Maximón: Devil or Saint

MAXIMÓN - Devil or Saint is a documentary about the controversial Maya deity, also known as San Simon or the drinking and smoking saint of Guatemala. He is a mixture of ancient Maya beliefs and Christianity. The movie concentrates on the people who surround Maximón with their strong personalities, opinions and faith. The documentary gives us a rare view into the rituals and fiestas honoring Maximón. The cult of Maximón is flourishing because he performs miracles. He is also feared and despised because he is used to cast curses that can result in death. Ultimately, Maximón transcends the duality of good and evil, reflecting the Maya cosmovision in which everything in the universe co-exists.

2014-02-06 | es

El Equipo

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.

2023-02-10 | en

L'envers d'Amazon

2021-06-17 | fr

Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time

An urgent and powerful documentary, shot in a detention centre where asylum seekers trying to reach Australian shores are indefinitely detained. Secretly shot on a mobile phone by Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani while detained on Manus, in Papua New Guinea, the film is a collaboration with Dutch-Iranian filmmaker Arash Kamali Sarvestani. Boochani recounts, via the testimonies of fellow inmates, the abuse and violence inflicted and the precarious state of limbo they find themselves in. Chauka, the name of the dreaded solitary confinement unit within the detention centre, was originally the name of a beautiful bird and symbol of the Manus Island. By interweaving dialogue with two Manusian men and shots of daily life on the island, the film gives a much-needed voice to Manus inhabitants, understandably distressed by the current situation. With marked restraint, the film exposes lives broken by shocking immigration policies.

2017-06-16 | en

Gaza Is Our Home

"Gaza Is Our Home" is a profoundly personal documentary that peels back the layers of devastation within the Gaza Strip, as witnessed through the lens of filmmaker Monear Shaer. His debut documentary was created out of agony as a timely, impactful, and tragic response to the collective anguish of all who call Gaza home... What began as an auto-generated slideshow on Monear’s iPhone of his own trip to see his family in 2021, has since transformed into a feature-length documentary. Through a tapestry of intimate interviews, unfiltered personal footage, and raw storytelling, "Gaza Is Our Home" transcends the political rhetoric and confronts audiences with the agonizing reality and ongoing cruelty thrust upon the film-makers own family. It is more than just a documentary... Rather, "Gaza Is Our Home" stands as a testament to the humanity behind the over 33,362 innocent lives massacred since Oct 2023...

2024-01-12 | en

Miguelito - Canto a Borinquen

In 1973, eleven year old Miguelito was discovered singing in the San Juan airport by the legendary New York record producer Harvey Averne. Within the year, he went from the slums of Manuel A Perez, to recording an album with some of the finest salsa musicians of the time to finally performing with Eddie Palmieri at Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 people. Throughout Latin America his songs ‘Payaso’ and ‘Canto a Borinquen’ had become cult hits. And then he simply disappeared...

2019-03-07 | en

Alice in the Land of National Guard of Russia

A girl from St. Petersburg walks around protest-ridden Moscow, talking to riot police and believing that sooner or later they will go over to the side of the demonstrators. An 18-year-old student of a St. Petersburg college introduces herself as Alice and tells about herself that from the age of four she lived in an orphanage and in foster families. In Moscow, Alisa, for whom this is the first rally in her life, walks along the police cordons and looks under the OMON helmet. "Under the mask you can't see, are you even human?"

2019-08-18 | ru

Chuy, The Wolf Man

Jesus 'Chuy' Aceves and a dozen living members of his extended family suffer from the very rare condition of congenital hypertrichosis, meaning they were born with excessive hair on their faces and bodies. Due to their appearance, they suffer from discrimination in all areas of their lives: the children are made fun of at school and abandoned by their 'non-hairy' parents, and the adults cannot find work unless they choose to exhibit themselves as freaks in circuses. This moving and visually arresting documentary is a portrait of Chuy and his family members. It examines their day-to-day lives and their struggle to find love, acceptance and employment.

2015-09-25 | en

letters to eleanore

"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.

2024-06-30 | en

Return to El Salvador

Return to El Salvador explores the reconstruction of El Salvador, post-civil war. The film revisits the struggles of the nation and examines what drives over 700 Salvadorans to flee their homeland each day, often risking their lives to illegally enter countries in search of a better life for their families. The film also profiles a number of Salvadorans effected by the civil war. One couple, who fled death threats in the 1980s, finds asylum and a political platform in the United States. The film also follows a different couple who, after escaping the war, returned to El Salvador to work with churches and poor communities.

2010-01-01 | en

Poland 1939: When German Soldiers Became War Criminals

September 1st, 1939. Nazi Germany invades Poland. The campaign is fast, cruel and ruthless. In these circumstances, how is it that ordinary German soldiers suddenly became vicious killers, terrorizing the local population? Did everyone turn into something worse than wild animals? The true story of the first World War II offensive that marks in the history of infamy the beginning of a carnage and a historical tragedy.

2019-08-31 | de

Free Tibet

A film about the Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco in 1996.

1998-09-11 | en

Motherland Memories

Ompung Putra Boru, a sixties indigenous Batak woman from Humbang Hasundutan, North Sumatra, retraces her life stories through photographs that interweave her past and present as a wife, mother, healer and indigenous land defender in two neighboring villages. Her multi-layered stories are juxtaposed with visual records of everyday life in the two villages, where people’s living space is still increasingly threatened by a giant pulp expansion.

2022-11-19 | id

Stunned, I Remain Alert

Journalist Dermi Azevedo has never stopped fighting for human rights and now, three decades after the end of the military dictatorship in Brazil, he's witnessing the return of those same practices.

2020-01-15 | pt

Jinsuk & Me

I have been pretty satisfied with my life before I got on the bus. When I do in June 2011, my whole life turns upside down. I am just a regular passenger at first. Like other people I was sorry, and felt obliged to help and care for other passengers. Then I begin to film these common heroes with my camera. Those who speak about hope, who provide it and get on the bus, Ms. Kim Jin-suk, and other crane laborers who risk their safety while demonstrating for their rights on high. She, while stationed insecurely on high, begins interacting with the world through Twitter and makes friends. Then I realize I really love her. Will we have her back safely?

2012-09-27 | ko

Freedom Swimmer

Olivia Martin McGuire (China Love) parallels a grandfather’s journey to safety during the Cultural Revolution with his granddaughter’s fight for freedom in Hong Kong today. Interweaving unflinching testimony of the elder’s exodus from the Chinese mainland, exquisitely animated recreations of the perilous escape to Hong Kong through land and sea, and vivid, evocative archival footage of both mid-20th-century China and the Hong Kong protests today, Freedom Swimmer emerges as a gripping and timely account of the struggle for survival across generations.

2022-09-22 | en

Makun (no llores) - Dibujos en un CIE

2019-01-01 | es

Caos de tránsito

Through testimonies and images, the crude reality of human rights in Argentina in democracy is portrayed and the role of the hegemonic means of communication to make causes and protests invisible ...

2018-10-09 | es

Maria's Story

It is El Salvador, 1989, three years before the end of a brutal civil war that took 75,000 lives. Maria Serrano, wife, mother, and guerrilla leader is on the front lines of the battle for her people and her country. With unprecedented access to FMLN guerrilla camps, the filmmakers dramatically chronicle Maria's daily life in the war.

1991-01-18 | en

The Present

| fr