davis. All tell stories of heartbreak and despair while their songs blow the roof off the rafters. In an extension of the famed shebeen scenes in Come Back, Africa, the participants in Black Roots spoke openly about politics and race in a way that is still rarely seen on screen. In 1970, it was a radical and daring move by a great director. A deeply humanist film, Black Roots combines tales of oppression with hauntingly beautiful images of the faces of black men, women and children.
- DirectorDusan HanákPictures of the Old World is an unquestioned masterpiece of European documentary cinema, with existential radicalism that offers a contrast to the shallowness of hundreds of other documentary films showing images from the outskirts of civilization. The outskirts here are a Slovakian town in the Tatra Mountains. Though censored for 17 years, Dusan Hanáks poetic visual essay is not a political or even social film. It goes to far deeper and more fundamental levels of human experience. Inspired by the photographs of Martin Martinek, the films power lies in its unusual portraits of people whose raw visual beauty radiates from their very souls. Some, like the village cosmos aficionado or the disabled old man who climbs stairs on his knees, are hard to forget.
- DirectorJonas MekasStarsJonas MekasAdolfas MekasPola ChapelleFilmmaker Jonas Mekas creates an elegiac diary of a trip to his home country of Lithuania.
- DirectorPatricio GuzmánStarsAbilio FernándezSalvador AllendeThe chronicle of the political tension in Chile in 1973 and of the violent counter revolution against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsTakako IrieDaisuke ItôKyôko KagawaA documentary film on the life and works of director Kenji Mizoguchi.
- DirectorThomas HarlanJacques d'ArthuysAnna DevotoStarsThomas HarlanMaria VitóriaJosé Neves PaivaThe rise and fall of a revolutionary cooperative movement established in a large private farm in Ribatejo, Portugal, from March to December 1975 (most part of the land occupations occurred in Alentejo, promoted by the communist party). In direct speech, sometimes to the camera, sometimes among themselves, the uneducated rural workers expose their misery, their suffering, their hopes, and ultimately their despair - when a socialist government orders the restitution of the land to their primitive owners, and these transform the land into a hunting reserve.
- DirectorPhilippe CousteauStarsJacques-Yves CousteauOn his ship "Calypso," as well as in a submarine, Jacques Cousteau and his crew sail from South America and travel to Antarctica. They explore islands, reefs, icebergs, fossils, active volcanic craters, and creatures of the ocean never before seen. This voyage took place in 1975, and Captain Cousteau became one of the first explorers ever to dive beneath the waters of the frozen South Pole.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsYehudi MenuhinNoël FavrelièresAnthony HerbertExplores the subject of atrocities during wartime, especially during World War II and the Vietnam War.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsSimone SignoretJorge SemprúnDavos HanichFrench essay film focusing on global political turmoil in the 1960s and '70s, particularly the rise of the New Left in France and the development of socialist movements in Latin America.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderAlf BrustellinHans Peter CloosStarsWolfgang BächlerHeinz BennentWolf BiermannGermany in Autumn has no typical plot; it mixes documentary footage with standard movie scenes to present the mood of Germany during the late 1970s. The film covers 2 months in 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped and murdered by the left-wing terrorists known as the RAF-Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction). The businessman was kidnapped in an effort to secure the release of the original leaders of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. When the kidnapping effort and a plane hijacking effort failed, the three most prominent leaders of the RAF, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe, all committed suicide in prison. It has become an article of faith within the left-wing community that these three were actually murdered by the state. The film has several vignettes, including an extended set of scenes with famous director Rainer Werner Fassbinder discussing his feelings about Germany's political situation at the time. Fassbinder's scenes almost seem to be candid documentary footage, but they aren't. Other scenes include documentary footage of the joint funeral of Baader, Enslin, and Raspe.
- DirectorChris VermorckenStarsAnna MagnaniJean-Paul AndretClaude Autant-LaraTraces the life of Anna Magnani, her creations, her successes, her triumphs, her boycotted career, her nonconformism, her anxieties, her generosity - Punctuated with photos that tell her career in theater and cinema, Extracts of films, this documentary portrait also gives the floor to his friends and relatives, from Roberto Rossellini to Marcello Mastroianni, through Federico Fellini.
