Ovacik

Moscow 1996, Vote or Lose!

November 2021 •French

Moscow, January 1996. Boris Yeltsin gets ready to run for a second mandate of the presidency of the young Russian Federation. Polls are in the single digits. A painful economic transition, war in Chechnya, and the rise of criminal groups have left the majority of Russians dissatisfied with Yeltsin… and willing to vote for the communist leader Gennady Zyuganov. Yet six months later, Yeltsin won the election with nearly 54% of the vote. How did that happen?

Comitiva Esperança

Invalid date •Portuguese

Absent without Leave

July 2016 •Chinese

They sacrificed their lives fighting for the independence of their country, but their stories remain untold for 60 years. The story begins with a man’s portrait, which has been hanging for more than 30 years in an old wooden house where I was born and grew up in Perak, Malaysia. It’s long become a taboo that my families do not talk about this man, not even to bring up his name or his past. Eventually I found out he is my grandfather, who sacrificed his life fighting for Malaysia’s independence and decolonisation, but his and his comrades’ stories are excluded from history. This documentary set out to unveil the mysteries.

Finnên

February 2013 •Turkish

Antifa: Rise of the Black Flags

October 2020 •English

The true history of the anti-government extremist terrorist group's century of violence. Focusing on the group which has caused nationwide rioting and violence, The film – which undermines the mainstream media’s depiction of the group as “just an idea” – has already been censored by YouTube and Vimeo.

The Issue of Mr. O'Dell

February 2020 •English

A documentary examining the life of civil rights organizer, Jack O'Dell, a close colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a force in his own right.

Dancing for Change

June 2015 •Kurdish

Dancing For Change is a story about secular and socialist women of the Islamic world, their ideals, activism, and visions for a better world. It focuses on six Kurdish Iranian women from three different generations. These women live with their male comrades in a mountain camp.

Dadi's Family

Invalid date •English

Dadi manages an extended family in Haryana, Northern India, where daughters-in-law face loneliness and unrealistic expectations. The film delves into family dynamics, highlighting Dadi's firm control amidst tensions. Social and economic shifts challenge traditional values, exemplified by Dadi's son marrying outside the village. Despite clinging to tradition, Dadi adapts to her children's modern aspirations. This narrative reflects the clash between generations and gender roles in 1980s rural India, offering insight into the evolving concept of family.

La Pride des champs

May 2024 •French

Chenevelles, population just over 400. A grocery store-bar-service station. Its church and château. A village lost in New Aquitaine. Nothing to distinguish it from neighboring towns. Until the day when a few posters, community social networks and local newspapers invited the surrounding area to participate in the first rural Pride - on July 22, 2022! The region's LGBTQIA+ community, along with Cyril, the mayor, and his constituents, got together to ensure that this celebration resonated throughout the country. The grocer, Léo, a young man in transition, and the Poitiers-based Coloc Drag collective all had the same goal: to surpass 1,000 participants to spread the word that the countryside has broken free from prejudice and celebrate tolerance. 

A Pillar In The Stream

November 1983 •German

The story of communist Walter Zauner who in 1952 was one of the first in the Federal Republic to be convicted of sabotage of a military installation.

The Second Liberation

September 2021 •Bulgarian

The Soviet occupation of Bulgaria (1944-1947) causing the greatest political, financial and moral turning point in the new Bulgarian history.

Francisco Boix: A Photographer in Hell

January 2000 •Spanish

In 1939, just finished the Spanish Civil War, Spanish republican photographer Francesc Boix escapes from Spain; but is captured by the Nazis in 1940 and imprisoned in the Mauthausen concentration camp, in Austria, a year later. There, he works as a prisoner in the SS Photographic Service, hiding, between 1943 and 1945, around 20,000 negatives that later will be presented as evidence during several trials conducted against Nazi war criminals after World War II.

Girls of Hope

December 2011 •English

In Turkey far too many women are still unable to read and write, and all they see in their life span is being forced into early marriage and relegation to the home, where they look after extended families and more children than they can feed. The girls are portrayed in their homes, together with the strongest supporters of their emancipation through education: their mothers. Girls of Hope portrays five girls who struggle for their education and, despite all the difficulties, try to hold on to their hope for a better future.

Werner We Love You

October 2017 •German

When Werner Herzog was still a child, his father was beaten to death before his eyes. His mother was overwhelmed with his upbringing and thereupon shipped him off to one of the toughest youth welfare institutions in Freistatt. This was followed by a career as a bouncer in the city's most notorious music club and an attempt to start a family. Today, the 77-year-old from Bielefeld lives with his dog Lucky in a lonely house in the country. Despite adverse living conditions, he has survived in his own unique and inimitable way.

The Girls

June 2014 •Spanish

Four lucid grandmothers tell their story forgotten by history: the militancy and resistance of the young women of the leftist youth against the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez.

Fidel Castro: America's Nemesis

November 2016 •English

Fidel Castro, the former President of Cuba and one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century, passed away in November. He famously claimed that "history will absolve me", but will it? This special film considers Castro and his legacy.

L'abatis

January 1952 •French

My Perestroika

January 2010 •Russian

Tells the story of five people from the last generation of Soviet children who were brought up behind the Iron Curtain. Just coming of age when the USSR collapsed, they witnessed the world of their childhood crumble and change beyond recognition. Through the lives of these former schoolmates, this intimate film reveals how they have adjusted to their post-Soviet reality in today's Moscow.

Animated Soviet Propaganda

June 1997 •Russian

A landmark four disc Box Set - Unearthed from Moscow's legendary Soyuzmultfilm Studios, the 41 films in ANIMATED SOVIET PROPAGANDA span sixty years of Soviet history (1924 - 1984), and have never been available before in the U.S.

The Last Communist

February 2006 •Malay

A travel documentary essay, interspersed with specially composed songs, about the early life and legacy of Chin Peng, exiled leader of the banned Communist Party of Malaya.