Hunted Like Animals

Shuja’iyah: Land of the Brave(ar)

Shuja’iyah: Land of the Brave represents one filmmaker’s personal reflection on the meaning of “crimes against humanity” in the context of Israel’s ‘Operation Protective Edge’ waged in the Gaza Strip in 2014, using footage of her family filmed in the summer of 2013 juxtaposed against audio from the summer of 2014. Assali posed the question, when we say ‘crimes against humanity’, what ‘humanity’ are we talking about?”

Ku hai mueng ruay(th)

Story of the merits of the revered abbot Luang Pho Khoon.

Travis: The Ultimate Documentary(en)

Travis—a sex-addicted, multi-lingual Scientologist—travels across Thailand sharing stories and entertaining his company.

Others' Gold(fr)

The arrival of the mining company Osisko creates a lot of excitement in Malartic, a small community of 3600 souls in Quebec, Canada. Faced with the implacable Mining Act, which prioritizes the right to exploit subsoil resources rather than the right to property, many families and seniors need to write off certain elements of their heritage plus a part of their lifestyle to make room for the largest open-pit gold mine in Canada. The characters in Others' Gold experience in their own way this major change that will affect their lives and urban environment.

The Songs of Rice(th)

In Thailand, a hymn to rice need not always be sung. A dance, or spectacular homemade fireworks can say the same thing. As can a film, as is convincingly demonstrated by this lyrical, beautifully filmed homage to this essential staple food.

Le syndrome d'Unspunnen(fr)

220 years after its "birth", 40 years after its theft, 22 years after its reappearance and 18 years after its second disappearance, two filmmakers follow the trail of the "unspeakable" Unspunnenstein.

Giant Slaves(hu)

This expository documentary is shedding some light on the southeast Asian elephant industry. What is this dark secret? And why is it harmful for the elephants? What is behind the latest trend “no riding”? What are the ethical elephant parks, and are they really in favor with their beloved animals?

Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini(en)

The documentary begins when the fictionalized drama ends. Sara spent three years volunteering to save refugees on the same journey that made her so famous, and was suddenly arrested in Aug. 2018, accused by Greek authorities of running a criminal enterprise with charges including “international espionage and people smuggling.” If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison and the end of her humanitarian career. Shot over three years, the film follows Sara’s fight for justice and journey of self-discovery.

River of Tears and Rage(en)

River of Tears and Rage is a film culled from Kodao Productions' Facebook Live coverage of Baby River's wake and burial. Amid a raging coronavirus pandemic, a dead three month-old infant became a symbol of political repression by a regime denounced worldwide for its crimes against the people.

Echo of Bullets(en)

After a year and 10 months in power, the Macapagal – Arroyo regime has committed 967 cases of human rights violations in the Southern Tagalog Region. “Alingawngaw ng mga Punglo” discusses the grim human rights situation in the region. It seeks to let the voices of the victims be heard: their anguished cry for justice and call for lasting peace.

Sa Ngalan ng Tubo(en)

A documentary on the struggle of millworkers, farmworkers, and people of Hacienda Luisita, Philippines.

Political Animals(en)

The story of four pioneering lesbian politicians and the battles they fought to pass a wide range of anti-discrimination laws.

Black Box Diaries(ja)

Journalist Shiori Itō embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems.

Motherland Memories(id)

Ompung Putra Boru, a sixties indigenous Batak woman from Humbang Hasundutan, North Sumatra, retraces her life stories through photographs that interweave her past and present as a wife, mother, healer and indigenous land defender in two neighboring villages. Her multi-layered stories are juxtaposed with visual records of everyday life in the two villages, where people’s living space is still increasingly threatened by a giant pulp expansion.

Holy Angels(en)

Documentary about the Holy Angels Residential School in Alberta, where hundreds of First Nations children were imprisoned.

Fadia’s Tree(en)

While millions of birds migrate freely in the skies above, Fadia, a Palestinian refugee stranded in Lebanon, yearns for the ancestral homeland she is denied. When a chance meeting introduces her to the director, Sarah, she challenges her to find an ancient mulberry tree that once grew next to her grandfather’s house in historic Palestine, a tree that stands witness to her family’s existence.

Yai Nin(th)

Ninlawan Pinyo is the matriarch of a Thai American family, who hustled for her fortune by founding a naem pork sausage factory in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Hijos de África(es)

Flor Brilhante e as Cicatrizes da Pedra(pt)

Paradoxocracy(th)

Paradoxocracy, co-directed with Pen-ek's longtime friend and producer, Pasakorn Pramoolwong, begins with the 1932 Siamese Revolution - which transformed Thailand from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one - and works its way to the present day, chronicling the country's major political revolutions, movements and countless coups along the way. Using a combination of archival footage, voice-overs and interviews with 15 unnamed academics, activists and political leaders, the film presents the directors' personal journey to come to an understanding of how their country arrived at its current state of near-constant political division and dysfunction.