- DirectorLes BlankStarsWerner HerzogKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleA documentary following German auteur Werner Herzog as he deals with difficult actors, bad weather and getting a boat over a mountain, all in an effort to make his film Fitzcarraldo (1982).
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsAmilcar CabralFlorence DelayArielle DombasleA woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.
- DirectorMaud LinderStarsMax LinderMaud LinderSarah BernhardtA documentary with many excerpts from the films of French movie pioneer Max Linder, narrated by his daughter.
- DirectorMaximilian SchellStarsMarlene DietrichMaximilian SchellAnnie AlbersRetrospective on the career of enigmatic screen diva Marlene Dietrich.
- DirectorSilvio TendlerStarsLeonel BrizolaJoão GoulartJuscelino KubitschekThe story of João "Jango" Goulart, the Brazilian left-wing president deposed by the military.
- DirectorEduardo CoutinhoStarsEduardo CoutinhoElizabeth TeixeiraFerreira GullarA filmmaker returns to Northeast Brazil after twenty years to resume his film (a profile of assassinated peasant leader João Pedro Teixeira) which was shut down by a right-wing military coup in 1964.
- DirectorClaude LanzmannStarsSimon SrebnikMichael PodchlebnikMotke ZaïdlClaude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsShigehiko HasumiChris MarkerAkira KurosawaA documentary that shows the production of Ran and discusses the film techniques of Kurosawa himself.
- DirectorSusana Blaustein MuñozLourdes PortilloStarsCarmen ZapataThe movie follows the struggle of the Mothers of the Plaza of Mayo, a group of mothers who challenged authorities during the repressive regime in Argentina (1976-1983), trying to discover the whereabouts of their missing sons, taken by the regime.
- DirectorJohn AkomfrahStarsPervaiz KhanMeera SyalYvonne WeekesDocumentary examining the 1985 riots in London and Birmingham's Handsworth district that erupted in reaction to the repressive policing of black communities.
- DirectorKazuo HaraStarsKenzo OkuzakiRiichi AikawaMasaichi HamaguchiA documentary following Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old WW2 veteran notorious for his protests against Emperor Hirohito, as he tries to expose the needless executions of two Japanese soldiers during the war.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsKlaus BarbieClaude LanzmannMarcel OphülsA documentary about Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief of Lyon, and his life after the war.
- DirectorHarriet EderThomas KufusStarsErich von MansteinLate in the 1980s, two documentary film makers found six German men, all in their 60s and 70s, who had been soldiers in the German invasion of the USSR in 1942. Each carried an 8mm camera into battle and they still had their film. "Mein Kreig" alternates between interviews with these older men, now apologetic, philosophical, or defiant about their participation, and the footage they shot. It's chronological: basic training, the train trip East, roof-top vistas of war-torn Warsaw, peasants in Belarus, the downing with carbine volleys of a Russian plane, winter, a holiday at the Black Sea, mud, impassable roads, death, destruction and retreat. "Home, that was the front," one says.
- DirectorMaciej J. DrygasStarsRyszard SiwiecMaria SiwiecInnocenta SiwiecThe story of an ordinary accountant, Ryszard Siwiec, who set himself on fire during the large harvest festival at the Warsaw stadium in 1968. He did it to protest against the military invasion in Czechoslovakia.
- DirectorNick BroomfieldStarsNick BroomfieldEugene Terre'BlancheJ.P. MeyerFrom the award-winning Director Nick Broomfield, The Leader, His Driver, and the Driver's Wife portrays the sinister and comic sides of Eugene Terre'Blanche, leader of the neo-Nazi AWB Afrikaner Party in South Africa.
- DirectorPawel LozinskiStarsHenryk GrynbergAfter almost 50 years, Holocaust survivor Henryk Grynberg visits the village he grew up in. He was also hiding there during the Nazi occupation. Grynberg wants to know what happened to his father and younger brother during the war.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsLéonor GraserNikolai IzvolovKira ParamonovaThis documentary tells the story of film director Aleksandr Medvedkin, throughout his life a sincere believer in communism, whose films were repeatedly banned in the Soviet Union. Modern Russian film students express their excitement at seeing his film HAPPINESS for the first time, and his contemporaries shed light on his life and work.
