Because I Choose Freedom(2022)

Relatively Free(en)

A short film following the release of journalist and activist Barrett Brown from prison, and his drive across Texas to a halfway house. 'Relatively Free' is an examination of Brown's return to a very different world, post the election.

Bricks!(en)

In 1976, the Tate Gallery exhibited an experimental artwork that became a national sensation - Carl Andre's Equivalent VIII, or, to its detractors, 120 bricks laid on the floor. This documentary explores the origins of Andre's work and the extraordinary fallout from its exhibition.

Last Exit to Kai Tak(cn)

In the aftermath of 2014's Umbrella Revolution, five Hong Kong activists are confronted with the question of what it means to be Hong Kongers.

Die Enkeltrick Betrüger(de)

Grandchild fraudsters scare their victims on the phone with so-called "shock calls". The losses run into millions. Month after month. Many victims are left severely traumatized. But the scam has a weak point. And the izzy team has found it. During a year-long investigation, izzy figurehead Cedric Schild pretends to be an elderly person and supposed victim on the phone. This not only makes for a few laughs, but also drives the perpetrators crazy - at the same time, the editorial team penetrates deep into the structures of the criminal clans. Thanks to more than 1200 minutes of recorded conversations from real shock calls, the izzy film "Die Enkeltrick Betrüger" shows all the tricks used by fraudsters for the first time and thus makes an important contribution to prevention. In cooperation with the law enforcement authorities, the perpetrators are arrested in front of the cameras.

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism(en)

This film examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news, and provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangerous impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person. Media experts, including Jeff Cohen (FAIR) Bob McChesney (Free Press), Chellie Pingree (Common Cause), Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) and David Brock (Media Matters) provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society. This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."

The Valley of the Jato(en)

In the heart of Sicily, where the Mafia still rules, one man and his family-run TV station, has become the lone voice against corruption and organized crime.

Robert Scheer: Above the Fold(en)

A documentary on the six-decades long career of a muckraking journalist, who was involved with the radical 196os magazine Ramparts, with the Los Angeles Times newspaper, and later with the Internet website Truthdig.

Lessons in Dissent(en)

A vivid portrait of a generation of Hong Kongers committed to creating a new more democratic Hong Kong. Schoolboy Joshua Wong dedicates himself to stopping the introduction of National Education. Whilst former classmate Ma Jai fights against political oppression on the streets and in the courts. Catapulting the viewer on to the streets of Hong Kong and into the heart of the action. The viewer is confronted with Hong Kong's oppressive heat, stifling humidity and air thick with dissent. Filmed over 18 months this is a kaleidoscopic, visceral experience of their epic struggle.

Blue Island(cn)

Although the Chinese government promised that Hong Kong would retain separate status until 2047, in recent years the Chinese state has consolidated its power over the metropolis. Large-scale protests by the populace have been brutally suppressed. This mix of documentary, fiction, and visions of the future reveals the current state of desolate depression among the people of Hong Kong. “A desperate attempt to capture the final moments of a sinking island”, as maker Chan Tze-woon himself puts it.

Good Copy Bad Copy(en)

Good Copy Bad Copy is a documentary about copyright and culture in the context of Internet, peer-to-peer file sharing and other technological advances.

The Last Reporters(de)

North German community journalists: an endangered species. Their Mission: to find and process local stories – and the desperate search for them. Their nemesis: digitalisation. Their everyday business: amateur football, toad migrations and the community bus.

Princess Diana: The Mourning After(en)

In "Diana: The Mourning After" Christopher Hitchens sets out to examine the bogusness of "a nation's grief", tries to uncover the few voices of sanity that cut against the grain of contrived hysteria. His findings suggested that the collective hordes of emotive Dianaphiles sobbing in the streets were not only encouraged but emulated by the media. In the aftermath of Diana's death a three-line whip was enforced on newspapers and on TV, selling the sainthood line wholesale. The suspicion was that journalists, like the public, greeted the death as a chance to wax emotional in print, as a change from the customary knowing cynicism, to wheel out all those portentous phrases they'd been saving up for the big occasion. Sadly, they just seemed to be showboating; the eulogies, laments and tear-soaked platitudes ringing risibly hollow.

Fear(less) and Dear(cn)

Hongkongers have been experiencing extremely difficult times due to the political movement caused by anti-Extradition Bill since the summer of 2019 followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This film explores Hongkongers’ fear in various dimensions, be it a concept or actual physical experience, personal or political, private or public, or the mixing of these pairs.

Control Room(ar)

A chronicle which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see.

Hard to Believe(en)

A documentary that examines the issue of forced live organ harvesting from Chinese prisoners of conscience, and the response - or lack of it - around the world. It's happened before: governments killing their own citizens for their political or spiritual beliefs. But it’s never happened like this. It’s happened so often that the world doesn’t always pay attention.

Endangered(en)

A sobering look at the erosion of democracy & freedom of the press in the United States and abroad.

Hong Kong Mixtape(cn)

Political engagement spawned the wildest of wonderlands for Hong Kong’s creativity – but as a new law annihilates freedom of expression overnight, underground artists and creatives find themselves targets, and their works disappeared. Together we race to preserve the creative uprising amid China’s crackdown.

Nana(es)

Seven Years-Journalism without Journalist(ko)

A total of 17 journalists have been fired since 2008, the beginning of LEE Myung-bak’s presidential term. They fought against the companies that they worked for succumbing to power and are now frustrated at reality where censorship of the press by authority has now become a norm. Can they continue their activities as journalists?

Red Taxi(en)

An anonymous, authentic video secretly filmed from taxi windows captures fragments of violence right in the middle of clashes between police and protesting Hong Kong residents. In addition to the contact sound of fights, screams, singing, chants of the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times!”, and the howls of those who've been beaten, we also hear the conflicting comments of taxi drivers from both sides of the border - Hong Kong and the neighboring mainland Shenzhen.