Sanssouci, Friedrichs Paradies
In Russia, criticizing the war in Ukraine or Vladimir Putin’s regime has become a crime. Thousands of ordinary citizens are being arrested, tried, and imprisoned. They are called “Politzek”: political prisoners. Filmed clandestinely over the course of more than a year, Politzek gives a platform to those who, despite the fear, continue to speak out against Putin’s repressive Russia. Through the intersecting stories of a teenager sentenced to five years in prison for criticizing the government on social media, a young artist jailed for placing anti-war stickers, a human rights activist, and two theater directors facing Kafkaesque trials, the film unveils the machinery of state repression in Russia. With rare footage, broken yet unyielding voices, this is a story of silenced resistance.
Two 10-year-old girls, one Palestinian and one Israeli, recount their daily lives under bombardment in the West Bank. Two poignant perspectives on the same conflict.
Exploring the rise of anti-abortion groups in Canada, the filmmaker also presents the feminist and pro-choice response that is being organized across the country.
A public service announcement condemning the ominous obstacle of social parasitism and delinquency amongst wayward youth unwilling to contribute to Romania’s socialist advancement.
The traveler who never leaves his cabinet – that’s what his contemporaries used to call Jules Verne. He was a person with an extraordinary lust for life whose fantasy had no limits, he literally taught us how to dream. Which of us did not aspire of circling the world with Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout? Who hasn’t dreamt of roaming the sea with captain Nemo on his quest for vengeance? This film is yet another piece from the series “Great Dreamers” which already includes some of the most well-known visionaries such as Nicola Tesla (“Free Energy of Tesla”) and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (“Tsiolkovsky’s Worlds of Miracle”). By having utilized advanced CGI technologies we were able to recreate the life of outstanding persons, pioneers and path breakers in science and research.
In the spotlight of global media coverage, the first transgender woman ever to perform as Don Giovanni in a professional opera, makes her historic debut in one of the reddest states in the U.S.
Les Trésors du Paris de la Belle Époque
The AfD, founded in 2013, is a right-wing party that has become increasingly radicalized in recent years. To illustrate this, only those who enthusiastically joined the party in its early years are heard. They describe what they looked for and found in the party, but also how and why they left, disillusioned and frightened by the AfD's developments. How did they experience the party's radicalization process? How did friends and family react? When and why did they decide to turn their back on the party? How difficult was the exit process? The documentary provides an illuminating inside view of this party, which has been driving the established parties and the political establishment ahead of it for over ten years, gives viewers a unique look into the AfD's chronicle and world of thought and is at the same time a film about the mechanisms of political radicalization.
Phil Comeau shines a spotlight on the Ordre de Jacques-Cartier, a powerful secret society that operated from 1926 to 1965, infiltrating every sector of Canadian society and forging the fate of French-language communities. Through never-before-heard testimony from former members of the Order, along with historically accurate dramatic reconstructions, this film paints a gripping portrait of the social and political struggles of Canadian francophone-minority communities.
Vigilantes Inc.: America’s New Vote Suppression Hitmen The 2024 election is in danger: 8,500 self-proclaimed vigilante vote-fraud hunters have already challenged the rights of 851,000 voters of color. Investigative reporter Greg Palast (Guardian/Rolling Stone) hunts down the MAGA vigilantes including one dressed like Doc Holliday—with his loaded 6-guns—who blocked the vote of 4,000 Black soldiers including MAJ Gamaliel Turner. Palast and Major Turner confront the vote rustlers in scenes humorous, weird and dangerous.
A showcase of German chancellor and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally.
A re-enactment of the Jules Durand case. In 1910, Jean Jaurès [leader of the French socialist movement] took the lead in defending a working-class coal miner, Jules Durand, accused of complicity in and condemned to death for the murder of a labor leader. As in the Dreyfus Affair, a false dossier had been used to convict Durand. Jaurès argued that the memory of the Dreyfus Affair saved Durand, calling the case the working class’s Dreyfus Affair.
Salhia Brakhlia has filmed the set and behind the scenes of Franceinfo's breakfast show during a year. How to inform at the time of social media and fake news ? How careful are journalist with those news ? How do they connect to politicians during an presidential election campaign ? This unique immersion gives us a part of the answer.
Gummadi Narsaiah
“Unhappy with the limited structure of league newsreels, Nykino, a splinter filmmaking collective, produced a MARCH OF TIME-type series under the banner THE WORLD TODAY. Only two episodes were released, the first premiering with Strand’s THE WAVE (1936). This one, like NATIVE LAND, addresses fascism in America.” - Bruce Posner” (via Light Cone). Not to be confused with the similarly titled Black Legion from 1937, directed by Archie Mayo.
A Nazi propaganda film made to promote anti-Semitism among the German people. Newly-shot footage of Jewish neighborhoods in recently-conquered Poland is combined with preexisting film clips and stills to defame the religion and advance Hitler's slurs that its adherents were plotting to undermine European civilization.
Between spring and autumn, thousands of ships traversed the Roman Empire to transport goods and troops. For a long time, it was assumed that they primarily followed coastal routes. The Bissula team has reached different conclusions.
An inside look at Jessica Piper, a Democratic Candidate running for a House seat in District 1 of Missouri. This is a snapshot of her mind and what it feels like to run a campaign in an overlooked place.
On a building site in present-day Tehran, Lateef, a 17-year-old Turkish worker is irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, a young Afghan worker. The revelation of Rahmat's secret changes both their lives.