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All I Know About Teacher Li

Using the alias Teacher Li, a Chinese art student in Italy spurred huge democratic protests in China. By tirelessly sharing uncensored news on Twitter, his effort to spread the truth grew into a strong movement against government oppression.

Full-length documentary

Black Snow

Instead of morning fog, a carbon monoxide cloud rolls over Kiselyovsk’s rooftops and black snow falls to the ground. In Kuzbass, a proud mining region, the volume of extracted black coal matters more than human lives.

Full-length documentary

Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Pavel “Pasha” Talankin is a popular enthusiastic Russian school teacher who likes small-town life, bad weather, and even dirty panel buildings. His life is disrupted by the war, as he, an employee of an educational institution, must become its instrument.

Full-length documentary

My Memory Is Full of Ghosts

After years of war, Homs no longer feels like the “city of smiles” it was once called. The camera, penetrating the ruins, and the memories of people who had to leave, take us there. Their thoughts about the war and the time after it describe the ambience of a specific place and the fate of a nation that wants to live again.

Full-length documentary

Panic Button

The cooperation of Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan helps Russia resist Western economic sanctions. Due to the country’s strategic location, all Chinese goods bound for Central Asia and Russia must cross its borders, and it serves as a transshipment point for goods from countries with which Putin is not officially allowed to trade. Investigative journalist Ali Toktakunov, a long-time staff member of Radio Free Europe’s Kyrgyz section, helped to uncover the deeper implications.

Full-length documentary

Revolution 3.0

Filmmaker and editor Reza Bird fell out of favour with the regime due to his political and social activism and in 2016 fled Iran with his family, finding refuge in Los Angeles.

Feature film

Tatami

At the World Judo Championships, Leila and her coach Maryam have a great chance to win Iran’s first gold medal. But things begin to crumble when Iran’s Islamic regime meddles in the sport. Ordered to withdraw from the competition, Leila faces the most important decision of her life.

Full-length documentary

Tedious Days and Nights

This provocative film offers a surprising picture of today’s China and people on the fringes of society. Despite its decadent and exploitative tone, director Zhenming Guo’s absorbing film escaped Chinese censorship and made its way to international festivals. Raw, physical and uncomfortable, it follows a poet returning to his hometown.

Full-length documentary

Who's Afraid of Nathan Law?

Joe Piscatella’s 2017 film Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower focused on Joshua Wong, a student who became one of the main faces of the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong. In his new documentary, Piscatella turns the camera on Wong’s two friends and colleagues, Agnes Chow and Nathan Law

Full-length documentary

Writing Hawa

Afghan documentarist Najiba Noori’s film is both an intimate portrait of her mother Hawa and a story of female emancipation in her homeland. Hawa was married at 13 to a much older man she now cares for.