Tag Archives: Violence

The Encampments

The occupation of Columbia University by pro-Palestinian students made waves around the world.

A group of students set up camp on the lawn of Columbia University in New York, and founded the Gaza Solidarity Encampment to protest the war in Gaza, and to protest their own university’s investment in the US and Israeli arms industry. An action that made waves around the world and quickly grew into the largest protest movement since the Vietnam War. But the world has changed.

The Encampments is a film about power and resistance in the 21st century, where both have taken on new forms, while the role of universities as bastions of democracy, critical thinking and freedom of expression is under threat.

We are plunged into the high-stakes drama with full access to the hard core of dedicated organizers led by Mahmoud Khalil as they face fierce resistance from the police, the media and their own fellow students.

 

———————————–

 

An urgent protest film that carries the same conviction and resolve of the students who organized these demonstrations last spring.

At only 80 minutes, The Encampments tells a fascinating, ripped-from-the-headlines story.. As a snapshot of a particular few weeks in which a protest movement was born and spread, it’s an effective and prescient documentary. Eerily, in one of the last shots in which Khalil is shown, he’s asked by an off-camera voice, “What would happen to you if you were deported?” to which he responds, “I will live.”

The Encampments shows that same determination and confidence from other young people who carry the responsibility of attempting change.

Variety

 

It’s a stark and powerful reminder of what the protesters are actually protesting.

The Washington Post

 

The Encampments chronicles how students at Columbia ignited a far-reaching and influential solidarity movement last spring… it takes a harrowing turn once the filmmakers observe university responses to the student occupations spreading across campuses.

The Encampments not just critical in capturing the real-time makings of a movement, but in laying bare the consequences of this response.

The Hollywood Reporter

 

The Encampments is a very conventional documentary on purpose. It mounts its argument with little flare and with muted aestheticization, all to dispel the hysteria surrounding its subject… it is already making an appeal to posterity.

The New Yorker

 

This rousing documentary explores the impact of and responses to student solidarity with Palestine without getting caught up in polemics… Stirring and tense.

Sight and Sound

Russians at War

Anastasia Trofimova gains unprecedented access to follow a Russian Army battalion in Ukraine. Without any official clearance or permits, she earns the trust of foot soldiers and over seven months embeds herself with the battalion as it makes its way across the frontlines.

What she discovers is far from the narratives propagated by the East or West: a war cutting through family and historical ties, soldiers disillusioned and often struggling to understand what they are fighting for.

The Veto: The Single Greatest Threat to Global Peace & Security

For 80 years, the UN Security Council permanent member veto power has been the subject of constant debate, within the UN and without.

The veto itself isn’t going away—it’s ‘veto-proof’. But when vetoes are cast in the face of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, obligations under international law and the UN Charter must be considered. Such veto uses have led to massive loss of life, displacement of millions, and the multilateral order pushed to a breaking point.

This film, featuring leading global experts and ongoing situations affected by the veto including Gaza and Ukraine, puts aside ‘the impossibility of change’ and explores real paths to breaking the Security Council deadlock.

Aquarius: Dreamers, Tree-Huggers and Radical Ratbags

When thousands of young people travelled the back roads of Northern New South Wales 50 years ago to camp and explore a new way of living at Nimbin Aquarius Festival something unexpected happened amongst all the bliss, drugs and revolutionary zeal.

In May 1973, 10,000 artists, activists, hippies, radical students, gurus and visionaries descended on a small dairy town for 10 days of social and cultural exploration that changed a generation.

Those 10 days birthed an irrepressible movement and a manifesto for sustainable change. Aquarius is a film about the people and the power of change, of unintended consequences and the radical wisdom that reaches down through generations today.

The Watch Or The Time

´You have the watches, we have the time´, a Taliban commander infamously warned an American in 2002 Afghanistan. It was ominously accurate. Months earlier, America had swiftly ousted a flailing Taliban government, pledging to rebuild the embattled country. Fifty nations joined the ‘Operation Enduring Freedom´ war machine and for two decades, foreign armies poured into Afghanistan along with eye-watering amounts of foreign aid funding. Yet now the Taliban is back in charge of the entire country. So what went wrong? 