- DirectorMichel PascalSerge ToubianaStarsFanny ArdantOlivier AssayasAlexandre AstrucTwenty-six people - including two daughters, an ex-wife, his last lover, actors, fellow directors and writers, a neighbor, and boyhood friends - talk about François Truffaut. They discuss his attitudes toward wealth, his early writings about cinema, the undercurrent of violence in his films and his personality, the way he used and altered events in his life when making films, his search for a father (both artistic and biological), his relationship with his mother, the scenes in his films that cause a squirm of embarrassment, and his ultimate mysticism. Clips from a dozen of his films are included.
- DirectorPatrick KeillerStarsPaul ScofieldJohn MajorNorma MajorAn inspiring tale through London by pictures narrated by Paul Scofield.
- DirectorNick BroomfieldStarsNick BroomfieldMargaret ThatcherAri Ben-MenasheKamikaze documentarian Nick Broomfield unleashes his bothersome Brit persona on the Iron Lady in this hilariously revealing film. The result is ninety minutes of the filmmaker being rigorously denied access to his subject, exposing sides of Thatcher that more hands-on portraits might never approach.
- DirectorDan SettonStarsRuth EliasMarc BerkowithJosef KleinmanThe warrant for the arrest of Auschwitz's "Angel of Death" Dr. Josef Mengele was a catalog of horror. A look back of the crimes and life of the SS Doctor who sent 400,000 people to the gas chambers in the pursuit of racial purification.
- DirectorClaude NuridsanyMarie PérennouStarsKristin Scott ThomasJacques PerrinA documentary on insect life in meadows and ponds.
- DirectorAnna Maria TatòStarsMarcello MastroianniRenato BertaManoel de OliveiraIn 1996, Marcello Mastroianni talks about life as an actor. It's an anecdotal and philosophical memoir, moving from topic to topic, fully conscious of a man "of a certain age" looking back. He tells stories about Fellini and De Sica's direction, of using irony in performances, of constantly working (an actor tries to find himself in characters). He's diffident about prizes, celebrates Rome and Paris, salutes Naples and its people. He answers the question, why make bad films; recalls his father and grandfather, carpenters, his mother, deaf in her old age, and his brother, a film editor; he's modest about his looks. In repose, time's swift passage holds Mastroianni inward gaze.
- StarsJean-Luc GodardAlain CunyJulie DelpyAn 8-part documentary chronicling the history of cinema, examining the history of the concept of cinema and how both relates to the 20th century.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsCompay SegundoIbrahim FerrerRubén GonzálezAging Cuban musicians whose talents had been virtually forgotten following Castro's takeover of Cuba, are brought out of retirement by Ry Cooder, who travelled to Havana in order to bring the musicians together, resulting in triumphant performances of extraordinary music, and resurrecting the musicians' careers.
- DirectorThierry MichelStarsRaymond BarreJacques ChiracValéry Giscard d'EstaingThiery Michel takes an in-depth look at the reign of Mobutu Sese Seko. A man of "modest roots" who had a Catholic upbringing, Mobutu was sent to the army by his father for insubordination. Soon he would be Patrice Lumumba's right-hand man...
- DirectorKátia LundJoão Moreira SallesStarsNilton CerqueiraCarlos Luis GregórioPaulo LinsDocumentary about urban violence in Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro. Policemen, drug dealers, and shantytown dwellers get trapped into a daily war that knows no winners.
- DirectorVolker KoeppOnly two Jews who were born in the town of Czernowitz still survive, after the turmoils of the twentieth century, and they are now both in their nineties.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsMartin ScorseseWorld-renowned director Martin Scorsese narrates this journey through his favorites in Italian cinema.
- DirectorFernando TruebaStarsMichel CamiloTito PuenteArturo O'FarrillA film featuring performances of several stars of the Latin Jazz music scene.
- DirectorAndres VeielStarsPater AugustinusRoswitha Bleith-BendieckPaul BrandWolfgang Grams, RAF terrorist, killed in a police shoot out in 1993 was thought to be part of the 1989 murder of high placed banker Alfred Herrhausen. This documentary interviews people close to Herrhausen and Grams showing what made them the people they became.
