Human Rights Films

AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS IN EUROPE:  OTOMO & WAALO FENDO

AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS IN EUROPE: OTOMO & WAALO FENDO

Regular price $395.00
/

OTOMO

A powerful film portraying institutionalized racism and police brutality, Otomo provides a convincing look at the everyday world of refugees, who are continuously surrounded by tension and insecurity.

In the summer of 1989, a Stuttgart newspaper reported the true story of a West African asylum seeker who physically assaulted an intolerant subway ticket-taker; fled, and became the target of a city-wide manhunt. Otomo is a sober, fictionalized reconstruction of a tale that shocked Stuttgart, and a gripping portrait of how institutionalized racism drives a disempowered individual to violence and inhumanity.

West African immigrant Frederic Otomo (Isaach de Bankole) lacks the proper papers to be hired for the most menial of jobs; he has survived for eight years with the help of a Catholic charity. Otomo is the target of verbal abuse, is thrown out of his boarding house, and even scorned by neighborhood dogs. He feels and looks out of place. A stoic bubbling pot of wrath on the run, de Bankole's performance establishes Otomo's essence without words-language cannot express the gravity of his situation. As a ticking soundtrack counts down his fated minutes, Otomo is helped by a kind, aging hippie and her granddaughter, establishing the potential for an inclusive German society….if it is not too late...

|Germany|1999|84 mins|drama|German with English subtitles|Frieder Schlaich, dir.|

"I was impressed by the decision to make Otomo a bit of an anti-hero, seeming aware that in desperate times, good people may say or do things outside the norm." -- Greg Dean Schmitz, Greg's previews at Yahoo!Movies

"Documents the institutionalized racism and xenophobia that painted one man into a corner, while never excusing the terrible means by which he took his final escape." -- Jessica Winter, Village Voice

"Much of the sense of size in this account of an immigrant worker, who is only one among many thousands in Germany, comes from the performance by Isaach de Bankole." -- Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic

 


WAALO FENDO: WHERE THE EARTH FREEZES

Senegal / Switzerland, 1998, 65 mins, drama in Wolof and Italian with English subtitles, Mohammed Soudani, dir.

Milan, like Paris or Stuttgart, and like many other European cities, is the theater of the drama of immigration. Demba reconstructs his story and that of his brother Yaro, both Senegalese immigrants in Italy, in a long and fragmentary flashback that begins with Yaro’s murder and recounts their departure from the village, arrival in Europe, the work they find selling lighters and picking tomatoes in the south of Italy: the stages every “non-EEC citizen” goes through in Italy. It is a story of immigration like so many others but that most people are unaware of. Waalo Fendo illustrates the dehumanization faced by so many immigrants all over the world.

Cart
ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET
ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET
ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET
ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET
ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET
ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET
ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET
ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET
ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET
ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET

ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET

Regular price $395.00
/

Angels On Diamond Street Trailer - Art HD from ArtMattan Productions on Vimeo.

ANGELS ON DIAMOND STREET

DIRECTED BY Petr Lom
U.S.A. / Netherlands / 2019 / ENGLISH / SPANISH w/English Subtitles / 88 MIN


SYNOPSIS

Angels on Diamond Street spotlights three women fighting for social justice in an African-American church in Philadelphia. We follow head cook Mamie Mather, former Black Panther Barbara Easley-Cox and Pastor Renee Mackenzie at the soup kitchen of the Church of the Advocate: a national monument with a rich history in the civil rights movement.

When an undocumented Mexican immigrant family - Carmela Apolonio Hernandez and her children - asks the church for sanctuary, they are welcome with open arms. Pastor Mackenzie courageously defies the ICE immigration authorities in an act of civil disobedience.

A documentary about compassion that invites us to forget about all borders, be they of race, nationality or religion.

 

"Angels on Diamond Street, by the Netherlands-based director Petr Lom, is rich with quotable quotes. It is a tender look at an American church with an old, persevering, social justice soul, and the people who make their soup kitchen a communal magnet.

