My Socialist Home

Um real a hora

Guy Debord's analysis of a consumer society.

Elogio da Graça

As South Africa celebrates its 20th anniversary of the advent of democracy in 1994, it is difficult to believe the ‘Mandela miracle’ nearly didn’t happen. In an orgy of countrywide violence, some were intent on derailing the first free elections. Now, for the first time, those responsible for countless deaths and widespread mayhem explain how they nearly brought South Africa to its knees. 1994: The Bloody Miracle is a chilling look at what these hard men did to thwart democracy, and at how they have now made an uneasy peace with the ‘Rainbow Nation’ in their own different ways.

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. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Through a montage of compelling videos posted on the Internet by young gays, bis, lesbians or transsexuals, «Out» makes us experience from within the groundbreaking moment of their coming out – after which their intimate and social life shall be forever changed.

1968, The Socialist Republic of Romania. Women catch up on the latest tendencies in beachwear, the young hippies of Hamburg are harshly criticized by Romanian students, while Nicolae Ceaușescu reads the famous defiance speech against the intervention of the Warsaw Pact troops in Czechoslovakia. Floating solemnly over all this is The Internationale, sung on a stadium by a crowd of pioneers dressed in white shirts and red ties. A certainty for each probability: the documentary is at the same time a history lesson and an ideological warning sign, the director’s endeavour permanently draws our attention to the functions of the propaganda film, yet without tarnishing the fascination that dwells in the core of the images, that of the figures that wave at us from a past buried in commonplaces and political parti pris.

Lawyers, an ex-police investigator and a former judge denounce Japan's criminal justice system as defendants in a high-profile 2003 election-rigging case in Kagoshima explain how detectives tried to extract false confessions on trumped-up charges of vote-buying. Those who buckled under the pressure and confessed spent over a year in prison. All the "suspects" were finally acquitted, but remain permanently scarred by the ordeal. This documentary is a dramatic reminder that indiscriminate arrests and convictions should be fought with the full force of the law.

A film about the artist Daniel Spoerri. It's actually a film about a thought by Daniel Spoerri: a film almost without Daniel Spoerri, it's actually mostly acted out by a child - to say no less than that everything somehow goes on in life, even if you die in between.

A documentary that exposes the shocking truths behind industrial food production and food wastage, focusing on fishing, livestock and crop farming. A must-see for anyone interested in the true cost of the food on their plate.

The successes and failures of a couple determined to live in harmony with nature on a farm outside of Los Angeles are lovingly chronicled by filmmaking farmer John Chester, in this inspiring documentary.

This film takes us on an emotional journey from sacred ground above Byron Bay to Antarctica, Indonesia to Pakistan, and is sure to light a fire under the strongest climate change denier. THE POWER OF ACTIVISM focuses on six highly spirited female activists as they are put under the microscope to ascertain the financial impact of their environmental solutions… and the results are astonishing. From shark conservation to indigenous practices, intensive farming to plastic pollution; all their ‘causes' fall under the umbrella of "climate change", but they should also fall under the umbrella of "saving tax payers hundreds of millions of dollars!”

In Iasi, Romania, from June 28 to July 6, 1941, nearly 15 000 Jews were murdered in the course of a horrifying pogrom. At the time, the programmed extermination of European Jews had not yet began. After the war, the successive communist governments did all they could to ensure the Iasi pogrom would be forgotten. It was not until November of 2004 that Romania recognized for the first time its direct responsibility in the pogrom. All that remains of this massacre are about a hundred photographs taken as souvenirs by german and romanian soldiers, and a few remaining survivors.

Fomos, Somos e Seremos Comunistas

Serena is drawing the portrait of Enzo. In a cozy and intimate atmosphere, he tells us his story. This life is extraordinary, because it is a life of a Female-To-Man (FTM) transgender.

“What the hell happened to my country?” After Donald Trump’s election, this is a burning question for Susanne Brandstätter, an American filmmaker who’s lived most her life in Austria. With the critical distance of a European and an insider’s eye, she gets close to Trump voters in Ohio: a microcosm of a deeply divided USA. Showing striking parallels to Europe, the documentary explores polarization and why people stick to their political opinions – no matter what. Is there no way out?

A short documentary about being trans in Ireland.

Manne

La face cachée de Hiroshima

The American Question examines the insidious roots of American polarization and distrust, in a desperate search for a path forward.