The Watch Or The Time explores America and its allies’ ill-fated offensive in Afghanistan told by the foreigners and Afghans who lived it. The film tracks the arc of America’s longest war in modern history with these personal experiences, looking at the pitfalls of military intervention, humanitarian aid and the culture clash through the legacy of the West’s efforts in Afghanistan.

Did the thousands of expat-nation-builders foresee a Taliban victory? After so many other previous invasions, did the Afghans see the writing on the wall? And what is the price of the so-called peace in Afghanistan today?

You’ll meet a German armoured car salesman, an American sports trainer and women’s rights activist, a Canadian NATO psychological operations specialist, an Australian war photographer, an Afghan female graffiti artist from the Taliban heartland; Kandahar, Kabul University’s debate club vice-president, a local media producer dubbed Afghanistan’s Number 1 fixer, and a senior Taliban commander.

You’ll see ex-pats grapple with what they’ve left behind, Afghans struggle to make sense of the dramatic shift in their fates, while others celebrate the Taliban’s win.

As America and its allies try to wash their hands of responsibility in Afghanistan, The Watch Or The Time puts it front and centre again. This film presents the perspectives and ultimately asks, was it worth it? You decide.

Eternal Spring: The Heist of China’s Airwaves

In March 2002, a state TV station in China was hijacked by members of outlawed spiritual group Falun Gong. Their goal was to counter the government narrative about their practice.

In the aftermath, police raids sweep Changchun City, and comic book illustrator Daxiong (Justice League, Star Wars), a Falun Gong practitioner, is forced to flee. He arrives in North America, blaming the hijacking for worsening a violent repression. But his views are challenged when he meets the lone surviving participant to have escaped China, now living in Seoul, South Korea.

Combining present-day footage with 3D animation inspired by Daxiong’s art, Eternal Spring retraces the event, and brings to life an unprecedented story of defiance, harrowing eyewitness accounts of persecution, and an exhilarating tale of determination to speak up for political and religious freedoms, no matter the cost.

Eternal Spring: The Heist of China´s Airwaves brings to life with stunning animation, the heist, and its repercussions.

¨an inspired mixed-media reflection¨
The Guardian

¨thrilling and emotional story of a group of Falun Gong practitioners who managed to take over Chinese State TV… A Story of immense bravery¨
Movies That Matter

¨A resounding success… an ultra-compelling, suspense-filled investigation¨
Avoir-Alire

——————–

Winner of the Hot Docs Audience Award and the Rogers Audience Award at Hot Docs International Documentary Festival.

Winner of the Fischer Audience Award (Best International Feature) at the 24th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.

Winner of the Human Values Award from the Greek Parliament. 
 
Recipient of Grand Jury Documentary Award – Special Mention at Movies That Matter Festival in The Hague. 

Activist Night film – Movies That Matter Festival.

Gun Shot Wound

Gun Shot Wound takes a hard look at routine gun violence in America through the eyes of its trauma surgeons. The film examines the crisis through a public health lens and highlights hospital-based violence intervention programs designed to combat the epidemic.

Every day in the United States, an average of 318 people are shot—about 116,000 victims each year. Most aren’t involved in mass shootings; instead they’re caught in the web of routine, almost invisible, gun violence. More than 35,000 of these victims will die from their wounds.

Dr. Amy Goldberg leads the team that treats more than 500 gunshot victims each year. In 2019, someone was shot every 6 1⁄2 hours in Phildelphia, where she works. We follow Dr. Goldberg on a busy Friday evening in the trauma centre. In the space of 12 hours, she’ll treat three gunshot victims and perform emergency life-saving surgery on one of them. And since 80% of gunshot victims survive in Philadelphia, Gun Shot Wound gives an authentic look at the daunting process of rehab and often permanent disability. Meanwhile, Dr Joseph Sakran shares his day-to-day experience treating gunshot victims in Baltimore and introduces viewers to Brandon Fisher. Brandon arrived at the trauma bay nearly dead with 13 bullet wounds and injuries in almost every cavity in his body. It took a multi-disciplinary team of surgeons and more than 15 surgeries for Brandon to recover.

