An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.
Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.
In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.
When housewife Trina wins the lottery, her comfortable life with her dentist husband John slowly deteriorates, in part by her own increasing paranoia and partly by the machinations of villainous acquaintance Marcus.
Peronist view of its history between the fall in 1955 and the electoral triumph of 1973 using a metaphor of the poem Martin Fierro.
A poor girl struggles to buy new trending sandals.
Left penniless by her vengeful ex-husband, Madeline is forced to become a pickpocket to pay for a new wardrobe. One of her victims is a Mr. Finlay, who threatens to turn her over to the police -- until he hears Madeline's woeful tale of her cruel, possessive husband.
In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. She's raped by a trick, who she kills. A string of murder and robbery follows that ultimately leads Aileen to becoming America's first female serial killer.
Follows a young cyclo driver on his poverty-driven descent into criminality in modern-day Ho Chi Minh City. The boy's struggles to scratch out a living for his two sisters and grandfather in the mean streets of the city lead to petty crime on behalf of a mysterious Madame from whom he rents his cyclo.
Explores the lives of Sara, Gigi and Giovanna, three Latino transvestites who for years have lived on the streets of Manhattan supporting their drug addictions through prostitution. They made their temporary home inside broken garbage trucks that the Sanitation Department keeps next to the salt deposits used in the winter to melt the snow. The three friends share the place known as "The Salt Mines".
A group of kids in a poverty-stricken Puerto Rican rural town need money to purchase baseball uniforms for little league.
This documentary is a portrait of Point St. Charles, one of Montreal’s notoriously bleak neighbourhoods. Many of the residents are English-speaking and of Irish origin; many of them are also on welfare. Considered to be one of the toughest districts in all of Canada, Point St. Charles is poor in terms of community facilities, but still full of rich contrasts and high spirits – that is, most of the time.
Nun Nancy follows the heartfelt ministry of a passionate woman of God that served the inner city of Baltimore, Maryland disguised as a bartender so that she could more effectively share God's love to the drunks and prostitutes.
While a woman makes an omelette, we learn how difficult it is to make ends meet. 7-minute short film which won honorable mention at Sundance 2009. Created at the invitation of Capital Weekly as part of the first BC omnibus film '15' - 15 authors, 15 years, 15 short films.
The movie takes place on Oslo's east side sometime during the twenties. It depicts the workers' environment by traditional elements like unemployment, strike, poverty, alcoholism, absent fathers, wise and tired mothers, the dream of a better life and the friendship between the boys in the street.
8 year old Joe has a Birthday he will never forget. After friends bully him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality.
In a forgotten pocket of Southern Ohio where American manufacturing and opportunity are drying up, a determined young woman finds a ticket out when she is accepted to college. Alongside her older brother, Ruth Avery joins a dangerous scrap metal crew in order to pay her way. Together, they spend one brutal winter working the scrap yards during the day and stealing valuable metal from the once thriving factories by night. With her goal in sight, Ruth finds that the ultimate cost of an education for a girl like her may be more than she bargained for, and she soon finds herself torn between a promising future and the family she would leave behind.
The true story of Saartje Baartman, a black South African worker who moves to London with her master in the early 19th century. Although she dreams of being an artist, once in Europe she is exploited as a sideshow attraction due to her large buttocks and genitalia.
A man on parole, a struggling mother, and a pair of drug dealing brothers each become part of a dizzying multiplicity of plots, but one story. "The Devil Makes Work For Idle Hands" is a working class drama which focuses on social mobility, disillusionment, and the struggles of working class people. Seen through the perspectives of three characters, the film is loosely based on real life events and uses a mixture of professional and first time actors.
After agreeing to work as a hitman for a dangerous mafioso, Simon faces a moral dilemma when he rescues a man, who happens to have a shocking story to tell.