Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets

Billy Elliot

September 2000 •English

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

Casablanca

January 1943 •English

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

Earth Crying

May 2002 •Thai

Set in Isaan, this is the story of a mother who struggles to lead her needy family through seemingly endless hardships and pressures. To help the family survive, the father endures greedy capitalists who heartlessly take advantage of him and his family, forcing him to slave at the harvest of an infertile field. That is until he loses both his arms. Then all the burdens fall on the mother: bread-winning, taking care of her crippled husband and raising the kids, all amid external pressures from drought to vile businessmen.

A Dream of Fortune

June 1961 •Korean

Son Hak-su (Kim Seung-ho) is a middle school teacher who barely gets by on his income because he's paying off a monthly mortgage for his welfare housing facility sold by the government. One day, Mr. Son and his wife make the acquaintance of a U.S. immigrant Charlie Hong (Heo Chang-kang) who is engaged in the smuggling business.

I'm Not Ashamed

October 2016 •English

Based on the journal entries of Rachel Joy Scott, the first student killed in the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. She was the first person Harris and Klebold saw in their desire to kill as many people as possible, not because she was religious, as this movie will have you believe.

A Shore Away

March 2022 •French

Newly employed in an emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness, Geneviève is shaken to meet a young woman there whom she believed to have succeeded in reintegrating when she was her social worker.

SommerHundeSöhne

September 2005 •German

Summer is the time to travel, enjoy life, and do or leave what you want. A motor home with two occupants makes its way south. But the two travelers do not travel voluntarily, and certainly not together.

The Man from the Embassy

November 2007 •German

Midnight Cowboy

May 1969 •English

Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.

Daughter

December 1994 •Thai

Filmed in documentary style, Daughter is the story of four girls who face family problems and turn to heavy drug use in order to cope with their sad realities.

Boy of the Streets

January 1938 •English

Cocky young street kid worships his father, a sleazy political operative.

Atash

January 2001 •English

The Airy Tomb

July 1963 •English

Can there be a bleaker portrait of a life half-lived? Cinematic treatment of poet R.S. Thomas's story of Twm, the "shy soul" who lives and dies alone in the "grim house nailed to the mountainside", oblivious to the interest shown in him by young girls in the village and to his own isolation as he scratches a living from the farm.

I Want to Be

June 2000 •Spanish

The short drama film follows the daily life of the Juan and Jorge, two brothers living on the streets of Mexico City. It won an Academy Award in 2001 for Best Live Action Short Film.

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.

A Hero in His Slippers

November 1958 •Greek

A veteran general, living poorly but honestly with his wife and his daughter, is visited by his future son-in-law who informs him that he is going to immigrate to Australia. On the same day, his cousin Apostolos pays him a visit as well and tells him that the government intending to honor him has decided to construct his statue and place it at the small square in front of his house.

Goli Soda

January 2014 •Tamil

Four lads find themselves in a situation where they have to take on a powerful man (and his innumerable henchmen) to reclaim their identity.

The Young and the Damned

December 1950 •Spanish

A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent life in the infamous slums of Mexico City; among them Pedro, whose morality is gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others.

Solus

March 2024 •English

Whilst saving up for a hotel, a homeless man is robbed and must find a place to sleep.

Babel

October 2006 •English

In Babel, a tragic incident involving an American couple in Morocco sparks a chain of events for four families in different countries throughout the world.