- DirectorJacques PerrinJacques CluzaudMichel DebatsStarsJacques PerrinPhilippe LabroDocumentary on the migratory patterns of birds, shot over the course of three years on all seven continents.
- DirectorDana Janklowicz-MannAmir MannStarsStephen ChangIrene EberBetty GrebenschikoffStripped of possessions and rights, German and Eastern European Jews flee to an unlikely destination to avoid persecution from the Nazis.
- DirectorDamian PettigrewStarsFederico FelliniRoberto BenigniLuigi 'Titta' BenziA look at Fellini's creative process. In extensive interviews, Fellini talks a bit about his background and then discusses how he works and how he creates. Several actors, a producer, a writer, and a production manager talk about working with Fellini. Archive footage of Fellini and others on the set plus clips from his films provide commentary and illustration for the points interviewees make. Fellini is fully in charge; actors call themselves puppets. He dismisses improvisation and calls for "availability." His sets and his films create images that look like reality but are not; we see the differences and the results.
- DirectorFrancesca ComenciniStarsHeidi Gaggio GiulianiCarlo OrlandoDocumentary about the death of Carlo Giuliani, who was shot by a police officer in Genoa on July 20, 2001 during a peaceful protest.
- DirectorEduardo CoutinhoStarsFernando JoséThe daily lives and routine of 37 families living in a huge 12-story building in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: their drama, aspirations, intimate revelations, loneliness, dreams...
- DirectorJosé PadilhaFelipe LacerdaStarsSandro do NascimentoRodrigo PimentelLuiz Eduardo SoaresOn June 12, 2000, a young man with a gun took the passengers aboard Bus 174 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil hostage. This documentary examines the event itself, the resulting media frenzy, the police response, and the perpetrator's background.
- DirectorRithy PanhStarsKhieu 'Poev' ChesYeay CheuNhem EnA unique documentary on the notorious S-21 prison, today the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with testimony by the only surviving prisoners and former Khmer Rouge guards.
- DirectorKevin MacdonaldStarsSimon YatesJoe SimpsonBrendan MackeyThe true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
- DirectorByambasuren DavaaLuigi FalorniStarsJanchiv AyurzanaChimed OhinAmgaabazar GonsonWhen a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.
- DirectorJulio MedemStarsXabier ArzalluzBernardo AtxagaTxiki BenegasDocumentary about the Basque nationalist movement in Spain.
- DirectorJørgen LethLars von TrierStarsClaus NissenMajken Algren NielsenDaniel Hernandez RodriguezFilmmaker Lars Von Trier challenges Jørgen Leth, the filmmaker behind The Perfect Human (1967), to remake his classic short under circumstances of increasing constraint.
- DirectorKim BartleyDonnacha O'BriainStarsHugo ChávezPedro CarmonaJesse HelmsIn April 2002, an Irish film crew is making a documentary about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, when a coup from the opposition is made.
- DirectorFernando PérezStarsFrancisquito CardetFrancisco CardetNorma PérezDawn breaks in La Habana, and as the day advances we follow the simple lives of ten ordinary Cubans, with only sounds and images accompanied by music.
- DirectorPatricio GuzmánStarsSalvador AllendePatricio GuzmánJacques BidouFrom his childhood in Valparaiso to his death during the Pinochet military coup on September 11, 1973, the life and works of Chilean president Salvador Allende.
- DirectorThomas RiedelsheimerStarsEvelyn GlennieFred FrithRoxane ButterflyA documentary which explores the connections among sound, rhythm, time, and the body by following percussionist Evelyn Glennie, who is nearly deaf.
- DirectorHubert SauperStarsElizabeth 'Eliza' Maganga NseseRaphael Tukiko WagaraDimond RemtuliaA documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania's Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out the native species, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.
- DirectorJeppe RøndeStarsSabeloMr. ZuluYule MasitengA documentary on Johannesburg South African men who call themselves "Swenkas" and compete for cash and prizes in an event that's part fashion show, part choreography, and part moral code.
