Mom and Me(2015)

Chasing Dad: A Lifelong Addiction(en)

An original and compelling documentary depicting one father’s long-term struggle with heroin addiction told through the uniquely intimate perspective of his own son. After years of acrimony and estrangement, young filmmaker Phillip Wood seeks out his father to try and understand what’s happened to him. But his father is now seriously ill and over the next few months Phillip’s visits force both to confront some uncomfortable truths about their past. This documentary offers a strikingly stark exploration of a subject that significantly affected the filmmaker's childhood. An intimate, revealing documentary that shows addiction from a different side and challenges assumptions about how families can rebuild their broken relationships.

Kids On Ice(en)

Quiet towns across rural Australia are in the grip of an Ice epidemic. Major international drug cartels are working with local outlawed motorcycle gangs to push crystal meth to a captive market of children.

69 - Praça da Luz(pt)

Prostitutes of old age make their living in Praça da Luz, in São Paulo. Unusual and surprising accounts of five women who reveal in detail their experiences in all these years of profession.

Thailand Dreams(sv)

Thailand Dreams is a documentary about relationships between Western men and Thai women. About love across borders, dreams, prejudices, exploitation, prostitution and "wife import/mail order brides".

Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers(en)

During the last half-century, Cambodia has witnessed genocide, decades of war and the collapse of social order. Now, documentary filmmaker Rithy Panh looks at an irreparable tragedy that is less visible, yet no less pervasive: the spiritual death that results when young women are forced into prostitution. Angry and impassioned, PAPER CANNOT WRAP UP EMBERS presents the searing stories of poor Asian women whose lives were violated and their destinies destroyed when their bodies were turned into items of sexual commerce.

Under the Rose(cn)

James Wong and his female assistant visited various kinds of pleasure-houses, including invisible dens, high-tech private dens, smuggling blackpoints and famouse tryst places, both large and small ones, throughout Hong Kong. They also looked back to the Scientific Beauty in Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park, striptease in the Kowloon Walled City and the old stories in fish-ball stalls. There are also interviews of call-girls and grooms.

The Business of Recovery(en)

The Business of Recovery examines the untold billions that are being made off of families in crisis. With little regulation or science, addiction treatment has become a cash cow business that continues to grow while deaths pile up.

49 Up(en)

49 Up is the seventh film in a series of landmark documentaries that began 42 years ago when UK-based Granada's World in Action team, inspired by the Jesuit maxim "Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man," interviewed a diverse group of seven-year-old children from all over England, asking them about their lives and their dreams for the future. Michael Apted, a researcher for the original film, has returned to interview the "children" every seven years since, at ages 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and now again at age 49.In this latest chapter, more life-changing decisions are revealed, more shocking announcements made and more of the original group take part than ever before, speaking out on a variety of subjects including love, marriage, career, class and prejudice.

Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell(en)

Filmmaker Martin Bell chronicles the life of Erin Blackwell, mother of 10 children, from the time she was a 14-year-old prostitute through her battle with drug addiction, poverty and parenting.

Shado'man(en)

In Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, a group of friends lives on the streets. They call themselves the Freetown Streetboys, even though there are some women among them as well. Suley, Lama, David, Alfred, Shero and Sarah have all faced enormous physical and psychological challenges, and have been abandoned by the world around them. Without commentary and in poetic, cinematic images, the camera records the dark environment that they inhabit. The group shares their heartrending stories of the precarious nature of life in this complex country. But there is also room for everyday personal struggles, such as starting relationships, how to bring up children (or not), and sex.

Yours Truly, SEXYMAJA(sr)

In the summer of 2005 a sensation appeared on domestic social networks in the form of a blog titled “Maja in a brothel.” The author of this blog, whose nickname was “sexymaja”, identified herself as a girl from Belgrade, who has just started in the prostitution business. She soon became one of the most popular persona on the web, entertaining numerous readers with witty and provocative descriptions of the clients she had met. However, after her mysterious disappearance from the scene, suspicions were aroused about the identity of this person. The blog community points a finger at a ghostwriter, who was allegedly responsible for the entire conspiracy. He admits it, but without much hesitation also leads us to its inspiration – a girl who’s actually lived through it all.

Some Even Fall in Love(fr)

This documentary feature is an in-depth exploration of the world of prostitution. Its characters include pimps, transsexuals, girls/women, boys, and johns. Shot in Montreal in the course of a year, the individual stories of these people cut across each other, and many come together in the film’s conclusion. Their lives―sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious, but often disarming and touching, are presented in a direct, occasionally brutal way. Although there are no explicit scenes in the film, it was given an adult rating. This inside view of a singular world makes us reflect on life, love, relationships, and sexuality.

Sugar Sisters(en)

Following Hannah, a queer twenty-something filmmaker, and her two sisters as they explore the globally popular phenomenon of sugar-dating where people in their 20s date older, wealthier men in exchange for money and gifts. Hannah's exploration into the lucrative life of a sugar baby challenges her morals and feminist ideals as she tries to maintain her personal relationships.

Phototaxis(en)

“Phototaxis” draws parallels between Mothman, a prophetic and demonized creature in West Virginia lore, and Narcotics Anonymous, the main treatment program in West Virginia’s addiction epidemic.

Beat Goes On(en)

Beat Goes On is an impressionistic portrait of the activist Keith Cylar (1958–2004), co-founder of Housing Works and a central figure in the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) NY. Cylar spoke clearly, frequently and with moral force about the struggles of people living with HIV/AIDS in New York City, many of whom were impoverished and struggling with multiple social and medical problems. His openness about his own drug use and the centrality of the fight against the criminalization of drugs for AIDS activism make Cylar's legacy especially resonant and relevant at this time.

Jag vill inte leva detta livet(en)

Swedish documentary from the Gothenburg area about young drug abusers.

Porn(fr)

What Did You Take?(en)

Stresses recognition and treatment of drug abuse emergencies, accurate identification of symptoms, and immediate clinical procedures. Presents scenes of actual cases in the emergency room and adjoining physician's offices of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. Viewers observe emergency treatment of patients in the major classes of drugs commonly abused, opiates, depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens. The film demonstrates to health professionals that successful management of drug overdoses can save most lives and avert additional organic and psychiatric complications.

Focus On Heroin(en)

This film points out the risks of being a heroin addict. Explains that addicts cannot be identified solely with one particular socio-economic level and cannot always be detected by appearance. Addicts and ex-addicts describe the first and subsequent drugs they used.

The Distant Drummer: Bridge from No Place(en)

This film describes the 1960s drug culture. Addicts discuss their experiences in the United States and in Vietnam. Dr. Stanley Yolles, director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), talks about the drug culture and the NIMH role in prevention and treatment. The tape describes growth in the use of marijuana and heroin. In 1966, the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act is the first law to give the addict a choice of treatment or jail. Synanon in California is a private, self-help, residential community that helps people deal with their addictions. New York's Daytop Village works not only with addicts on addictions, but on developing a new lifestyle. Methadone, though still experimental, has proved to be an effective treatment for heroin addiction.