Megacities

Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.

1998-08-12 | en

Isle of Flowers

A tomato is planted, harvested and sold at a supermarket, but it rots and ends up in the trash. But it doesn’t end there: Isle of Flowers follows it up until its real end, among animals, trash, women and children. And then the difference between tomatoes, pigs and human beings becomes clear.

1989-09-06 | pt

Bus 174

Documentary depicts what happened in Rio de Janeiro on June 12th 2000, when bus 174 was taken by an armed young man, threatening to shoot all the passengers. Transmitted live on all Brazilian TV networks, this shocking and tragic-ending event became one of violence's most shocking portraits, and one of the scariest examples of police incompetence and abuse in recent years.

2002-10-22 | pt

I Want to Be A Pilot

Omondi lives in the biggest slum in East Africa. Everyday he sees airplanes fly over him. He dreams of becoming an airline pilot and flying far away.

2006-06-08 | en

Favela Rising

A man emerges from the slums of Rio to lead the nonviolent cultural movement known as Afro-reggae.

2005-04-24 | en

Natal

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Teacher Somsri

A courageous teacher leads a group against a real estate developer who is determined to evict hundreds to make way for a construction project.

1985-01-11 | th

Every map has a discourse

2014-04-11 | pt

Hong Kong’s Secret City

Not many people know that there is in the center of Hong Kong, a city of 50,000 inhabitants that escape authority, a city which holds no law and no order, the ‘walled city’. Never before has a television crew been allowed to enter this labyrinth. Christa Wesemann, an Austrian documentary filmmaker, has achieved this for the first time. The recordings from the ‘walled city’ are breathtaking pictures, as it has never seen the world. The history and daily flow in Walled City are ruled by the ‘triad’, a Chinese crime syndicate.

1988-09-21 | de

P for Pelican

An old hermit lives in a slum and wants to teach the alphabet to the children who regularly go there to play. When a child proposes he use the word “Pelican” for the letter ‘P’, the hermit goes to the nearby park to see this animal he has never heard of.

1972-01-03 | fa

Favela Gay

Favela Gay tells the story of eleven individuals in their own words. Living in eight slums (favelas) in Rio de Janeiro, these members of the LGBTQ community – two transgender women, a crossdressing man, a travesti prostitute, a famous carnival dancer, two community activists, and even a young man who used to be transgender, but transitioned back – have fought prejudice and seen some of the most unsavoury sides of the city.

2014-10-07 | pt

For Kibera!

Boy Dallas lives in the slum of Kibera, the capital of Kenya, Nairobi. He is a radio host, "The Voice of Kibera." Dallas is a self-taught cameraman, and with a spare camera, he sets out to find out why the neighborhood, which has long been the target of aid, is still in such terrible trouble.

2015-12-14 | fi

Coragem

2016-11-17 | pt

Squatterpunk

Hapon is an 8-year-old survivor in the slums of modern Manila, scratching out an improvised existence at the margins of society. This rawly shot documentary follows Hapon and his mates as they swagger around their dilapidated universe. Featuring a punk-rock score by director Khavn's band the Brockas, the film captures a carefree spirit in the children that completely belies the squalid conditions in which they live.

2007-01-31 | tl

São Vito

Story about the imposing building Edifício São Vito, a mark on the center of São Paulo gentrification system. The building was demolished in 2011, with many families being deallocated after an agreemente with the city town that was never accomplished.

2019-02-02 | pt

City of Imagination: Kowloon Walled City 20 Years Later

The Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was once the densest place on earth, a virtually lawless labyrinth of crime, grime, commerce and hope. A Wall Street Journal documentary tracks its colorful legacy and brings the place alive 20 years later.

2014-04-02 | en

New Towns for Old

Sheffield stands in as 'Smokedale', an industrial Everytown, in this stirring call for "new schools, new hospitals, new roads, new life", after WWII.

1942-01-01 | en

Ghar Mein Shehar Hona

via print and film, love and music, state propaganda and people's archives, five-year plans and Emergency.

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Eugenio's Close Up: Inside the Slums of Buenos Aires

Eugenio's Close Up: Inside the Slums of Buenos Aires A professional photographer seeks to infuse his Buenos Aires slum with art, creativity and free expression. As with so many of the marginalised shanty towns of Latin America, there is a wellspring of violence and economic despair. Caught in the ever-shifting instability of Argentina's economy, there is little chance that these slums will be transformed or that their residents will be able to easily escape the country's cyclical poverty. Despite this for Eugenio, a 32-year-old photographer who still calls the slum of Villa 15 his home, there is a persistent richness to the life around him, and hope.

2016-04-26 | en

The Hand of the Butterfly

Fourth film in the Mafrouza series. Two events mark the early winter in Mafrouza: the birth of a boy and a young woman's engagement. Within their homes, the intimate and the holy, cries, whispers and rituals: individuals' destinies are taking shape. Amidst the familial agitation, each finds their own way to live. Through their actions, but also through what they say, summoning the imaginary to reflect on reality, make it livable, and speaking of life, death and gender roles.

2010-08-12 | fr