The film was recorded during a two-year focus on North Philadelphia's activist congregation of the Church of the Advocate in the heart of a poor, African American neighborhood. The church building is a huge, stone beauty finished in 1887, named the George W. South Memorial Church, but is best known by its current moniker. Informative and strung together chronologically, it grows into an occasional conversation between the man behind the camera and the people he follows. You can read a lot in its details." ~ JoAnne Velin, moderntimes.review.com

Cart
AS FAR AS I CAN WALK
AS FAR AS I CAN WALK
AS FAR AS I CAN WALK
AS FAR AS I CAN WALK
AS FAR AS I CAN WALK
AS FAR AS I CAN WALK

AS FAR AS I CAN WALK

Regular price $445.00
/

As Far as I Can Walk Trailer - Art from ArtMattan Productions on Vimeo.

As Far as I Can Walk is a 2021 internationally co-produced drama directed by Serbian Oscar-nominated director (for his 2003 short film '(A)Torsion') Stefan Arsenijevic that follows a couple who left Ghana with a dream of a better life in Europe and now live as refugees in Belgrade.

22-year-old Siisi, nicknamed Strahinja, is doing everything to integrate in Serbia. He volunteers for the Red Cross in the camp where he lives, looks for work, plays on the local football team... His biggest challenge, however, is to win back the woman he loves. When she disappears one day, Strahinja sets out to find her.

As Far as I Can Walk is a re-imagining of a traditional medieval epic in which contemporary African migrants take the place of Serbian national heroes. Urgent and timeless at the same time, the adaptation raises questions about identity, tradition, race and love.

It premiered at the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2021 where it won five prizes including the main Grand Prix – Crystal Globe and the Best Actor honor awarded to Ibrahim Koma for his starring performance in the film.

By Strahinja Banović / Serbia / France / Luxembourg / Bulgaria / Lithuania / 2021 / 92 min / English and Serbian with English Sub.

 

It’s a surprising and exhilarating blend of contemporary refugee story, love triangle and medieval Serbian poem.” ~ Alisa Simon, Variety

In his masterfully directed picture Stefan Arsenijević delivers a crystal clear, humanistic account of the need to find one’s place in the world; this is also a tale of love, the most profound testimony of which might also be the most painful.” ~ Lenka Tyrpáková, Karlovy Vary FF

“Arsenijević's film is vividly crafted and performed. The predominantly English-language film should gather interest [ ] on the strength of its topicality and emotional accessibility.” ~ Guy Lodge, Variety

The refugees are presented as broken and poor, but dignified, and as opposed to many other similarly themed films, we get real, flesh-and-blood characters in Strahinja and Ababuo, with well-defined personalities, pasts and hopes for the future. And therein lies the film's greatest strength: both actors are positively magnetic on the screen, but especially Koma, whose drive and extraordinary charisma often collide with Mensah-Offei's pride and headstrong ambition.” ~ Vladan Petkovic, Cineuropa

One of Arsenijevic’s avowed goals with As Far as I Can Walk was to portray refugees as distinct individuals with inner lives, dreams and aspirations, not just blank statistics. In this he is admirably successful.” ~ Stephen Dalton, Verdict

 

ABOUT THE MAKING OF THE FILM

“Arsenijević’s hometown Belgrade marks an important point on the Balkan migrant route. A few years ago, he could see thousands of new refugees arriving every day. He says, “Having my own experience of war and poverty in the 90s, I could easily identify. I started talking with migrants, hearing their experiences. There was this moving story of epic proportions happening right in front of me. It was just important to find the right angle to tell it.” As the migrant crisis grew, many locals promulgated paranoid fears that migrants would take over European culture by imposing their own. “National identity and national heritage are touchy subjects in my country,” says Arsenijević. “So, it occurred to me: what if I replace Serbian national heroes with contemporary African migrants? I thought this could provide some interesting perspectives.”  ~ Alisa Simon, Variety

 

WATCH AS FAR AS I CAN WALK IN THEATRES

 

THEATRE  CITY/STATE OPENS
IFC Center New York, NY June 30, 2023

 


 




 




 


Cart
BOMA-TERVUREN, THE JOURNEY (LE VOYAGE)

