Occupied Cinema

A journey through abandoned cinemas of Sardinia interspersed with memories of three senior projectionists, a profession now suppressed by technology.

From both local and global perspectives, this documentary examines the harsh realities behind the mounting water crisis. Learn how politics, pollution and human rights are intertwined in this important issue that affects every being on Earth. With water drying up around the world and the future of human lives at stake, the film urges a call to arms before more of our most precious natural resource evaporates.

Moscow, January 1996. Boris Yeltsin gets ready to run for a second mandate of the presidency of the young Russian Federation. Polls are in the single digits. A painful economic transition, war in Chechnya, and the rise of criminal groups have left the majority of Russians dissatisfied with Yeltsin… and willing to vote for the communist leader Gennady Zyuganov. Yet six months later, Yeltsin won the election with nearly 54% of the vote. How did that happen?

Can you imagine a water market? A market where owners of water stock would buy and sell, while others would profit on its price without needing it? What would life be like if all of the planet’s water resources, superficial or subterranean, the waters of rivers, lakes and glaciers, belonged to the private sector? ‘Life For Sale’ examines the biggest water market in the world, set up in Chile.

“El apagón: Aquí vive gente” is a 23-minute film that explores the socio-economic challenges in Puerto Rico, focusing on the effects of power outages and gentrification driven by the real estate and energy sectors. Through visuals and personal stories, the documentary highlights the experiences of Puerto Rican communities facing these issues.

No Measure of Health profiles Kyle Magee, an anti-advertising activist from Melbourne, Australia, who for the past 10 years has been going out into public spaces and covering over for-profit advertising in various ways. The film is a snapshot of his latest approach, which is to black-out advertising panels in protest of the way the media system, which is funded by advertising, is dominated by for-profit interests that have taken over public spaces and discourse. Kyle’s view is that real democracy requires a democratic media system, not one funded and controlled by the rich. As this film follows Kyle on a regular day of action, he reflects on fatherhood, democracy, what drives the protest, and his struggle with depression, as we learn that “it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”

The Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH) invited an Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) delegation to Haiti to learn about their fight against "le plan neoliberal" and recruit help in the form of material aid and solidarity. The delegation was in Haiti from April 24 to May 25, 2008, two weeks after the country erupted in mass protest at burgeoning food prices. This video shares the stories and experiences.

With dreams of colonising Mars and beyond, billionaires such as Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos are fuelling a boom in the space industry. But many criticise the pollution and resources needed for such an endeavour. By promising humanity’s survival through an escape into space, New Space may be contributing to the destruction of our planet.

"The Boss" is a documentary about transition, privatization and corporations in Croatia, and touches upon the history of the largest Croatian corporation - Agrokor.

Cinema clerks Silva and Felix work the final night before their beloved cinema is demolished by private investors. An empty final screening allows them to reflect on the meaning of cinema in an age wherein art no longer occupies physical space.

Enchanting holiday tale of a young runaway who has broken into an old movie palace, looking for shelter on a snow-filled Christmas Eve. Closed for decades, the building is filled with countless discarded artifacts from the past. The girl is discovered by the old caretaker, who uses the ghosts and spirits that inhabit this long-abandoned world to turn her life around.

A group of thieves and outcasts are living in a big abandoned movie theater where they have created a very friendly and very particular universe. The police will use all its resources to violate their space, but again and again fail in their attempts.

When a mayor pushes to privatize their public market, a struggling meat vendor confronts the brutal cost of “progress.”

A classic Czech comedy about the privatization of a small South Bohemian brewery. In a series of comical situations, good Czech police officers encounter the mafia, and honest citizens encounter swindlers. This amusing story, which of course includes a romantic subplot, is significantly influenced by fairy-tale creatures that suddenly emerge from the distant past.

Call him a creative genius or just plain wacky. Either way Alfred Yankovic has carved his own brand of comedic parodies, polka medleys, and original songs for the outcast who never fit in.

A group of remote control car racers compete over the course of summer 2021, on different tracks in the South of England, all aiming to be crowned the King.

Mitrice Richardson, a lovely 24 year old African-American woman, was released late at night from the Malibu, California Sheriffs jail after having been detained for not paying her bill at an upscale restaurant. She was described as 'acting crazy' and, in fact, was having a mental crisis. She was released into the mountainous region with no cell, no purse, no ID, no car, no way home and vanished. Eleven months later her remains were found in a desolate Malibu canyon. 'Lost Compassion,' shot from ten days after Mitrice went missing, tells the complex, emotional inside story of the search for Mitrice and struggles with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, whose deputies lied about her arrest and likely were involved with her disappearance and murder.

In a convenience store, the door of the storage room is a two-way mirror, reflecting a romantic story of love at first sight.

A filmmaker turns detective to uncover the forgotten story of Li Ling-Ai, the un-credited female producer of KUKAN, an Academy Award-winning color documentary about World War II China that has been lost for decades.

Selfie is a pop culture in Hong Kong. Other than entertaining oneself, taking selfie can be an artistic work of personal photography. In general, people have negative feelings towards selfie, but it does carry alternative and in-depth meanings such as capture the moment and understanding oneself.