- DirectorYaron ZilbermanStarsHanni LuxJudith HaspelAnni LamplThe story of the Hakoah Vienna Jewish womens swim team of the 1930s, their forced separation, and their reunion decades later.
- DirectorMalte LudinStarsHanns LudinMalte LudinAdolf HitlerFamily drama and historical truth collide in this film about the painful legacy cast by Hanns Ludin, a prominent Nazi executed for war crimes in 1947. In this documentary, Hanns Ludin's son, filmmaker Malte Ludin, breaks 60 years of silence and repression, investigating his father's dark deeds and interviewing his still-denying sisters. The film is an intimate look at the descendants of a Nazi perpetrator, most of whom refuse to accept the history of their family and of Nazi Germany more generally.
- DirectorLuc JacquetStarsMorgan FreemanRomane BohringerCharles BerlingIn the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and start a family.
- DirectorDomenico DistiloStarsJoanna HennemanThose who seek political asylum in Italy fear for their very survival. They are forced to wait for several years, are forbidden to work and receive no assistance from the State. They are not provided with lodging, food or information. The refugees set up communes, building shelters, squatting derelict buildings near to centers of agricultural employment and frequently move around according to the harvest season. They survive thanks to their network of solidarity, voluntary organizations and black market work. Starting in Rome where a vast community has squatted the old state railway warehouses next to Tiburtina station, the film traces stopovers in the journey of a nomadic population of asylum seekers who, crossing the Italian peninsula, must head for the centers of seasonal harvesting in order to survive. A geographical exploration of the exile of heroes, deserters and refugees from the wars in post-colonial Africa: the new migrants of Europe.
- DirectorSabina GuzzantiStarsFrancesco AlberoniLucia AnnunziataSilvio BerlusconiA documentary about the state of censorship and political satire in Italy.
- DirectorMichael GlawoggerA documentary on the extremes to which workers will go to earn a living.
- DirectorKief DavidsonRichard Ladkani'The Devil's Miner' tells the story of 14-year-old Basilio who worships the devil for protection while working in a Bolivian silver mine to support his family.
- DirectorJames LongleyStarsMarmar AlhilaliMohammed HaithemSuleiman MahmoudStories from modern day Iraq as told by Iraqis living in a time of war, occupation and ethnic tension.
- DirectorBill GuttentagDan SturmanStarsHugo ArmstrongRosalind ChaoStephen DorffThrough readings of historical account by actors and the testimony of survivors, the events of the Nanjing Massacre are recounted.
- DirectorPepe DanquartStarsThomas HuberAlexander HuberDean PotterDaredevil mountain climbers on their attempt to break yet another speed climbing record.
- DirectorRithy PanhThe film is situated as close as one can get to the life - and thus the spiritual death - of a prostitute.
- DirectorJason KohnAn examination of corruption and class warfare in Brazil as told through the stories of a wealthy businessman, a plastic surgeon who assists kidnapping victims and a politician whose income relies on a frog farm.
- DirectorJoão Moreira SallesStarsSantiago Badariotti MerloDocumentary about Santiago, a peculiar man who used to work for the director and his parents as a butler. The material was filmed in 1992 but, for some strange reason, the director felt he couldn't edit it and put it aside. In 2005 he remembers the unfinished film and starts its edition.
- DirectorEduardo CoutinhoStarsMarília PêraAndrea BeltrãoFernanda TorresFollowing a newspaper ad, ordinary women tell part of their life stories to director Eduardo Coutinho, which are then re-enacted by actresses, blurring the barriers between truth, fiction and interpretation.
- DirectorGonzalo ArijonStarsJose AlgortaRoberto CanessaAlfredo DelgadoFor the first time ever, survivors of the famous 1972 Andes plane crash tell in their own words their harrowing story of survival.
- DirectorTina MascaraGuido SantiStarsW.H. AudenDon BachardyTed BachardyThe love story between British writer, Christopher Isherwood (whose book 'The Berlin Stories' inspired the musical and film Cabaret) and Don Bachardy, American portrait artist.
- DirectorJoel ConroyStarsCillian MurphyKelly SlaterRichie FitzgeraldThe untold story of big-wave surfing in Ireland.