Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers

Land Without Bread

December 1933 •Spanish

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. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Megacities

August 1998 •English

Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.

Killer High: The Silent Crisis

September 2021 •English

The face of drug use in America is changing. Fentanyl, a highly addictive opioid, is making its way into the bedrooms of teenagers, often with just a few text messages or a few taps on a smartphone. "Killer High: The Silent Crisis," explores the drug crisis and impact of fentanyl through the eyes of the families impacted by it, the law enforcement officers desperate to get it off the streets, and the medical professionals who must deal with its deadly consequences.

Frau Mercedes

January 2008 •German

In Bern, Madame Mercedes has been working for 35 years in her car as a prostitute. An intimate and subtle portrait about ageing as a prostitute, a documentary about a vanishing chapter of habits in Switzerland.

The Women Outside

July 1996 •English

They're called bar women, hostesses, or sex workers and "western princesses." They come from poor families, struggling to earn a decent wage, only to be forced into the world's oldest profession. They're the women who work in the camptowns that surround U.S. military bases in South Korea. In 40 years, over a million women have worked in Korea's military sex industry, but their existence has never been officially acknowledged by either government. In The Women Outside, a film by J.T. Orinne Takagi and Hye Jung Park, some of these women bravely speak out about their lives for the first time. The film raises provocative questions about military policy, economic survival, and the role of women in global geopolitics

69 - Praça da Luz

June 2008 •Portuguese

Prostitutes of old age make their living in Praça da Luz, in São Paulo. Unusual and surprising accounts of five women who reveal in detail their experiences in all these years of profession.

Les Pépites

October 2016 •French

Working But Poor - The Middle Class in Crisis

January 2023 •German

Citizens across Europe who used to belong to the lower middle class have fallen into poverty. An in-depth investigation into the precariat, a new social class of financially insecure citizens who, although they are employed, find it very difficult to make ends meet.

Angel Dust

March 1980 •English

A documentary exploring the effect of PCP on both the user and society, with particular focus on a Los Angeles salesperson named Jack's recreational usage of the drug.

Sex/Life in L.A.

June 1998 •English

A look at the sex lives of the guys who make L.A. adult movies.

India's forgotten people

September 2020 •English

Cambodia, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge

January 2011 •English

Between April, 1975 and January, 1979, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people in Cambodia. A quarter of the population were wiped out in one of the most brutal and virulent genocides of the twentieth century. This new film explores the life of Pol Pot, the ever-smiling, obsessively secretive leader of the Khmer Rouge. What drove him to inflict such a radical experiment on his own people? How did the Khmer Rouge turn from a band of nationalist revolutionaries into a ruthless killing machine? And why did the West stand by and let it happen?
 As an international tribunal in Cambodia finally brings the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge to justice, it's time to re-examine the gruesome legacy of Pol Pot.

Revolution

July 1968 •English

The San Francisco scene in 1967-68. Documentary about hippies shot during the height of the movement . Viewpoints from many kinds of people. Music by Steve Miller Band, Mother Earth, Quicksilver Messenger Service and others.

The Little Prince's Rap Against The Wicked Souls

August 2000 •Portuguese

A documentary that focuses on two young male inhabitants of Recife (statistically, the fourth worst city in the world to live in) who have both reacted strongly to their situation. One has become a drummer in a rap/rock band. The other has killed forty-four people and is now in jail. Both use the term "Wicked Souls" to describe their enemies.

Fists of Pride

December 2011 •English

Fists of Pride follows Little Tiger and his fellow fighters as their Thai coaches prepare them for the annual Water Festival competition. In a boxing camp on the Thai-Burmese border the children of mostly illegal migrant workers fleeing Burma live and train for prize fights. In a region where combat sports have always been a matter of honor and money, the film reveals their daily struggles. Bets are open and as the hope of prize money rizes, the young boxers contemplate what it could mean for them and their families

Flyin' Cut Sleeves

February 1993 •English

FLYIN' CUT SLEEVES, completed in 1993, portrays street gang presidents in the Bronx. Their world was the streets, set against a backdrop of uprooted families, cultural alienation, drugs and violence. Neighborhood teenagers responded by organizing into street groups known to the members as "families", but labeled in the most alarming terms as violent gangs by the press. The documentation of these lives over a twenty-year period offers a remarkable perspective on life in the ghetto (spanning four generations), and the means that people devise to cope from the time that they are children to when they serve as parents and role models for a new generation.

Afghan Heroin: The Lost War

March 2008 •English

Afghan Heroin: The Lost War is a documentary which investigates how the war on terror in Afghanistan has unleashed heroin into the mainstream. Heroin is one of the most addictive drugs on Earth. Some 90 per cent of the drug is grown in Afghanistan and this hard hitting documentary investigates how the War on Terror has inadvertently unleashed a massive supply of the deadly drug. After the Western coalition troops started their hunt for terrorist Osama Bin Laden and his Taliban allies in late 2001, the country torn apart from decades of war once more became the world’s opium growing capital. Many impoverished farmers had no choice but to grow the opium poppy to feed their families. The documentary delve into the devastating effects of addiction that includes shocking scenes of a young Norwegian couple hustling, scoring and shooting up several times a day in order to appease the monster inside them.

The Pig Farm

January 2011 •English

The life and murders of one of the worst serial killers in history, Robert Pickton who went unchallenged for decades.

Purgatorio: A Journey Into the Heart of the Border

March 2013 •Spanish

A deeply human portrait of the chaotic reality of the US - Mexico border. Full of stunnig images and crafted like a classic city-symphony where the sum of the pieces add up to a larger whole, Purgatorio, a Journey Into the Heart of the Border brings together a universe of small stories to create a compelling and visceral cinematic experience that takes audiences into the very soul of life on the border.

Pier Paolo Pasolini: An Italian Journey

October 2018 •German

In the summer of 1959, as a magazine correspondent, writer and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-75) 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.