BOMA-TERVUREN, THE JOURNEY (LE VOYAGE)

Regular price $195.00
/

BOMA-TERVUREN, THE JOURNEY (LE VOYAGE) 

DIRECTED BY FRANCIS DUJARDIN
BELGIUM / 1999 / FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES / 54 MIN

SYNOPSIS

The extraordinary and tragic saga of 267 Congolese, brought to Brussels for the 1897 World's Fair. After some four months of travel towards Belgium, they are exhibited before a million visitors. Subjected to the crushing gaze of the "Whites" and the cold climate, many fell prey to disease and even some lost their lives. The dead were hastily dispatched in a common grave, sparking a fierce debate in Belgian society. The project was overblown, but necessary in the eyes of the first colonizers, who presumed to have tamed the far-flung savages. One hundred years later, Congolese compatriots return to the scene of these events and question the "Whites" of today on the incredible story of that "human zoo". They carry out the ritual of "a return to the earth" by way of reparation for too great a hurt… A film that revisits a century of stereotyped conceptions about the Africans. And running through it, the almost aching question: "How is today different?"
DIRECTOR AND CAST

Director: Frances Dujardin
 

GENRES

  • Documentary

 
Cart
CATCH A FIRE

CATCH A FIRE

Regular price $145.00
/

CATCH A FIRE 

DIRECTED BY MENELIK SHABAZZ 
JAMAICA and U.K. / 1995 / ENGLISH / 30 MIN

SYNOPSIS

Catch a Fire tells the story of Deacon Paul Bogle, often described as a 19th century Malcom X. 30 years after the end of slavery in Jamaica, the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865 provoked outrage in Victorian Britain shaping race and land attitudes. The story is constructed using extensive interviews with Paul Bogle's grand son as well as archive material.

DIRECTOR AND CAST
 
Director: Menelik Shabazz
 

GENRES

  • Docu-drama
Cart
CONGO: WHITE KING, RED RUBBER, BLACK DEATH + BOMA TERVUREN, THE JOURNEY

CONGO: WHITE KING, RED RUBBER, BLACK DEATH + BOMA TERVUREN, THE JOURNEY

Regular price $245.00
/

CONGO: WHITE KING, RED RUBBER, BLACK DEATH

DIRECTED BY PETER BATE 
CONGO AND BELGIUM / 2003 / ENGLISH / 90 MIN
SYNOPSIS

This true, astonishing story of what King Leopold II did in the Congo was forgotten for over 50 years. “ Congo:White King, Red Rubber, Black Death” describes how King Leopold II of Belgium turned Congo into its private colony between 1885 and 1908. Under his control, Congo became a gulag labor camp of shocking brutality. Leopold posed as the protector of Africans fleeing Arab slave-traders but, in reality, he carved out an empire based on terror to harvest rubber. Families were held as hostages, starving to death if the men failed to produce enough wild rubber. Children's hands were chopped off as punishment for late deliveries. The Belgian government has denounced this documentary as a "tendentious diatribe" for depicting King Leopold II as the moral forebear of Adolf Hitler, responsible for the death of 10 million people in his rapacious exploitation of the Congo. Yet, it is agreed today that the first Human Rights movement was spurred by what happened in the Congo.

"(a) stunning indictment of Belgium's brutal colonization of the Congo in the late 19th century. "~VARIETY

"Evokes the ignorance of a country that would rather look up to its ugly past than down." ~ SLANT MAGAZINE

"A journey into the original “Heart of Darkness”."~ NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

DIRECTOR AND CAST

Director: Peter Bate
Starring: Roger May
Starring: Nicholas Fraser 
Starring: Steve Driesen 
 

GENRES

  • Documentary
  • Bonus Documentary with DVD: BOMA TERVUREN, THE JOURNEY 

BOMA TERVUREN, THE JOURNEY

DIRECTED BY FRANCIS DUJARDIN
BELGIUM / 1999 / FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES / 54 MIN

SYNOPSIS

The extraordinary and tragic saga of 267 Congolese, brought to Brussels for the 1897 World's Fair. After some four months of travel towards Belgium, they are exhibited before a million visitors. Subjected to the crushing gaze of the "Whites" and the cold climate, many fell prey to disease and even some lost their lives. The dead were hastily dispatched in a common grave, sparking a fierce debate in Belgian society. The project was overblown, but necessary in the eyes of the first colonizers, who presumed to have tamed the far-flung savages. One hundred years later, Congolese compatriots return to the scene of these events and question the "Whites" of today on the incredible story of that "human zoo". They carry out the ritual of "a return to the earth" by way of reparation for too great a hurt… A film that revisits a century of stereotyped conceptions about the Africans. And running through it, the almost aching question: "How is today different?"

