1. The Do Gooders
British documentary filmmaker Chloe Ruthven’s grandparents were aid workers in Palestine. Growing up, she had avoided getting too involved in the subject, recalling how mention of the country made all the adults in her life angry. In her forties, after revisiting her grandmother’s book on the subject, she starts to research a documentary on the effects of foreign aid in the area and is shocked at the continued reliance on it there. Along the way she meets Lubna, a Palestinian woman who acts as her driver and fixer, and who is fiercely critical of Western aid efforts in her country. What begins as a quest to better understand her family history turns into a deeply emotional account of two women trying to understand one another. Ruthven’s determination to focus her film on deeply subjective analysis results in a unique joining of the acutely personal and complexly political.
2. The Magician
A peculiar magician finds herself multiplied, prompting a playful group dance.
3. Afloat
Two men, a broken heart and a full heart, side by side. As they leave the train, they begin to dance.
4. Ruddigore
For centuries, the Murgatroyd family, the Baronets of Ruddigore, have been under a witch's curse — commit a crime every day, or die in agony. Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the rightful heir, has run away to live as innocent peasant Robin Oakapple in the Cornish village of Rederring, sticking his brother Despard with the curse. But on the very day that "Robin" is to marry sweet, beautiful Rose Maybud, it all falls apart. Can Sir Ruthven outwit a picture gallery full of his ancestors' ghosts to save the day?
5. Crow Lake
A story about the first childish sin: the first attempt to defeat the enemy, to walk a forbidden road and to revenge.
6. Looking for Love in 30 Days (30 Hari Mencari Cinta)
When lifelong friends Keke, Gwen, and Olin embark on a quest for love by making a pact to find boyfriends, their tight-knit bond is put to the test.
7. My Prairie Home
A true Canadian iconoclast, acclaimed transgender country/electro-pop artist Rae Spoon revisits the stretches of rural Alberta that once constituted “home” and confronts memories of growing up queer in an abusive, evangelical household.
It has an average vote of 6.7 on TMDB.
8. The Last Impresario
Michael White might just be the most famous person you’ve never heard of. A notorious London theatre and film impresario, he produced over 300 shows and movies over the last 50 years. Bringing to the stage the risqué productions of Oh! Calcutta!, The Rocky Horror Show and to the screen Monty Python’s The Holy Grail, as well as introducing Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch and Yoko Ono to London audiences, he irrevocably shaped the cultural scene of the 1970s London. Playboy, gambler, bon vivant, friend of the rich and famous, he is now in his eighties and still enjoys partying like there’s no tomorrow. In this intimate documentary, filmmaker Gracie Otto introduces us to this larger-than-life phenomenon. Featuring interviews with 50 of his closest friends including Anna Wintour, Kate Moss, John Waters and Barry Humphries and, of course, the man himself, Otto pays a vibrant tribute to a fascinating entertainer.
It has an average vote of 5.5 on TMDB.
9. Late at Night: Voices of Ordinary Madness
‘You have no choice about being here, you’ll have no choice about when you leave’ proclaims a woman in Xiaolu Guo’s latest film, a documentary about the personal and physical journeys of the people of London’s East End. Herself an immigrant to the area, Guo’s sensitive character studies hint at an affinity with the push and pull of feelings of alienation, a theme she has previously explored as a filmmaker and novelist . This empathy is also apparent in her playful stylistic approach that layers Warhol-esque news reports, archival material and a soundtrack including Linton Kwesi Johnson and Fela Kuti, to comment on the human cost of capitalism. The resulting film is both a penetrating portrait of a frenetic place that feels deeply authentic, and a powerful piece of protest film.
10. Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love
When Marvin Hamlisch passed away in August 2012 the worlds of music, theatre and cinema lost a talent the likes of which we may never see again. Seemingly destined for greatness, Hamlisch was accepted into New York’s Juilliard School as a 6-year-old musical prodigy and rapidly developed into a phenomenon. With instantly classic hits ‘The Way We Were’ and ‘Nobody Does It Better’ and scores for Hollywood films such as The Swimmer, The Sting and Sophie’s Choice and the Broadway juggernaut A Chorus Line; Hamlisch became the go-to composer for film and Broadway producers and a prominent presence on the international Concert Hall circuit. His streak was staggering, vast, unprecedented and glorious, by the age of 31 Hamlisch had won 4 Grammys, an Emmy, 3 Oscars, a Tony and a Pulitzer prize: success that burned so bright, it proved impossible to match.
It has an average vote of 9 on TMDB.
11. Taşkafa, Stories of the Street
Taşkafa is a real dog and also a legend on the streets of Istanbul. John Berger begins Taşkafa’s story, reading from his novel, King, the story of the disappearance of a community told from a dog’s perspective. The area’s ordinary people – taxi drivers, shopkeepers, street traders – care deeply about the welfare of the city’s street dogs and they tell us stories about Taşkafa and their other canine neighbours. The animals are a symbol of community living, where people look out for each other, but this is a community in transition; one from which dogs are starting to be expelled. Eccentric, amusing and very warm, the film is a powerful indictment of the impact of global politics and the economic appropriation of public space but, even more, it is a tribute to both the spirit of resistance and to city life that can accommodate people and dogs together.
12. Berlin Telegram (Berlin Telegram)
Leila is a singer-songwriter who lives in Brussels. When Antoine, the man she is in love with, suddenly walks out on her for another woman, she leaves for Berlin to start a new life.
13. One Night Husband (คืนไร้เงา)
On her wedding night, Sipang's husband leaves his bride hurriedly after receiving a call. That, unfortunately, would be the last time Sipang sees her husband. As the young bride teams up with her husband's brother and his wife, she slowly uncovers facets of her husband's life she never knew existed. With her husband still missing, Sipang launches a desperate search for him.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
14. Koliba (Koliba)
(Koliba)
15. Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four
In 1994, four women were accused, tried, and convicted of the heinous sexual assault of two young girls—as one newscaster puts it, “the modern version of the witchcraft trials.” Twenty years later, the four women have maintained their innocence, insisting that the accusations were entirely fabricated, and borne of homophobic prejudice and a late-’90s mania about covens, cults, and child abuse.
It has an average vote of 5.7 on TMDB.
16. Everybody Knows... Elizabeth Murray
This tribute to the dynamic artist Elizabeth Murray, an intrinsic figure in New York's contemporary art landscape from the 1970s until the early 2000s, highlights her struggle to balance personal and family ambition with artistic drive in a male-dominated art world. It also addresses her later battle with cancer, at the peak of her career.
17. Dog
A teenage girl gets ready to go out to meet her boyfriend, despite her mother's loud verbal disapproval of her clothes. She goes out to a deserted area with him and he begins to touch her up and have sex with her, however a dog reveals the true nature of her boyfriend.
It has an average vote of 6.7 on TMDB.
18. Spring & Arnaud
The love between Canadian artists Spring Hurlbut and Arnaud Maggs is tested by impending illness.
19. Osé (Osé)
What can be harder than "conquering the world" for an Italian woman of the XX century? Creating the perfect family.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
20. Obit
How do you put a life into 500 words? Ask the staff obituary writers at the New York Times. OBIT is a first-ever glimpse into the daily rituals, joys and existential angst of the Times obit writers, as they chronicle life after death on the front lines of history.
It has an average vote of 6.4 on TMDB.