The Ta'ang or Palaung people, an ethnic minority living in the mountainous area between Myanmar's Kokang region and China's Yunnan province, have historically suffered many forced migrations due to war. When their survival is threatened again in 2015, thousands of them flee across the border. Filmmaker Wang Bing accompanies them and becomes a privileged witness to a human story that is both a modern reportage and a mythical epic.
Maidan (2014)
A chronicle of the civil uprising against the regime of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych that took place in Kyiv in the winter of 2013/14. The film follows the progress of the revolution: from peaceful rallies, half a million strong in the Maidan square, to the bloody street battles between protesters and riot police.
Tales of a Toy Horse (2021)
In his own way, Anatoli Ljutuk is a legend of Tallinn's Old Town - a man from Western Ukraine who has built a unique world on Laboratory Street, the main core of which is the Ukrainian Cultural Center and Church. There, he engages in calligraphy, makes paper in a medieval way, carves traditional wooden toys in his workshop and makes books in the spirit of old monasteries. According to the oath taken a quarter of a century ago, he has promised to create something good every day. His daily commitment is challenged by the war that broke out in Ukraine, which Anatoly cannot passively ignore.
China's problems with the Uyghurs (2014)
For the first time, a French director-journalist will join an official trip to the heart of one of the most secret regions in China: Xinjiang. Unstable and by far the most volatile province in the country, it’s a unique opportunity to visit an area that’s normally out of bounds to tourists. Located in the far northwest of the People’s Republic, on the borders of central Asia, Xinjiang is the scene of frequent clashes between the Chinese authorities and the Uyghurs, Turkish-speaking Muslims who, like their Tibetan neighbors, reject the colonization of their territory. Going beyond the Uyghur problem (which gets less media coverage than the unrest in neighboring Tibet) the aim of this documentary is to decipher the propaganda that is currently being put out by the Chinese, who are trying to convince the world, and Chinese tour operators in particular, that the region is a haven of peace, a heaven on earth suitable for mass tourism.
I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story (2015)
A documentary about Caroll Spinney who has been Sesame Street's Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since 1969. At 78-years-old, he has no intention of stopping.
Maineland (2017)
Chinese teenagers from the wealthy elite, with big American dreams, settle into a boarding school in small-town Maine. As their fuzzy visions of the American dream slowly gain more clarity, their relationship to home takes on a poignant new aspect.
Pathway (2012)
Xu Xin’s film “Dao Lu” (China 2012) offers an exclusive “in camera” encounter with Zheng Yan, an 83 year-old veteran of the Chinese Red Army, who calmly relates how he has navigated his country’s turbulent history over three-quarters of a century.Born to a wealthy family in a foreign concession, Yan joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1941 because he sincerely believed in the socialist project, and in its immediate capacity to free China from the Japanese yoke and eradicate deep-rooted corruption.
Stacey on the Front Line: Girls, Guns and Isis (2017)
September 2016: Stacey Dooley embeds herself on the frontline with the extraordinary all-female Yazidi battalion, who are fuelled to take revenge against the so-called Islamic State. As the battle to take Mosul from ISIS advances in Northern Iraq, in this extraordinary film for BBC Three, Stacey finds these young women's lives have been transformed by a desire to avenge their loved ones who were murdered by Isis.
All in My Family (2019)
After starting a family of his very own in the United States, a gay filmmaker documents his loving, traditional Chinese family's process of acceptance.
The Spanish Civil War (1983)
Documentary series which uses film and eyewitness accounts from both sides of the conflict that divided Spain in the years leading up to World War Two, also placing it in its international context.
The Road to Fame (2013)
China's top drama academy stages the American musical "Fame," China's first official collaboration with Broadway, as the graduation showcase for its senior class. During the eight-month rehearsal, five students compete for roles, struggle with pressure from family and authority, and prepare to graduate into China's corrupt entertainment industry.
The Pharmacy: Shanghai (1976)
Joris Ivens and wife Marceline Loridan took their cameras into Pharmacy No. 3 in Shanghai, which in addition to dispensing drugs manages an outreach program of medical services, an extension of the pharmacy’s in-house medical care center.
Of Monsters and Skirts (2008)
Libertad, Enriqueta, Maricarmen and Albert evoke the years when their mothers and his aunt stayed in Les Corts jail, times of innocence, hopelessness and distress. Their childhood stories inmmerse us in a world whose main characters are memories, oblivion and the passing of time.
The Catastrophe Garden (2022)
It is a daring idea: to grow food from old mattresses in a desolate camp at the edge of a war zone. When a refugee scientist meets two quirky professors, they must confront their own catastrophes - and make a garden grow. Short film now streaming on Waterbear.com.
Plastic China (2017)
This film tells a story about an unschooled 11-year-old girl Yi-Jie, she's a truly global child who learns the world through the United Nations of Wastes while working with her YI minority parents in this recycle workshop thousand miles away from their mountain village home town
The Sparks Brothers (2021)
Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron & Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band’s favorite band.
The 800 Mile Wall (2009)
"The 800 Mile Wall" highlights the construction of new border walls along the U.S.-Mexico border as well as the effect on migrants trying to cross in the U.S. This powerful 90 minute film is an unflinching look at a failed U.S. border strategy that many believe violates fundamental human rights.