DIRECTOR AND CAST

Director: Frances Dujardin
 

GENRES

  • Documentary

 
Cart
Executive Order (Medida Provisora)
Executive Order (Medida Provisora)
Executive Order (Medida Provisora)
Executive Order (Medida Provisora)
Executive Order (Medida Provisora)
Executive Order (Medida Provisora)

Executive Order (Medida Provisora)

Regular price $395.00
/

EXECUTIVE ORDER
(Medida Provisória)

Set in a dystopian near future in Rio de Janeiro, a lawyer (Alfred Enoch) sues the Brazilian government for reparation of all descendants of African slaves in the country. The authoritarian government responds by signing an executive order sending all black citizens to Africa as an excuse to repay the debts of slavery. 

Directed by Lázaro Ramos, 2020, Brazil, 101min, Drama, Portuguese w/ English subtitles.

"A chilling believability creeps into this dystopian debut from actor-turned-director Lázaro Ramos that’s hard to shake off." ~ Cath Clarke, Guardian

"[Executive Order] is Bacurau on a global scale, Get Out without the humor. It's Armee Guineenne unleashed in movie form, a melancholic prophecy of a coming war and a sendoff to those brave African soldiers who dared to fight for their heartland." ~ Asher Luberto, L.A. Weekly

"The directing is excellent, the cast is giving it their all, and the themes are relevant and need to be discussed." ~ Bobby LePire, Film Threat

"Politically and culturally driven it may be, Executive Order still ultimately aims for entertainment and education in equal measure." ~ Peter Gray, The AU Review

Cart
KINSHASA MAKAMBO
KINSHASA MAKAMBO
KINSHASA MAKAMBO
KINSHASA MAKAMBO

KINSHASA MAKAMBO

Regular price $395.00
/

KINSHASA MAKAMBO

DIRECTED BY DIEUDO HAMADI
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, FRANCE, GERMANY, NORWAY, QATAR, SWITZERLAND/ 2018/ LINGALA | FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES/ 75 MIN

SYNOPSIS

In January 2015, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, sought a constitutional amendment that would allow him to be elected president for a third time.

This film documents the resulting demonstrations and follows three protagonists of the resistance. Ben, who lives in exile in New York, takes the advice of his fellow countrymen in exile and decides to join the struggle in the Congo. Jean Marie, who has just been released from prison, continues his public campaign for his country’s freedom and is persecuted by the secret service. Christian fights unperturbed in the streets of Kinshasa, even after former Prime Minister Etienne Tshisekedi, on whom the opposition had pinned their hopes, dies and the movement against Kabila’s extension of his time in office seems paralysed.

Should one resist in exile, or fight on the ground in the Congo? Should resistance be non-violent or should force be used if required? Filmed throughout with a handheld camera that stays very close to the protagonists, even in precarious conditions, Dieudo Hamadi explores the pros and cons of different forms of resistance.

 

DIRECTOR

Director: Dieudo Hamadi
 
 GENRE
  • Documentary
Cart
MADE IN BANGLADESH
MADE IN BANGLADESH
MADE IN BANGLADESH
MADE IN BANGLADESH
MADE IN BANGLADESH
MADE IN BANGLADESH
MADE IN BANGLADESH
MADE IN BANGLADESH

MADE IN BANGLADESH

Regular price $395.00
/

MADE IN BANGLADESH

Shimu, 23, works in a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Faced with difficult conditions at work, she decides to start a union with her co-workers.

Despite threats from the management and disapproval of her husband, Shimu is determined to go on. Together the women must fight and find a way.

