Kaha:wi : The Cycle of Life
Celebrated performer, choreographer and artist Santee Smith interprets traditional Iroquois legends through contemporary dance in a cinematic restaging of her 2004 award-winning debut production KAHA:WI : THE CYCLE OF LIFE. In this touching documentary, a gorgeous and transformative performance is translated effortlessly to the screen, telling us of sacred portals between the Sky World, the […]
Bagdad en feu
Tiba, 19 ans, et ses amis sont pleins d’espoir. Iels se battent pour la démocratie en Irak. Iels sont à l’avant-garde du plus grand mouvement de jeunesse depuis que les États-Unis ont envahi le pays et renversé Saddam Hussein, il y a 20 ans. Avec ses amis Khader et Yousif, elle a mis sur pied […]
Ondes et ficelles
Le Canada est un pays connu pour sa nature et sa convivialité, deux qualités qui ont été mythifiées par le nationalisme et les efforts de marketing du gouvernement pendant de nombreuses décennies. Le pays est également connu pour sa culture documentaire dynamique, dans laquelle ces éléments mythiques – et d’autres – sont parfois étayés, démantelés […]
Illusions of Control
S’inspirant de l’œuvre influente et érudite « Cruel Optimism » de la théoricienne culturelle Lauren Berlant, la réalisatrice basée à Vancouver Shannon Walsh livre un portrait philosophique des histoires de survie et de transformation de cinq femmes à une échelle mondiale. Méditation captivante sur la résilience face à la catastrophe, ILLUSIONS OF CONTROL se déroule […]
Food Coop
En pleine crise économique, dans l’ombre de Wall Street à New York, une institution qui représente une autre tradition américaine, moins connue à l’étranger, est en pleine croissance. C’est la coopérative alimentaire de Park Slope, un supermarché autogéré où 16 000 membres travaillent 3 heures par mois pour avoir le droit d’y acheter les meilleurs […]
First Peoples, First Screens 1
First Peoples, First Screens (FPFS) showcases contemporary Indigenous political filmmaking* from across Canada, including documentary, animation, experimental and genre fiction of varying lengths. We are thrilled to circulate four separate clusters of thematically grouped works throughout the Canadian part of the Cinema Politica network, and to provide a platform to discuss Indigenous art, culture, politics, […]
I Am Femen
Oxana is a woman, a fighter, an artist. As a teenager, her passion for iconography almost inspires her to join a convent, but in the end she decides to devote her talents to the Femen movement. With Anna, Inna and Sasha, she founds the famous feminist group which protests against the regime and which will […]
Documentary Futurism
How do we document that which has yet to occur? Cinema Politica’s Documentary Futurism project seeks to usher in a new kind of filmmaking that brings actuality into conversation with speculation, and realism with the imaginary. Taking inspiration from Afro-futurism, Indigenous futurism, speculative fiction and non-fiction, these 15 films inaugurate a new genre while deploying […]
Surviving Progress
“Every time history repeats itself the price goes up.” Surviving Progress presents the story of human advancement as awe-inspiring and double-edged. It reveals the grave risk of running the 21st century’s software — our know-how — on the ancient hardware of our primate brain which hasn’t been upgraded in 50,000 years. With rich imagery and […]
Family Motel
Headstrong Ayan, a refugee from Somalia, has big dreams. New to Canada, she’ll show anyone she can provide for her family. Still, it’s difficult to keep it all together. On top of the soaring rent, her daughters, 16-year-old Nasrah and 13-year-old Leila, need braces. And even working two jobs as a cleaner, it’s tough to […]
(Ré)apprendre
Que signifie décoloniser l’école et créer des environnements d’apprentissage qui remettent en question les modes d’éducation capitalistes ? Coproduit par Cinema Politica Productions et Wide Open Exposure, ANOTHER WORD FOR LEARNING examine le décalage entre le système éducatif colonial contemporain et les communautés autochtones, à la lumière de la Commission de vérité et réconciliation du […]
The Corporate Coup D’état
A democracy should protect its citizens, especially the most vulnerable among them, but increasingly the United States is failing to do so. This investigative and persuasive documentary blends the insights of philosophers, authors and journalists with the experiences of citizens of the Rust Belt in the U.S. Midwest, where the steel industry once flourished, but […]
Caution Feminists!
With CAUTION FEMINISTS! Rozenn Potin witnesses the vivacity of five young feminists, who try to find new methods of analysis and action to reconcile their modern aspirations, convictions and personal development. Rozenn Potin translates big chunks of feminist theory into vivid images in a very sensitive, funny and pertinent manner. CAUTION FEMINISTS! is a profile of young […]
Ayiti Toma, in the Land of the Living
Beyond the country that overcame slavery to become the first Black Republic, beyond the country that has survived numerous natural disasters and even humanitarian aid, lies Ayiti Toma (“the country that is ours”). AYITI TOMA, THE LAND OF THE LIVING aspires to present this lesser known, more inclusive Ayiti as it is retold and illuminated […]
Complicit
Complicit was filmed over 3 years in China’s electronics zones Shenzhen and Guangzhou with lush cinematography and unique access, the film takes the audience on an 8000-mile journey to the world’s electronics factory floors, revealing the situations under which China’s youth population has shifted by the millions in search of a better life. COMPLICIT gathers […]
Hija de la laguna (Fille du lac)
Nelida is an Andean woman able to communicate with nature’s spirits. She feels she is the daughter of the lakes that provide water to her village. But just beneath her lakes, Yanacocha, Latin America’s largest gold mine, has discovered a deposit valued at billions of dollars. They have the Peruvian government’s support to mine it, […]
