1. Border (越界)
In the middle of the strait between Kinmen and Xiamen, China, there are patches of sea filled with floating styrofoam and endless sand pilfering across the border. Huge business opportunities, and even greater land reclamations have scarred the beauty of the original rural landscapes for the sake of “ The Chinese Dream"—a dream that places economic achievements above all else.
2. Archiving Time (數電影的人)
In Taiwan, there is a group of people participating in this race against time. They are hidden inside the film archive of New Taipei City’s “Singapore Industrial Park”, where the 17,000-plus film reels and over a million film artifacts have become their spiritual nourishment. Day after day, they shuttle back and forth inside, carrying their doubts, their learnings, and their faith. What they are doing is awakening these long-neglected film reels, then piecing together the no-longer-existent social atmospheres and lives of distant pasts recorded on them. And spending time in this archive has become everyday life for these film archivists and restorers.
3. The Right to Live in Peace (El derecho de vivir en paz)
A moving portrait of Chilean singer-songwriter and political activist Victor Jara that chronicles the life of the talented artist who was imprisoned, tortured and machine-gunned by the country's dictatorship.
It has an average vote of 6.2 on TMDB.
4. A Greater Chance
Upon learning of his father's terminal illness diagnosis, a young, autistic, hearing-impaired music composer and sketch artist travels back to his home to be with him and his mother.
5. Total Disaster
Armed with realistic bird puppets, trickster environmental activists pretend to be oil company Total—staging a satirical press conference to introduce “RéHabitat,” a program to rescue animals from the East African Oil Pipeline by relocating them to “more sustainable” habitats. Using humor and mischief, they expose a deadly ecological disaster in a zany effort to help #StopEACOP.
6. America: Freedom to Fascism
This is a documentary about an honest search for the truth about the Federal Reserve Bank and the legality of the Internal Revenue System. Through extensive interviews with recognised experts and authority, the director shows an astonishing revelation of how the Federal Government and the Bankers have fooled the American public by taking thier wages and putting it in the pockets of the super-rich.
It has an average vote of 7.139 on TMDB.
7. The Last Insurrection (末代叛亂犯)
Martial law was lifted in Taiwan in 1987. Since then, all kinds of reform and democratization were raised. However, in May 1991, four young people were arrested by the Bureau of Investigation . This had generated the fear in society and led to the so-called “White Terror.”
8. Brink of Disaster!
A student is held up in the library while a riot rages outside. As SDS protesters head to burn the library down, he has to fend them off with his baseball bat. This film opens with actual footage of civil disturbances in the 1960s, and moves on to images of historical American figures.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
9. Antonio García-Trevijano: Transición e historia política de España en primera persona (Antonio García-Trevijano: Transición e historia política de España en primera persona)
Spanish jurist and republican thinker Antonio García-Trevijano expounds his political thought and reflects on the recent political history of Spain.
It has an average vote of 4 on TMDB.
10. Primavera Lacrimógena (Primavera Lacrimógena)
A poetic short film showing a day in the 2019 protests in Santiago, Chile through documentary images.
11. The Yes Men
A comic, biting and revelatory documentary following a small group of prankster activists as they gain worldwide notoriety for impersonating the World Trade Organization on television and at business conferences around the world.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
12. Pussy Riot: Rage Against Putin (Pussy Riot, rage against Poutine)
Pussy Riot make a comeback after a long absence to stand with Ukraine. Their story and their struggle are told through archival footage and interviews with the group’s members.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
13. Solo Dancer (獨舞者的樂章)
Dance educator LIN Ssu-tuan is the first professional nude model in Taiwan in the 1950s and the 1960s, the muse for painters and sculptors in the art world, and the face for photographers’ salons around the world; in the end, she reversed the dynamics of the subject vs. the object and went on to perform her first solo modern dance in 1975, turning herself from the state of passiveness to an active educator of the art of dance. LIN is over 80 years old, but she still fervently pursues her ideals and passions with her body; her path of life is indeed a book of female art history that communicates with the society in Taiwan.
14. Nai Nai (奶奶)
Nai Nai follows the story of a Chinese immigrant grandmother, Chu-Ming Wu. Known as “Nai Nai,” Chu-Ming has always been a woman of control. But her grasp of reality and the control of her own mind is slipping away. Told through the lens of her grandson, the film focuses on the joyful, heartbreaking and intimate moments in the last chapters of her life.
15. Wandering Peddlers (旅するパオジャンフー)
Resulting pic blurs the line between documentary and fiction as Yanagimachi explores the lives of a couple of groups of peddlers, and they appear to act out their personal dramas for the camera.
16. Beyond Barricades
Beyond Barricades is a documentary on political punk band Anti-Flag, featuring interviews with Tom Morello, Billy Bragg, Tim McIlrath, Brian Baker & More. The film explores the trials and tribulations of playing politically charged music and devoting your life to activism.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
17. 刺蔣 (刺蔣)
A documentary of 24th April, 1970 assassination of Chiang Ching-kuo.
18. The last campaign
After four years of the Trump administration, Jonathan Katz, a Jewish activist from New York, travels across the American Midwest to support the presidential candidacy of Bernie Sanders. Committed body and soul to a revolution through the ballot box, his deepest convictions are shaken. While it is the last campaign for him, as it is for Bernie, he meets a new generation of activists for whom it is the first.
19. Political Bodies (Corpolítica)
At a time when the far right is ascending to power around the world, the 2020 Brazilian municipal elections saw a surprising and unprecedented record of LGBT candidates. This film follows four young queer politicians during their electoral campaigns and reveals their struggle to affirm their rights to exist and be heard.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
20. The Other Side (對岸異鄉人)
After 30 years of cold war, Taiwan and China finally opened cross-strait trade and tourism in 1980. However, through decades of political and educational vilification of their counterparts by the KMT and CCP, and despite close economic and cultural ties, what lies beneath the diplomatic relations is a disconnect and mistrust that cannot be denied. KE is a failed business in Taiwan who hopes to start over as a 'Taiwanese Expat' in Shenzheng, China with a Taiwanese company. Lili, a laborer from China, meets her Taiwanese husband online and moves to Taiwan in hopes of a better life. Both KE and Lili cross the straits in hope of achieving what they cannot find in their homeland. But how much do they really know about that country across the straits?
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
