1. Land Without Bread (Las Hurdes)
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.
It has an average vote of 7.081 on TMDB.
2. Megacities
Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.
It has an average vote of 6.861 on TMDB.
3. Was lebst Du? (Was lebst Du?)
(Was lebst Du?)
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
4. Invisible City
A documentary on young black children living in Toronto public housing.
5. Boy of Baghdad
Using an embedded Iraqi camera crew, AFI has delivered an unprecedented look at life inside post-war Iraq, all from the unique perspective of a precocious twelve-year-old boy. Doe-eyed and adorable Kheer Allah lives with his mother, father, two brothers and sister. Their "home" has no furniture and no modern appliances, except for an old television and radio sitting precariously atop a stack of used tires. There's no meat on this family's table. Home-baked pita bread is the staple in this beyond-poor household. School is out of the question too. Young Kheer Allah must work every day to help his family survive. This daily struggle forms the heart of this remarkable film. Through the wind-swept and war-ravaged streets of his neighborhood, Kheer Allah parlays his abundant charm into a variety of odd jobs that bring little money, but much satisfaction to his ever-smiling face.
It has an average vote of 7.5 on TMDB.
6. The Shepherdess of the Glaciers
She is one of the last shepherdesses who still lives with her flock in the heights of the Gya-Miru valley in Ladakh. At the age of 50, Tsering is the youngest in her village to drive her 350 goats and sheep at the expense of transhumance in this region of the Himalayas, located between 4000 and 6000 meters above sea level. A harsh and precarious life, often solitary, mishandled by difficult climatic conditions and a sometimes hostile nature, which does not prevent this tiny bit of woman to sing, laugh and ... philosophize.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
7. Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers
During the last half-century, Cambodia has witnessed genocide, decades of war and the collapse of social order. Now, documentary filmmaker Rithy Panh looks at an irreparable tragedy that is less visible, yet no less pervasive: the spiritual death that results when young women are forced into prostitution. Angry and impassioned, PAPER CANNOT WRAP UP EMBERS presents the searing stories of poor Asian women whose lives were violated and their destinies destroyed when their bodies were turned into items of sexual commerce.
It has an average vote of 6.2 on TMDB.
8. Laissez-faire (Laissez-faire)
A historical perspective to understand Neoliberalism and to understand why this ideology today so profoundly influences the choices of our governments and our lives.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
9. Escape from the World's Most Dangerous Place
Successful model Samira Hashi makes an emotional return to Somalia, one of the most dangerous places in the world and the place she was born. Civil war broke out in 1991, 10 days after Samira's birth, but two years later her family managed to flee the country and she grew up in the UK.Now, as Samira and the war both turn 21, she's going back for the first time to visit the people and places she left behind. The contrast with her safe and glamorous life in London could not be starker as she experiences firsthand the war's effect on a generation of young people growing up in conflict.
10. Stealing Africa
Zambia's copper resources have not made the country rich. Virtually all Zambia's copper mines are owned by corporations. In the last ten years, they've extracted copper worth $29 billion but Zambia is still ranked one of the twenty poorest countries in the world. So why hasn't copper wealth reduced poverty in Zambia? Once again it comes down to the issue of tax, or in Zambia's case, tax avoidance and the use of tax havens. Tax avoidance by corporations costs poor countries and estimated $160 billion a year, almost double what they receive in international aid. That's enough to save the lives of 350,000 children aged five or under every year. For every $1 given in aid to a poor country, $10 drains out. Vital money that could help a poor country pay for healthcare, schools, pensions and infrastructure. Money that would make them less reliant on aid.
It has an average vote of 8.5 on TMDB.
11. The Explorer (The Explorer)
A former lawyer leaves everything behind to embark on the quest for a dinosaur-like animal supposedly living in Africa's unexplored forests.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
12. American Jail
In this deeply personal film, director Roger Ross Williams sets out on a journey to understand the complex forces of racism and greed currently at work in America's prison system.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
13. Bangla Surf Girls (Bangla Surf Girls)
Three working-class teenage girls in a port city in Bangladesh escape daily hardships and stifling family lives by riding waves on their surfboards and grabbing hold of the fleeting and thrilling sense of freedom that brings.
It has an average vote of 9 on TMDB.
14. Bread
Life on the breadline in the 1930s was hard enough, but times were desperate when you fell beneath it. Hunger marches organised by the National Unemployed Workers' Movement drew attention to the cause, but this left-wing collective picked up a cine-camera. The fictional story at the heart of the film is somewhat melodramatic, but the authentic surroundings give its message realism and weight.
15. Kolt 15 GAP (Kolt 15 GAP)
Funny story of an unemployed metalworker, self-proclaimed Marxist, his views and whereabouts.
It has an average vote of 4.5 on TMDB.
16. Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn explore the causes and costs of addiction, poverty and incarceration plaguing America, from the inner city to small towns like Kristof's hometown of Yamhill, Oregon. While pockets of empathy and aid exist, are they enough to rescue the thousands of Americans in despair, for whom the American Dream of self-reliance is impossibly out of reach?
17. Debt (Deuda)
DEBT is the story of a frantic pursuit: the search for the responsible for the televised cry of hunger of Barbara Flores, an eight-year-old Argentinean girl. Buenos Aires, Washington, the IMF, the World Bank and Davos; corruption and the international bureaucratic lack of interest.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
18. Pier Paolo Pasolini: An Italian Journey (Pier Paolo Pasolinis Reisen durch Italien)
In the summer of 1959, as a magazine correspondent, writer and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini traveled along the Italian coast. In 1963, he documented the sexual behavior of the Italians. In the winter of 1970-71, he witnessed the hardships of the most impoverished Italian population suffering from the boot of state power. After these three trips, he came to the conclusion that Italian society had changed drastically for the worse over the years.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
19. Innocence (เด็กโต๋)
In the mountains of Northern Thailand lies a boarding school. The students come from different tribes in the area and live together with their Thai teacher, grow their own crops and cook their own meals while continuing their education. The biggest question on their mind, having spent all their lives in the mountainside, is where the rivers running down the hills end. If they pass the final exams their reward is a trip to the end of the river, to the ocean itself. The children are poor, some orphans, and most of them only speak their tribe's language, but all try their best to pass the exams to be able to take the long-awaited trip. This trip is not only a journey from the children's villages to the ocean but also a journey that symbolizes the change from childhood to adulthood.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
20. The Corporate Coup D'État
A democracy should protect its most vulnerable citizens, but increasingly the United States is failing to do so. This investigation blends the insights of experts with the experiences of citizens of the Rust Belt in the Midwest where the steel industry once flourished, but where closures and outsourcing have left urban areas desolate. It is here where Donald Trump finds some of his most fervent supporters.
It has an average vote of 7.6 on TMDB.
