1. Goodbye Mister De Vries (Dag meneer de Vries)
Mister De Vries sits at his window awaiting his death. Until one cold winter day he is surprised by the arrival of a parcel. When he subsequently sees a pigeon flying off he knows that this is no ordinary message. His time has come. Mister De Vries momentarily hesitates to open it. When he chances it, he finds his old Frisian skates. There’s only one thing to be done.
2. Bihttoš
Bihttoš is an unconventional documentary that explores the complex relationship between a father and daughter. Through animation, re-enactments, and archival photos, writer/director Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers delves into the dissolution of her parents’ mythic love story and how it has colored her perception of love in her adult life.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
3. Eleganssi (Eleganssi)
Elegance is a short film about a group of Finnish men, and the style and elegance of hunting partridge and pheasant. The film’s protagonists are all wealthy men, for whom hunting is a treasured hobby, a passion and a way of life. The film unfolds in three acts on a scenic autumnal field. Meet the three businessmen: Nokia’s former CEO, Jorma Ollila, engineering company Kone Oy’s owner, Antti Herlin, and the charming narrator, Publishing Company Otava’s former CEO, Heikki A. Reenpää. His narration leads the viewer through hunting expeditions, creates the mood and introduces the people. Almost equally important are the gentlemens’ dogs: handsome pointers and setters, whose pedigrees, abilities and hunting prowess ultimately determine whether any birds are caught at all.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
4. A Tribute to Malcolm X
A short film made for William Greaves' "Black Journal" that discusses the influence of Malcolm X, and includes an interview with his widow, Betty Shabbazz.
It has an average vote of 8.7 on TMDB.
5. Persepolis (Persepolis)
In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.
It has an average vote of 7.905 on TMDB.
6. How to Cook Your Life
A Zen priest in San Francisco and cookbook author use Zen Buddhism and cooking to relate to everyday life.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
7. Caprichosos de San Telmo
A portrait of the working class musicians and dancers of Buenos Aires's San Telmo neighborhood, who have channeled the city's many cultural influences into the street performance called Murga.
8. The Man Who Stole Dreams
A man steals the dreams of innocent villagers and tries to sell them back to the townsfolk.
9. A Magical Substance Flows Into Me (في إثر مادة سحرية)
Robert Lachmann was a German-Jewish ethnomusicologist. In the 1930s, his radio show "Oriental Music" explored the musical traditions of Palestine and included regular live performances by musicians from different ethnic and religious groups. Inspired by Lachmann’s musicological studies, Palestinian artist Jumana Manna travels through Israel and the Palestinian territories of today with recordings from the programme. What do these songs sound like now when performed by Moroccan, Kurdish, or Yemenite Jews, by Samaritans, members of the urban and rural Palestinian communities, Bedouins and Coptic Christians?
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
10. Through the Night
When one’s sole focus is to provide for their children, the stakes are extremely high. The need for multiple jobs to make ends meet has become a common reality for many families in this country, which leads to a very important question: who looks after the children while their parents work? Through the Night examines the economic and emotional toll affecting some American families, told through the lens of a 24-hour daycare center in Westchester, New York. At the center of it all is Nunu, the primary caregiver and a hero to many families in need of a safe space to bring their children.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
11. The Extraordinary Journey of Lucius Dumb (El extraordinario viaje de Lucius Dumb)
Animation film about Human Rights of Children to a younger audience in a dynamic and entertaining. A story about the values, need and equal justice in the first years of life, when it's necessary to have someone to fight for them.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
12. Jefferson Circus Songs
In a fantasy world, life-size cardboard animations interact with children clad in clown wigs, monkey masks, and princess costumes. Together, they host a carnival of surreal goings-on.
It has an average vote of 6.4 on TMDB.
13. Finding Sayun (不一樣的月光)
For her debut feature Finding Sayun , Atayal director Chen Chieh-yao returns to her home village to unearth the legend of Sayun , an Atayal girl who fell to her death in a turbulent stream while carrying a Japanese teacher’s belongings at the end of World War II. The movie begins when the tale of Sayun draws a television crew to the Atayal hamlet of Tyohemg in Nanao Township , Yilan County. Yukan , a high-school boy and a young hunter, does not understand the crew members’ interest in the story. But his grandfather’s memories of Sayun, whom he went to school with, revives his interest in the old tribal village, which the villagers had been forced to desert 50 years prior.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
14. Weapon of War: Confessions of rape in Congo
Wherever war breaks out, men with guns rape. During the decades of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo possibly hundreds of thousands of women and girls were brutally raped. In WEAPON OF WAR military perpetrators unveil what lies behind this brutal behavior and the strategies of rape as a war crime. An ex-rebel explains how he raped. Like for many ex-soldiers, starting a normal life again is a struggle filled with trauma. In an attempt to reconcile with his past, he decides to meets one of his victims in an attempt to obtain forgiveness. Captain Basima is working as a priest in Congo's army and confronts perpetrators of rape. He urges them to change. Just like he did.
15. When Elephants Were Young
A young man and his young elephant street beg in gritty Bangkok amid the controversial elephant business that threatens their survival, until the opportunity comes to release the elephant to the wild.
It has an average vote of 8.5 on TMDB.
16. Dig!
A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
17. In the Realms of the Unreal
In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.
It has an average vote of 7.3 on TMDB.
18. Arise
A film that captures the portraits and stories of extraordinary women around the world who are coming together to heal the injustices against the earth, weaves together poetry, music, art, and stunning scenery to create a hopeful and collective story that inspires us to work for the earth. The list of impassioned, indefatigable female environmental activists featured in this film includes Winona LaDuke, a Native American who has championed the use of solar and wind power on reservations; Theo Colborn, head of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, who fights against toxic chemicals in our water supplies; Beverly Grant, who’s created a vibrant farmer’s market in a black neighborhood of Denver, Colo.; Dana Miller, who spearheads an “urban agriculture movement” in the same city; and Vandana Shiva, who champions organic farming in India.
19. Design Is One
As artists and visual architects, husband and wife Massimo and Lella Vignelli have been producing unique and groundbreaking work as brand designers. This up-close documentary reveals their major influence in reshaping our visual environment.
It has an average vote of 6.1 on TMDB.
20. The Fence (La Barda)
In Oct. 2006, the U.S. government decided to build a 700-mile fence along its troubled 2000-mile-plus border with Mexico. Three years, 19 construction companies, 350 engineers, thousands of construction workers, tens of thousands of tons of metal and $3 billion later, was it all worth it? When Arizona recently enacted one of the most extreme immigration laws in the country, the Obama administration responded by filing a lawsuit against the state. This dispute was merely the latest symptom of a greater national problem: the lack of a comprehensive, workable U.S. immigration policy. In its place, lawmakers have resorted to a series of half-measures, the most expensive of which — the U.S.-Mexico border fence — extends through the desert 150 miles south of the Arizona state capital.
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
