Sudan, Remember Us
In April 2019, the Paris-based filmmaker Hind Meddeb travelled to Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, at a jubilant moment in the country’s history. The long-time dictator Omar Al-Bashir had recently been overthrown after a 30-year regime marked by genocidal violence in Darfur. Meddeb began filming with young activists rallying for a citizen’s government by staging sit-ins, making […]
Silvicola Begins its Vancouver Island Tour
SILVICOLA returns to Vancouver Island for seven special events from October 5 to October 11 with the director and local guests in attendance. The film tour is organized in collaboration with and co-sponsored by Sierra Club BC.
From Ground Zero
Through striking authorial engagements with allegory and creative actuality, these filmmakers’ testimonies of confinement under relentless bombardment and imposed famine expose audiences to fragments of their daily struggle to survive — and to do so with dignity. Khamis Masharawi’s Soft Skin enters an animation workshop providing art therapy to children, many of whom are newly orphaned, as […]
The Ride Ahead
THE RIDE AHEAD is the feature-length version of the Emmy Award-winning New York Times Op-Doc, MyDisability Roadmap.After graduating high school Samuel Habib, who has serious health, communication, and mobility challenges, feels ‘stuck’ and falling behind his peers. He wants to go to college, make new friends, date, move out of his parents’ home. “But no […]
Diaries From Lebanon
Filmed during the maelstrom of Lebanon’s early 2020s, Myriam El Hajj’s DIARIES FROM LEBANON uses a diaristic structure to tell the story of a country plagued by legislative tyrants, state censorship, and a catastrophic ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut. El Hajj’s deeply personal film renders the tireless attempts of the Lebanese people to restructure their […]
Direct Action
Direct action is a tactical strategy of protest that seeks to achieve an end directly and by the most effective means. DIRECT ACTION is a contemporary portrait of one of the most high-profile militant activist communities in France: a 150-person strong rural collective that successfully resisted an international airport expansion project in 2018, created an […]
Standing Above the Clouds
STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS highlights the movement to protect Mauna Kea through the intergenerational stories of women in three Native Hawaiian families as they stand for the sacred mountain. The film follows teacher and community organizer Pua Case and her two daughters — artist-activists Hāwane Rios and Kapulei Flores — who have been called to […]
My Stolen Planet
Oppressed by governmental restrictions that prevent her human rights, movement and autonomy, an Iranian filmmaker is forced to emigrate “inwards” and finds freedom in recording herself dancing and singing at home as an act of resistance. Using a personal diary-style narrative, Farah Sharifi traces her birth in post-revolution Iran to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement […]
Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam
Taqwacore chronicles the nascent Muslim punk rock movement in America. It was inspired by the work of Michael Knight, who converted to Islam in rebellion against his white-supremacist father. He went on to pen the novel The Taqwacores (a term combining the Muslim concept of God consciousness with hardcore punk), a manifesto for disillusioned Islamic […]
Singing Back The Buffalo Opens In Theatres Across Canada
SINGING BACK THE BUFFALO, the new feature length documentary from award-winning Cree filmmaker Tasha Hubbard, opens in select theatres across Canada!
Call for Submissions 2024
If you recently completed a politically engaged film and you want it seen far and wide submit your work to Cinema Politica today! We are interested in works of any length that contribute to justice and equality movements, activism, knowledge and discourse.
Job Opening: Programming Coordinator
Cinema Politica is seeking to hire a Programming Coordinator who will assist with the coordination of programming activities and acquisition of exhibition and distribution titles.
The Strike
The Strike tells the story of a generation of California men as they endure decades of solitary confinement and, against all odds, launch the largest hunger strike in US history. Told through intimate interviews and archival verité footage, the film goes beyond making a case against solitary confinement by illuminating the power of organizing this […]
AFTERWARDS (short)
Inside a shelter, the voices of participants in a talking circle give form and shape to shocking and oppressive moments from their pasts. In the process, a common sense of humanity and solidarity emerges, built on the shared experiences of lives that have been devastated. Through the power of these bonds, participants can face their […]
Big Fight in Little Chinatown
BIG FIGHT IN LITTLE CHINATOWN is a story of community resistance and resilience. Set against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic and an unprecedented rise in anti-Asian racism, the documentary takes us into the lives of residents, businesses and community organizers whose neighborhoods are facing active erasure. Coast to Coast the film follows Chinatown communities […]
Life is Beautiful
In 2014, when the young Palestinian filmmaker Mohammed Jabali was on exchange in Norway, Israel closed the borders of his native Gaza indefinitely. The Norwegian government would not accept his Palestinian passport and rejected his application for a work permit. As a result of all this, Jabali unwittingly finds himself trapped with his host family […]