Directed by Rubaiyat Hossain, Bangladesh/France/Denmark/Portugal , 2019, 95min, social drama, English & Bengali w/English subtitles

* Toronto Intl Film Festival - Contemporary World Cinema
* London BFI
* Stockholm International Film Festival - Competition Films from the South

Cart
Mother Suriname / Mama Sranan

Mother Suriname / Mama Sranan

Regular price $395.00
/

Mama Suriname (Mama Sranan)

Mother Suriname – Mama Sranan is a deep and evocative portrayal of Suriname's history and the personal story it weaves. Its effectiveness in bringing Surinamese history to life, makes it a significant contribution to understanding the country's cultural and historical landscape.

A woman looks back on her life, through narration and song. In Mother Suriname – Mama Sranan, filmmaker Tessa Leuwsha uses a stream of fascinating colorized archival footage to illustrate the lives of Surinamese women like her grandmother, who was a washerwoman.

She’s born in a hamlet in 1905 to a white mother and a black father—a disgrace. Her father is forced to leave and her mother also disappears. She’s despised as a half-caste, does not go to school and soon becomes aware of the state of colonial relations (“we work and they watch”). She has a child whose father is always elsewhere, working for the Dutch. Determined to make the most of her life, she moves to Paramaribo, where she has three more children she raises on her own.

Meanwhile, she sees her homeland moving towards more self-esteem. Before Suriname’s independence in 1975 however, all her children move to the Netherlands—and she eventually follows them, with sorrow in her heart: “In Holland, paradise is like a shadow, just in front of you or behind you, never with you.” Still, strong-willed as she is, she finds a place where she connects with her homeland, her spiritual roots and herself.

"Not only a biography but also a portrait of a colony on the road to independence." ~ Pauline Kleijer for De Volkskrant 

"A breathtaking journey through the history of Suriname." ~ Guus Schulting for De Filmkrant

Directed by Tessa Leuwsha, 2023, 71 minutes, Documentary, Netherlands, Dutch (with English subtitles)

Cart
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM

REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN: MADE IN BANGLADESH & SHE HAD A DREAM

Regular price $445.00
/

MADE IN BANGLADESH

 

Shimu, 23, works in a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Faced with difficult conditions at work, she decides to start a union with her co-workers. Despite threats from the management and disapproval of her husband, Shimu is determined to go on. Together the women must fight and find a way.

By Rubaiyat Hossain, Bangladesh/France/Denmark/Portugal, 2019, 95min, social drama, English & Bengali w/English subtitles

WINNER, Public Award Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color ADIFF 2019.

 

SHE HAD A DREAM

She Had a Dream Trailer - ArtMattan Films from ArtMattan Productions on Vimeo.

Ghofrane, 25, is a young Black Tunisian woman. A committed activist who speaks her mind, she embodies Tunisia’s current political upheaval. As a victim of racial discrimination, Ghofrane decides to go into politics.  In its own unique way, this documentary sheds light on the place of women and Black people in Tunisia’s changing society.

By Raja Amari, Tunisia, 2020, 90min, documentary, Arabic and French w/English subtitles.

WINNER, Public Award Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color ADIFF 2021.

Cart
SEXY MONEY

SEXY MONEY

Regular price $295.00
/

SEXY MONEY

DIRECTED BY KARIN JUNGER
NIGERIA AND THE NETHERLANDS / 2014 / ENGLISH / 85 MIN

SYNOPSIS

A reflection of the difficult social conditions of women in many societies in different parts of the world, SEXY MONEY explores frontally with much sensitivity and compassion the broken hopes and hard choices of poor Nigerian women as they struggle to reintegrate Nigerian society with dignity after being expelled from Europe where they were looking for a better life.

SEXY MONEY presents a subtle indictment of the social reality of poor women in contemporary Nigeria. In recent years, a growing number of Nigerian women, among other West African women, have settled in the suburbs of major cities in the Netherlands and other parts of Europe. The women go there in order to escape poverty. But for most of them, the European adventure is a disappointment that ends when they fly back to their native countries empty-handed.

