Arica

In the Juan Fernández Archipelago, 700 kilometers from the central coast of Chile, is Robinson Crusoe Island. There, a group of children who are in their last year of primary school will soon graduate, leaving the island where they learned to live.

In the cobalt mining areas of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), babies are being born with horrific birth defects. Scientists and doctors are finding increasing evidence of environmental pollution from industrial mining which, they believe, may be the cause of a range of malformations from cleft palate to some so serious the baby is stillborn. More than 60% of the world’s reserves of cobalt are in the DRC and this mineral is essential for the production of electric car batteries, which may be the key to reducing carbon emissions and to slowing climate change. In The Cost of Cobalt we meet the doctors treating the children affected and the scientists who are measuring the pollution. Cobalt may be part of the global solution to climate change, but is it right that Congo’s next generation pay the price with their health? Many are hoping that the more the world understands their plight, the more pressure will be put on the industry here to clean up its act.

February 2010. On a remote island in the Pacific Ocean called Juan Fernández, everyone slept in town. But a 12-year-old girl felt a tremor and warned of imminent danger.

The visions experienced by a man in the midst of Chile’s social revolt lead him to revisit different moments of his life while his mind wanders through a limbo of images. The journey will help him to finally discover why he’s in that place.

Gathered by a theater company, a small town in Chile called Villa Alegre, looks deep into its origins and myths to tell their own history through a play.

Vecinos del volcán

Make money. Salut, bonsoir!

Escribir no es normal: Roberto Bolaño y su paso por Cataluña

Images from Grängesberg's mines. The ore is loaded onto trains and transported to the port of Oxelösund.

Lee Anne Schmitt explores California's landscape and past to document the history of one-time boom towns built and abandoned by the industries that necessitated their creation. Sold as a limitless land expansive with free opportunity, California was actually, from its onset, fissured by the interwoven needs of private and public interests. Schmitt's film covers various locations through time, as the major industries of the early 20th century (mining, lumber, oil) give way to the military, eventually leading to multinational corporations, and the use of small towns as satellites for growing urban metropolises.

The third installment in Dan Přibáň's series of travel documentaries describes the author's journey with his friends across South America in vehicles that are often notorious but cult in their own way. The charming dynamics of the group on screen are further enhanced by the high-quality craftsmanship.

In this feature documentary, filmmaker Paul Cowan offers an innovative, moving account of the Westray coal mine disaster that killed 26 men in Nova Scotia on May 9, 1992. The film focuses on the lives of three widows and three miners lucky enough not to be underground that day when the methane and coal dust ignited. But their lives were torn apart by the events. Meet some of the working men, who felt they had no option but to stay on at Westray. And wives, who heard the rumours, saw their men sometimes bloodied from accidents and stood by them, hoping it would all turn out all right. This is a film about working people everywhere whose lives are often entrusted to companies that violate the most fundamental rules of safety and decency in the name of profit.

A poetic short film showing a day in the 2019 protests in Santiago, Chile through documentary images.

An in-depth portrait of Colombina Parra, singer-songwriter, writer, and architect with strong ties to Chilean popular culture. On camera, she shares personal reflections on an artistic journey that has connected her since childhood to the profound legacy of her father, Nicanor, and her close relatives, such as Violeta and Roberto Parra. The archives highlight her persistent rock endeavors with bands like Barracos and Los Ex, and ultimately, her own solo path. These are the journeys of a woman determined to find her own voice, exploring her emotions and concerns through her songs.

From the creators of 31 Minutos, here comes the story of a rock that didn't want to grow up...

Join the working men of a northern powerhouse: on the job in Gateshead workshops and at the long wall of a Northumberland pit.

Inspired by an unconventional teacher, a group of teenagers in upstate New York in the early 1990s make a student film and uncover a vast conspiracy that is poisoning their community. Thirty years later, they revisit their film and confront the legacy of this transformative experience.

Time-travel to a 1940s classroom with this exemplary educational film.

Unraveling one of the biggest environmental scandals of our time, a group of citizens in West Virginia take on a powerful corporation after they discover it has knowingly been dumping a toxic chemical — now found in the blood of 99.7% of Americans — into the local drinking water supply.

During a protest, French priest André Jarlan was shot and killed on September 4, 1984, in the La Victoria neighborhood of Santiago. The residents arrived on foot to the Cathedral demanding justice, also offering a testimony of love and solidarity with their pastor. In parallel, the documentary tells the story of the 1957 occupation that gave rise to the town. It also reveals the strong organization of the residents, essential in addressing the economic hardship and repression suffered by one of the main popular bastions of opposition to the military dictatorship. Pierre Dubois, the parish priest of La Victoria, played a leading role in the attempt to stop the violence against the residents of the town. In recognition of his work, he was granted Chilean nationality in 2001.