Gun Shot Wound shows what really happens when someone gets shot and highlights how physicians and hospitals are not just treating patients, but going above and beyond to prevent gun violence.

Beyond Men and Masculinity

This is not a film about men versus women. Beyond Men and Masculinity explores how men see themselves, how they relate to the people they say they care about and how the personal impacts the political.

What happens when men are taught to disconnect from their feelings in the name of being strong and independent? What is the link between shame and male violence?
Why do we find it hard to value kindness and compassion in men? And what role do women play in defining what is expected from men and masculinity?

A discussion of these sometimes uncomfortable questions is now more crucial than ever. From the therapy room to the political battlefield, this provocative film offers a clear insight into why we must look beyond traditional definitions of men and masculinity.

To Rent or Buy click Here.

Inside Saudi Arabia (series)

Saudi Arabia is well known across the world for its wealth, strict faith and oppression, but while Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has decreed that it wants to reform, the world is startled by the murder of journalist Khashoggi and other human rights violations.

We follow the developments from the inside, through the eyes of the inhabitants themselves. Are they just empty promises or is Saudi Arabia actually able to change?

 

Episode 1: In Search for Freedom 

We travel across Saudi Arabia and follow the reforms from within for a year. The country wants to diversify its economy by opening its borders to tourism.

In Jeddah, many young people hope for change, demanding greater equality between men and women, but the conservative opposition is enormous. One wrong word and they can be arrested. How far do they go in the fight for freedom?

 

Episode 2: Under the Control of the Royal Family

In the second episode, we enter the Saudi Arabian elite, where it becomes clear that the killing of Khashoggi does not impact their loyalty towards the royal family.

We are invited to Diriyah where religion and the House of Saud coincide, leading us to the mosque of Wahab, which is said to be a birthplace of extremist ideas.

 

Episode 3: The Power of the Holy Cities 

The two holy cities of Mecca and Medina give Saudi Arabia enormous religious power.

We follow the trail of the pilgrims, from the port of Jeddah to the Holy Kaäba. There is a call for a more moderate Islam, but do religious leaders really support this?

 

Episode 4: Travelling to Reality 

After the murder of Khashoggi, the question is what will happen with the reforms. Is the support for Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman crumbling?

We travel to the rarely covered conservative South, on the border with Yemen, where the population’s resistance to change is the fiercest.

Tupamaro: Urban Guerrillas

The award-winning film chronicles the life of Alberto “Chino” Carias, the infamous leader of a vigilante “colectivo” from the slums of Caracas, Venezuela.

Once accused of robbing banks and killing cops, Chino sheds his outlaw reputation and takes a post in Hugo Chavez’s government. But after Chavez dies, the country’s struggling economy collapses.

In the absence of true law and order, Chino clings to his contradictory roles as saint and executioner.

Produced by Peter Marshall Smith and Matt Weinglass

Crossing the Andes (series)

Half of Latin American countries number among the top economies in the world to do business in, and for many the continent is an investor’s paradise. Why should we keep an eye on Latin America, and which changes are taking place there right now?

As the backbone of South America – some 7000 kilometres long and passing through seven countries – the Andes mountain range is a good place to ask that question.

You’ll find Chilean capitalism in the smog of Santiago, and will travel 30 years back in time through the clouds of remote Bolivian mountain villages. Latino’s are known as a politically engaged people. Always fighting, but with a smile. Strong, but not tough as nails. The history of this continent is one of ups and downs. Sometimes there’s a glimmer of hope, then everything seems to fall apart again. Is the continent crawling, walking or about to fall down again?

Stef Biemans’ journey starts in Tierra del Fuego and ends in Colombia. Along the way, he searches out small stories about big issues, which illuminate contemporary South America.

 

Episode 1.  The Man-eating Mountain

Stef Biemans travels the ridge of the Andes and wonders how South Americans are doing in Potosí, the highest city in the world, and once one of its richest, but also one where life can be short.