The film listens to these women talk about their European adventure and follows the development of two women in particular who, after returning to Nigeria, try to build a new life. There are countless obstacles. The film exposes the challenges these women face while celebrating their resilience.

Music, as a source of pleasure and beauty plays an important role in the lives of these women and also in the film, with songs especially composed for it by Nneka, one of Nigeria’s best.

DIRECTOR AND CAST

Director: Karin Junger
Starring: Nneka
Starring: Laura Akuoyibo
Starring: Janet Ogheneovo
 

GENRES

  • Documentary 
Cart
SHE HAD A DREAM
SHE HAD A DREAM
SHE HAD A DREAM
SHE HAD A DREAM
SHE HAD A DREAM
SHE HAD A DREAM

SHE HAD A DREAM

Regular price $395.00
/

SHE HAD A DREAM - Young, Tunisian and Black

Ghofrane, 25, is a young Black Tunisian woman. A committed activist who speaks her mind, she embodies Tunisia's current political upheaval. As a victim of racial discrimination, Ghofrane decides to go into politics.

We follow her extraordinary path, ranging from acting on her ambition to be in politics to disillusion. Through her attempts to persuade both close friends and complete strangers to vote for her, her campaign reveals the many faces of a country seeking to forge a new identity.

In its own unique way, this documentary sheds light on the place of women and Black people in Tunisia's changing society.

Directed by Raja Amari, Tunisia, 2020, 90min, documentary, Arabic and French w/English subtitles

* IDFA 2020 - World Premiere

"Binous' determination to be an agent of change lends the film an engaging, upbeat energy that enhances its appeal..." ~ Screen International

"Effortlessly balancing the personal and the political - and the invisible line between them - the filmmaker offers a glimpse into the future of a better Tunisia through Binous's unique odyssey." ~ Film Inquiry

"As a Black woman from a working-class neighborhood in Tunisia, 25-year-old Ghofrane Binous has spent her whole life dealing with class inequality, racism, and sex discrimination. Following an extremely racist incident in 2018 while working as a flight attendant, she posted a cry for help on social media that was widely viewed, then joined a women’s movement and became politically active. The film follows this charismatic figure in the run-up to the 2019 national elections—during the turbulent campaign period, on the way to countless meetings, and in heated conversations with family members, friends, and party members.

The camera stays close to this young woman who is keen to perpetuate the myth of her own invulnerability—and maybe that’s exactly what she needs to do to rise to the top. The backdrop to her political ambition is a divided society where people have little confidence in their own democracy. Connecting it all is the voice-over in which Binous shares her vision of life, and her motivations for becoming politically active in a paternalistic, segregated society where women generally draw the shortest straw." IDFA

Cart
Sugar Cane Malice / MAL DE CAÑA
Sugar Cane Malice / MAL DE CAÑA
Sugar Cane Malice / MAL DE CAÑA
Sugar Cane Malice / MAL DE CAÑA
Sugar Cane Malice / MAL DE CAÑA
Sugar Cane Malice / MAL DE CAÑA
Sugar Cane Malice / MAL DE CAÑA
Sugar Cane Malice / MAL DE CAÑA

Sugar Cane Malice / MAL DE CAÑA

Regular price $395.00
/
SUGAR CANE MALICE / MAL DE CAÑA
 
A documentary about the working conditions of Haitian workers in one of the largest sugar cane plantations in the world, located in the Dominican Republic and belonging to the Fanjul Family, one of the most powerful families in America.
 

When Maria’s husband died, she was told to either leave the sugarcane plantation or to work in the only existent job: cutting and planting cane.

She decided to work in exchange for a miserable wage and a rudimentary barrack she and her five children call home. With that, she was accepting a precarious life without electricity, drinkable water and sanitary services. This is how people are stuck in a house provided by the Company, ensuring that no other basic service neither civil rights are provided, maintaining people in a life of misery. The vast extension of a sugarcane plantation in Dominican Republic offers this deal to thousands of Haitian workers. Some struggle to leave – like Maria’s daughter, with few chances of working in a hotel by the coast. Some others are forced to leave – like Leidy and her baby, when her father-in-law retires after 50 years of work. Yet, some others – like Yudelka and Telemin – organize and try to change the miserable situation everyone is living in the cane fields. They are an obstacle that hinders the functioning of the great machine that is the Plantation.

