1. Lula, the Son of Brazil (Lula, o Filho do Brasil)
The true story of a working class boy who moves to the nation's financial capital at a young age and becomes one the most influential politicians in Brazilian history.
It has an average vote of 5.609 on TMDB.
2. Minha Fama de Mau (Minha Fama de Mau)
An emotional dive into the music and life of Erasmo Carlos, from his years as a young rock-and-roller looking for gigs through his enduring musical partnership with Roberto Carlos.
It has an average vote of 6.3 on TMDB.
3. The Cave
Deep beneath the surface in the Syrian province of Ghouta, a group of female doctors have established an underground field hospital. Under the supervision of paediatrician Dr. Amani and her staff of doctors and nurses, hope is restored for some of the thousands of children and civilian victims of the ruthless Syrian civil war.
It has an average vote of 7.3 on TMDB.
4. Boy 23: The Forgotten Boys of Brazil (Menino 23: Infâncias Perdidas no Brasil)
The film accompanies the investigation of the historian Sidney Aguilar after the discovery of bricks marked with Nazi swastikas in the interior of São Paulo. They then discover a horrifying fact that during the 1930s, fifty black and mullato boys were taken from an orphanage in Rio de Janeiro to the farm where the bricks were found. There they were identified by numbers and were submitted to slave labour by a family that was part of the political and economic elite of the country and who did not hide their Nazi sympathizing ideals.
It has an average vote of 7.7 on TMDB.
5. Nefta Football Club (Nefta Football Club)
In the south of Tunisia, two football fan brothers bump into a donkey lost in the middle of the desert on the border of Algeria. Strangely, the animal wears headphones over its ears.
It has an average vote of 7.1 on TMDB.
6. The Trial (O Processo)
The impeachment and removal from office of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 was triggered by a corruption scandal involving, among others, her then vice-president Michel Temer. Director Maria Augusta Ramos follows the trial against Rousseff from the point of view of her defence team. This is a courtroom drama that unfolds slowly: the appearances of the various parties gradually turn the proceedings into something akin to theatre. Inside the courtroom, grand emotions are played to full effect whilst, on the other side of the doors, lobbyists and supporters pace the corridors. Meanwhile, outside, in front of Brasília’s modernist government buildings, demonstrators are chanting like a Greek chorus. Only the main character, Rousseff herself, remains professional and aloof.
It has an average vote of 7.574 on TMDB.
7. VS.
VS. is an urban rites of passage drama set in the hostile and exciting UK rap battle scene.
It has an average vote of 5.9 on TMDB.
8. Gus
The California Atoms are in last place with no hope of moving up. But by switching the mule from team mascot to team member, they start winning, and move up in the rankings, Hurrah! The competition isn't so happy.
It has an average vote of 6.013 on TMDB.
9. Possible Loves (Amores Possíveis)
Fifteen year ago, Carlos went to the cinema to meet Júlia, his university colleague with whom he was in love. She never showed up. Carlos was left waiting in the lobby alone. While he waits, something happens which will change his life. A scene, an encounter, an unfinished sentence... Something insignificant, but which will determine the character's life. Fifteen years later, we follow three completely different versions of Carlos's life. In one, he is a man divided between the stability of a secure life in a lukewarm marriage, and the growing desire to live a great love affair. In the second, he is homosexual and places passion above all else. In the third possible life, Carlos is a man who hasn't yet discovered love, and lives through successive disastrous relationships in search of the perfect woman. One of them is his real life. Another is not his life. And a third is the life he'd like to lead. Which is his true life ?
It has an average vote of 5.8 on TMDB.
10. Empty Days (Dias Vazios)
"Empty Days" tells the story of a day in the life of Jean and Fabiana, a couple of young boyfriends who try to reinvent their lives in a small town in the Brazilian interior. They are in their senior year of high school and live the old dilemma: either we leave this city or we stay here and continue the history of our parents. At the end of this day Jean commits suicide and Fabiana disappears. Two years later, Daniel and Alanis, another couple of young boyfriends, try to understand how everything happened.
It has an average vote of 4.3 on TMDB.