In the mining town of Potosí, capitalism was born, as it were. Here, the first coin was struck using silver from the mine of the ‘rich mountain’, which is still in use. So much silver has been extracted from this imposing mountain, you could use it to build a bridge to Spain. But you could also build a bridge out of the bones of dead miners and slaves. On average, miners only make it to the age of 45.

 

Episode 2. The Skyscraper of Santiago

In the Chilean capital of Santiago, Stef visits South America’s highest skyscraper. It was once built as a symbol of progress, but now the tower represents the dark side to that success story: record depression and suicide rates.

The highest tower in South America rises out of the Santiago smog, a symbol of the strong neoliberal economic system. But almost every month, someone jumps off of it. Nowhere else are depression rates as high as in this city of remarkable economic prosperity. In and around this skyscraper, Stef tries to find out where it all went wrong. What are the prerequisites for success and how do people survive in the smog of neoliberalism?

 

Episode 3. El Paraíso Technológico

Stef travels to Argentina’s southernmost tip Ushuaia, and discovers an impressive electronics industry among the penguins. Since it’s become known that there are jobs to be had in Tierra del Fuego, the capital of Ushuaia draws countless South American fortune seekers. What is this growth doing to the mountains surrounding the town?

Terra del Fuego is the new migrant’s paradise of South America. Since word’s gotten out that on the southern tip of the continent you can easily find work in an Argentinian electronics plant, the city has boomed. The Argentinian government has declared the area a tax free zone and companies have flooded in with smartphone and television factorys.

Growth is so rapid here, that it feels like a threat to many people; what is the impact on the nature of the surrounding mountains and its biodiversity? In Tierra del Fuego, Charles Darwin studied man and animal, and discovered the principles of his theory of evolution. Can modern-day inhabitants adapt to these changes?

 

Episode 4. Eternal life

In Ecuador, Stef Biemans visits the valley of eternal life – where the high life expectancy of its inhabitants has astonished observers – and investigates its finite nature. What do spry centenarians in Ecuador right below the equator do in order to stay healthy, what provisions are there for them should they fall ill, and how do South Americans deal with their elderly?

The Vilcabamba valley in Ecuador is known for its healthy old people. The fit old man who interrupts his work in the field to firmly shake Stef Biemans’ hand shows an official proof of identity with a 1913 birthdate. A little bit later, he lets his hips do the talking when he’s dancing.

Others in the valley also dance, but it doesn’t mean they’re all happy. An 89-year-old woman says she’d like for it to be over. ‘God is keeping me alive. I’m waiting for my time to come.’ A voluntary ending to this earthly life is so unthinkable, Biemans is afraid to even broach the subject.

 

Episode 5. My Mother-in-Law stayed at home

In this episode we look at the role of the mother-in-law, because Latino’s tend to talk about them rather a lot.

In Latin America, folk tales, songs, novels and soap operas are not complete without a distrustful mother-in-law. Why is that, he wonders? And has the role of the mother-in-law changed, now the economy is booming and whole families don’t have to live under one roof anymore? Or are mothers-in-law still as picky and meddlesome as Latino men would have us believe? Maybe they have good reason to be so, because men aren’t always gentle with their women.

 

Episode 6. The Mother of Colombia

In the final episode of the series, we journey down the Magdalena River, which originates in the Andes and ends in the Caribbean Sea.

This is the most hopeful period in Colombia’s history: the peace treaty has been signed and the country looks towards the future as new roads and bridges are being constructed. At the same time, the Magdalena River, also known as the mother of the country, still means a lot to inhabitants. What will progress destroy?

Escape From Room 18

John Daly, an ex-neo-Nazi skinhead, fled to Israel after his own gang attempted to murder him for being Jewish. Years later he receives an e-mail from someone in his long forgotten past.

Kevin Connell, a former friend and fellow ex-neo-Nazi is on a mission to change his own life and make amends for his past. He invites John to meet him in Eastern Europe to discover first hand the effects of what they both practiced and preached.

Suffering from PTSD and a brain tumor John is reluctant at first. Is this another attempt on his life? Or is this actually a man trying to better himself and make amends for the pain he caused so many people so many years ago?