Directed by Juan A. Zapata, Dominican Republic/Spain, 2021, 76min, Documentary, Spanish w/English subtitles

 Sugar Cane Malice is the third film from director [Juan A.] Zapata, a native of the Dominican Republic, who is also an architect and visual artist. Both sensibilities are on display in Sugar Cane Malice, which pays particular attention to the built environment of the workers, and contrasts it through a series of helicopter (or drone) shots with modern construction in the island’s cities and the luxurious beach resorts that are beloved of tourists. He also finds beauty even in the sugar cane fields where these workers labor for the benefits of others. Above all, he respects the dignity of his subjects, who haven’t let their difficult lives become their only story." ~ Sarah Boslaugh

AWARDS

FULL FRAME Documentary Film Festival 2021
Official Competition 

Festival des Libertés 2021
Official Competition 

EATSA Art & Tourism is an International Film Festival 2021
Official Competition 

SOMCINEMA Festival (Spain) 2021
Official Competition 

Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam 2021
Official Competition

Cart
THE BIG BANANA

THE BIG BANANA

Regular price $245.00
/

THE BIG BANANA

DIRECTED BY FRANCK BIELEU 
CAMEROON / 2011 / FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES / 85 MIN

SYNOPSIS

Banned in Cameroon, The Big Banana illustrates the poor working conditions in banana plantations and exposes the adverse impact on the people of a corporatocracy government that affords super profits for corporations at the expense of the local population.

The Big Banana outlines land grabbing tactics by company Plantation du Haut Penja (PHP) and the ensuing devastation for communities: poverty, pollution, and sickness from pesticides.

Bieleu, who spent two years filming residents in the remote countryside of Cameroon also features local cooperatives resisting the devastation through business alliances with fair trade organizations. As a result, The Big Banana not only exposes multinational corporations culpability in the land grab of Africa but also makes us reconsider where we get our fruit from.

DIRECTOR AND CAST

Director: Franck Bieleu 
 

GENRES

  • Documentary
Cart
THE CITIZEN (AZ ALLAMPOLGAR)

THE CITIZEN (AZ ALLAMPOLGAR)

Regular price $395.00
/

THE CITIZEN

Directed by Roland Vranik | Hungary | 2016 | Drama | 109 min

SYNOPSIS

In his late fifties Wilson, whose family was killed during an outbreak of civil war in Guinea-Bissau, enters Europe as a political refugee and settles for a sedate life as a security guard in a Budapest shopping center. Wilson's main desire is to acquire Hungarian citizenship. The story follows Wilson as he attempts to find his place in Hungarian society in his daily life, at work, with Mari, a history teacher who helps him study for the citizenship and Shirin, a young Iranian woman whose only hope to avoid deportation is to marry a Hungarian citizen. The Citizen is an Award-winning drama that poignantly dwells on some of the most complex issues of contemporary modern European society.BBC

DIRECTOR AND CAST

Director: Rolad Vranik
 
 

GENRES

  • Drama 
Cart
THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN: THE WRATH OF HIPPOCRATES (L'HOMME QUI RÉPARE LES FEMMES: LA COLÈRE D'HIPPOCRATE)
THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN: THE WRATH OF HIPPOCRATES (L'HOMME QUI RÉPARE LES FEMMES: LA COLÈRE D'HIPPOCRATE)
THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN: THE WRATH OF HIPPOCRATES (L'HOMME QUI RÉPARE LES FEMMES: LA COLÈRE D'HIPPOCRATE)
THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN: THE WRATH OF HIPPOCRATES (L'HOMME QUI RÉPARE LES FEMMES: LA COLÈRE D'HIPPOCRATE)
THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN: THE WRATH OF HIPPOCRATES (L'HOMME QUI RÉPARE LES FEMMES: LA COLÈRE D'HIPPOCRATE)
THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN: THE WRATH OF HIPPOCRATES (L'HOMME QUI RÉPARE LES FEMMES: LA COLÈRE D'HIPPOCRATE)

THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN: THE WRATH OF HIPPOCRATES (L'HOMME QUI RÉPARE LES FEMMES: LA COLÈRE D'HIPPOCRATE)

Regular price $345.00
/

THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN - TRAILER 10-23 from ArtMattan Productions on Vimeo.