11. Maria do Caritó (Maria do Caritó)
Maria, a virgin spinster, is trying magical superstitions to find a husband. In her dialogue with the marriage saint, she implores for a companion. Her father offered her as a bride to Saint Djalminha, if the saint saved her during her complicated birth which ended in the death of her mother. Since then Maria has lived this dilemma: revered and loved by the residents and pilgrims that believe she is a miracle worker; she is desperate to live a great love, with a flesh and blood prospect with real passionate desire. She asks for a sign from the heavens, a clue on how to find a crumb of love when a gypsy arrives on scene saying "someone who loves her very much, but she doesn't know will come from afar on an artists' caravan." Maria can't take the solitude she is living anymore and decides "to find Mr. Right," no matter how much it may cost.
It has an average vote of 6.9 on TMDB.
12. How Fernando Pessoa Saved Portugal (Como Fernando Pessoa Salvou Portugal)
Lisbon, Portugal, 1927. The writer and journalist Fernando Pessoa accepts from his boss the commission to create an advertising slogan for the drink Coca-Louca; but conservative government authorities consider the new drink as revolutionary as it is diabolical.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
13. The Madness Among Us (A Loucura Entre Nós)
Leonor and Elizangela do not appear crazy at first sight in the way that society often imagines. They are victims of violent and uncontrollable seizure, which sometimes result even during filming in forcible confinement. The rest of the time they are endowed with sensitivity and clarity about their condition, which offers anyone who will listen to them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with what madness is, through their words, and also through their tragic and touching destinies.
It has an average vote of 5.2 on TMDB.
14. São Paulo's War (A Guerra dos Paulistas)
In 1932, more than two hundred thousand men armed with machine guns, grenades and canons took part in on of the most violent wars in America in the 20th century. Brazilian against Brazilian, in a conflict that involved air raid of big cities – such as Campinas, Santos and São Paulo - and resulted in more than two thousand deaths. Why did this war happen? Who took part in it? What were the details of the conflict? How did the war end? The documentary tells this episode of the country's history, not only grand but also unknown, with an accessible language and an involving rhythm.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
15. Whisky (Whisky)
When his long-lost brother resurfaces, Jacobo, desperate to prove his life has added up to something, looks to scrounge up a wife. He turns to Marta, an employee at his sock factory, with whom he has a prickly relationship.
It has an average vote of 6.9 on TMDB.
16. Emicida: AmarElo - It's All for Yesterday (Emicida: AmarElo - É Tudo Pra Ontem)
Between scenes from his concert in São Paulo's oft-inaccessible Theatro Municipal, rapper and activist Emicida celebrates the rich legacy of Black Brazilian culture.
It has an average vote of 8.7 on TMDB.
17. Oprah Winfrey Presents: When They See Us Now
Oprah Winfrey talks with the exonerated men once known as the Central Park Five, plus the cast and producers who tell their story in "When They See Us".
It has an average vote of 7.9 on TMDB.
18. Life Overtakes Me
Hundreds of refugee children in Sweden, who have fled with their families from extreme trauma, have become afflicted with 'uppgivenhetssyndrom,' or Resignation Syndrome. Facing deportation, they withdraw from the world into a coma-like state, as if frozen, for months, or even years.
It has an average vote of 6.4 on TMDB.
19. Murmur of the Heart (Le Souffle au cœur)
This loosely plotted coming-of-age tale follows the life of 15-year-old Laurent Chevalier as he stumbles his way over the burgeoning swell of adolescence in 1950s France. After having his first sexual experience with a prostitute and dodging the lips of a priest, Chevalier contracts a case of scarlet fever. When the fever leaves him with a heart murmur, Chevalier is placed in a sanatorium, along with his over-attentive and adulterous mother.
It has an average vote of 7.1 on TMDB.
20. Hour of the Star (A Hora da Estrela)
Macabéa has just moved to the big city after her aunt, who raised her, died. She gets a job as a typist and moves into a boarding house with three other women. In her spare time, she listens to a radio station called Time; on Sundays, she likes to ride the metro. Then she meets Olímpico, a northeasterner like herself, who has dreams of becoming a congressman.
It has an average vote of 7.3 on TMDB.