Truxx

TRUXX Archival photo of protest. Source: Tourisme Montréal website.

A short manifesto of collective resistance to police oppression in the wake of the historic 1977 raid on the Montreal gay bar Truxx. In 1976 the City of Montréal launched a pre-Olympic cleanup of gays and prostitutes, a new wave of persecution that shocked the gay community out of its complacency, both francophone and anglophone, […]

Silhouette City

Still from Silhouette City

SILHOUETTE CITY is an immersive journey through the recent history of American apocalypticism. Using archival video, movement propaganda and original investigative material, the film tracks the movement of apocalyptic Christian nationalism and its most extreme adherents from the margins to the mainstream, the military and beyond. In the midst of a sudden loss of power […]

Etlinisigu’niet (Bleed Down)

Still from Etlinisigu'niet Bleed Down

Attempts to “get rid of the Indian problem” have failed. The future is coming. A howl of pain rips across the land in Etlinisigu’niet as traditional life gives way to Indigenous peoples being starved to ensure compliance with government orders. Children forced from their families and penned into the horrors of residential school. Men, women […]

Sea of Life

Still from Sea Of Life

With access to renowned environmental experts and breathtaking underwater cinematography, award-winning filmmaker Julia Barnes takes audiences on a provocative journey, through the most stunning and threatened ecosystems on the planet and the rallying movement to save them, leaving audiences around the world inspired to fight for our oceans – and our future. Believing that people […]

Let the Fire Burn

Still from Let The Fire Burn

In the astonishingly gripping LET THE FIRE BURN, director Jason Osder has crafted that rarest of cinematic objects: a found-footage film that unfurls with the tension of a great thriller. On May 13, 1985, a longtime feud between the city of Philadelphia and controversial radical urban group MOVE came to a deadly climax. By order […]

Gulabi Gang

Still from Gulabi Gang

Nishtha Jain’s fierce documentary follows the true story of activist Sampat Pal and the legendary women’s vigilante group known as the Gulabi Gang. Never without a healthy dose of humour, this is a deeply humane film that is truly inspiring for women of all ages. Rising up in resistance to femicide in Bundelkhand, Central India, […]

Two Worlds Colliding

Still from Two Worlds Colliding

This documentary chronicles the story of Darrell Night, a Native man who was dumped by two police officers in a barren field on the outskirts of Saskatoon in January 2000, during -20° C temperatures. He found shelter at a nearby power station and survived the ordeal, but he was stunned to hear that the frozen […]

Trans Liberation

From Canada to the Philippines, Cinema Politica has selected two films that exemplify trans struggle for recognition in a world of neglect and venomous bigotry.

The Little Black School House

Still from The Little Black School House

Shot on location in villages and cities in Ontario and Nova Scotia, THE LITTLE BLACK SCHOOL HOUSE unearths the untold story of the children, women, men who were students and teachers in Canada’s racially segregated schools. Sylvia Hamilton’s documentary is a poignant and unfailingly honest illustration of how many of these former students look back […]

Milisuthando

Filmmaker, writer and poet Milisuthando Bongela’s youth in South Africa was untouched by the horrors, violence, or even the presence of white occupiers to her land. At least that’s how it seemed. The Transkei, an unrecognized Black independent region established by the apartheid regime, created the illusion for Black South Africans that separate could be […]

Banking Nature

After years of working to undermine environmental regulations, governments and corporations are starting to think about the value of nature—and how they can profit from it. BANKING NATURE is a provocative documentary that looks at the growing movement to monetize the natural world—and to turn endangered species and threatened areas into instruments of profit. It’s […]

Celebrating Women’s History Month

Across three continents, this month’s International Women’s Day titles (Deepa Dhanraj’s INVOKING JUSTICE, Tamara Dawit’s FINDING SALLY, and Sylvia Hamilton’s CARRIE M. BEST: CHAMPION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS) illuminate three distinct struggles for women’s autonomy against white supremacist, misogynist, and authoritarian structures.