THE MAN WHO MENDS WOMEN

DIRECTED BY THIERRY MICHEL AND COLETTE BRAECKMAN 
CONGO AND BELGIUM / 2015 / FRENCH, ENGLISH, SWAHILI AND MASHI WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES / 113 MIN

SYNOPSIS

Portrait of the impressive life and work of internationally renowned gynecologist Dr. Denis Mukwege from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He received the 2014 prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for his struggle against sexual violence. Mukwege medically assisted over 40,000 sexually abused women in sixteen years of professional practice.

Sexual violence against women has been used as a weapon of war for years in the violence-ridden and poverty-stricken Democratic Republic of Congo. In order to provide medical, psychological and emotional aid to the victims, Dr. Mukwege founded the Panzi hospital in Bukavu in 1999. Besides his work as a physician Dr. Mukwege also defends human rights and seeks to raise global awareness on the issue of sexual violence in his country. He condemns the political reluctance to tackle the problem and is not afraid to hit the nail on the head.

His work is not without danger, as Dr. Mukwege experienced in 2012, when armed men entered his home and started shooting. Mukwege and his family survived the attack, but his guard was killed. The doctor now lives cloistered in his hospital in Bukavu under the protection of the United Nation peacekeepers. The women, whose physical and emotional integrity and dignity have been restored, stand beside him, true activists for peace, and hungry for justice.

The Man Who Mends Women - The Wrath of Hippocrates was awarded on the 8th of February 2016 the Best Documentary Magritte given once a year by  the  Académie  André Delvaux to the Best Feature Length Belgium Francophone Documentary of the year. 

It also received on January 29, 2016  the HUMANUM AWARD by the Belgium Film  Critic Union (Union de la Presse Cinématographique Belge - UPCB) for its advocacy in  favor of harmonious living among different peoples.

Other awards include:
* Best Documentary Special Jury Award at the 2016 Pan African Film Festival, in Los Angeles (USA);
* Special Mention at the Festival Internacional De Cine Documental De La Ciudad de Mexico 2015 (Mexico);
* The Public Award at the Algiers International Film Festival 2015 (Algeria);
* The Golden Butterfly - A Matter of Act award at the Movies That Matter Festival 2015 (The Netherlands)

The film has received so far 5 Human Rights Awards, 3 Audience Awards, and 4 Grand Prizes for Best Documentary in festivals worldwide!

DIRECTOR AND CAST

Director: Thierry Michel and Colette Braeckman
 

GENRES

  • Documentary
Cart
The Survival of Kindness

The Survival of Kindness

Regular price $395.00
/

Survival of Kindness Trailer Art from ArtMattan Productions on Vimeo.

THE SURVIVAL OF KINDNESS 

DIRECTED BY ROLF DE HEER
AUSTRALIA / 2023 / ENGLISH / 96 MIN

Written, directed and produced by award-winning auteur filmmaker Rolf de Heer (Dingo, Bad Boy Bubby, The Tracker)

The Survival of Kindness

uses allegory to analyze race and privilege, as it follows protagonist BlackWoman (South Australian Mwajemi Hussein), abandoned in a cage in the middle of the desert. Following her escape, she walks through pestilence and persecution, from desert to mountain to city, only to find more captivity.

Filmed across various stunning Australian landscapes in South Australia and Tasmania, Survival of Kindness is led by Australian producer Julie Byrne (AACTA Award winning The Babadook) alongside de Heer, and is co-produced by Ari Harrison (The Furnace).

 

DIRECTOR AND CAST

Director: Rolf de Heer
Starring: Mwajemi Hussein
Starring: Gary Waddell
Starring: Natasha Wanganeen
 

GENRES

  • Drama, Mystery

Cart