A La Calle

Leopoldo López has managed to unite hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in protest against Maduro, the dictator who led their country to an economic freefall. The attempt to restore democracy costs López and other opposition leaders dearly. The film captures three years of rare social solidarity.

Akeji, the Breath of the Mountain

A tiny hermitage nestled deep in the forest is home to renowned painter Akeji and his wife, Asako. Between tea ceremonies, encounters with wild animals, and spiritual practice, the elderly couple seems to be one with the awe-inspiring nature that surrounds them. Packed with stunning cinematography, this sensitive film opens a window unto a new state of consciousness.

Ascension

There are many steps to achieving the great Chinese dream, and it’s not an easy climb. Some spend their days repeating the same movements over and over, mass-producing products, while others are themselves carefully shaped on a conveyor belt moving toward a promise of success.

Birds of America

A collection of illustrations by birdwatcher John-James Audubon, is an invaluable asset of American culture. This ecological, historical, mystical ride along the Mississippi River takes us back to those birds, exposing the drastic changes in the vast American wilderness.

Boatman

Life, death, and more meet and mix on the Ganges in Varanasi. Gianfranco Rosi (Fire at Sea) goes on a boat tour on the sacred river and meets them all: tourists, believers, fraudsters and innocents, the starving and the sated, merchants and priests, children, and of course, the dead.

Cuban Dancer

He knows he was born to dance, and to achieve self-fulfillment, he emigrates from Cuba to the United States with his family. The coming-of-age story of gifted dancer Alexis Valdes is spread across five years, in which, facing terrible homesickness, he builds his life anew.

Downstream to Kinshasa

Almost two decades after they got injured in the Six-Day War in Congo, a group of outraged civilians journey to the capital by boat to protest against the indifference toward them. This intimate film follows their odyssey from up close and is completely devoid of self-pity.

In the Same Breath

When the virus started taking lives by the hundred-thousands, the Chinese and later American authorities insisted: “there is no reason for concern.” Using rare on-the-ground footage from China, the filmmaker, who had witnessed the horror firsthand, asks: where, if at all, can citizens believe their leaders?

Inside the Red Brick Wall

The underground Collective of Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers covered the 2019 student protests from an unusual angle: they joined the protesters, marched shoulder to shoulder with them and spent tense weeks trapped beside them under a police siege, oscillating between hope and despair.

Life of Ivanna

Ivanna was born in the Arctic tundra. She dreamed of becoming a dancer but got pregnant at 15 and now raises five children in a trailer on an ice flat. The film follows her through four years of impressive personal growth as she finds independence.

Not Just Roads

New highways being constructed in India are dramatically changing the locals’ lives: poor villagers and nomadic populations give way to an emerging middle class, while agriculture is replaced with dreams of profiting from real estate. The camera moves between them all, showing the events from unexpected angles.

President

The 2018 elections in Zimbabwe were supposed to be fair and transparent. Camilla Nielsson (Democrats) joins Nelson Chamisa, the candidate who dares to run against the acting president, on a long and perilous road as he tries to expose election fraud.

Sabaya

Thousands of Yezidi women and girls taken by ISIS are still held captive in a Syrian refugee camp. Brave men and women risk their lives trying to save them. Even after a successful secret rescue operation, the freed "Sabaya" have a long road ahead of them: the road to recovery.

Silence of the Tides

The powerful landscape of northern Europe's Wadden Sea is ever-changing: darkness and light, high tide and low, storms and stillness—and amid all that: tens of thousands of birds, fish, and mammals, including humans, all come and go, repeating fragile cycles. This breathtaking nature is the backdrop for everyday dramas.

The Last Hillbilly

America sees them as poor, ignorant, and racist, but Brian Ritchie, his family, and his neighbors—the last Appalachian settlers—are not afraid of being called hillbillies. Doting on their tradition, they fear the dramatic changes happening in their lives and cope with them using unexpected, almost poetic insight.

This Rain Will Never Stop

Andriy, whose family fled Syria and came to Ukraine, surviving one war only to end up in another, volunteers with the Red Cross. His story threads through this visually arresting film, tenderly weaving through images of people and places marked by war.

Viral

Seven YouTubers from around the world document their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic: the story of a generation that was born into social media, and now has to grow up in a viral world.

Walk the Tideline

When the tide recedes, passionate beachcombers in the UK, the Netherlands, and Japan, go treasure hunting. They find colorful and enticing objects, mysterious messages from other times and other places. These objects are a fraction of the mountains of plastic we cast into the ocean. For some, they are enchanting.