Strange Fruit

Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home(en)

Every American who has listened to the radio knows Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." The music of the folk singer/songwriter has been recorded by everyone from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to U2. Originally blowing out of the Dust Bowl in Depression-era America, he blended vernacular, rural music and populism to give voice to millions of downtrodden citizens. Guthrie's music was politically leftist, uniquely patriotic and always inspirational.

Plutocracy III: Class War(en)

The early struggles of the working class are placed under a microscope in Plutocracy III: Class War, the latest chapter in an exceptionally well produced series which explores the origins of America's growing economic divide.

Schultze Gets the Blues(de)

Schultze is an accordion player and newly without work. When the local music club celebrates its 50th anniversary, his taste of music changes unexpectedly.

The Take(en)

In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed ceramics workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - the take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. Armed only with slingshots and an abiding faith in shop-floor democracy, the workers face off against the bosses, bankers and a whole system that sees their beloved factories as nothing more than scrap metal for sale.

We Never Said Goodbye To You Varosha(en)

Varosha, the only city on the world without people, the loneliest city... Varosha is a province in Cyprus that is closed with fences and unpopulated since 1974.

Der grosse Kanton(de)

Is the solution to Switzerland's future to integrate Germany into the confederation? After all, like Michael Ringier, CEO of the Ringier media group, says, blithely ignoring all minorities, we're very close in culture and language. Oskar Freysinger takes out his guitar and sings his answer. Politicians from French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino think expanding will help the country survive. The former German foreign minister thinks the two countries' traditions are too different. The banker Oswald Grübel is worried about Germany's debts, although he'd be prepared to take over its assets. With serious interviews interspersed with gags (boat people on Lake Constance, the last Habsburger as a peasant), Giaccobbo gathers off-the-cuff reactions which reveal a lot about the different mentalities. The movie laughs at preconceived notions, redefines neutrality and reflects on what designates a nation. Switzerland, which loves to teach the world a lesson, will soon helvetize the planet, oder?

Margherita, The Woman Who Invented Mussolini(fr)

Margherita Sarfatti, Mussolini's lover and advisor, was a woman who exerted a great influence on the Duce and on Italian cultural life. Through archival documents, autobiographical texts and love letters, the documentary paints a portrait of the woman who helped create the myth of the Duce.

Merkel-Jahre - Am Ende einer Ära(de)

The film shines a light onto federal chancellor Angela Merkel and her now ending 16-year-long tenure. An era, not an episode. And a vagarious relationship history between the chancellor and the Germans. Who has changed whom here?

Natchez(en)

Filmmaker Suzannah Herbert takes a sharp look at the American South’s unreconciled history through a Mississippi town that mixes antebellum tourism with a community deeply divided over its past. With an unflinching lens, the film captures the debates, memories, and tensions that are building toward a reckoning.

Paz, piedad y perdón(es)

Visual representation of Manuel Azaña's 1938 speech "Paz, piedad y perdón" from a new generation's point of view.

Oscar Arias: Without a Shot Fired(en)

This is the story of a tiny country that made a decision to do something that no other country had ever done -- it decided to abolish its army and declare peace to the world. And this is the story of a young boy who grew up in that country, and how he ended up challenging -- and sometimes even convincing -- the greatest powers in the world to follow Costa Rica's example. "Oscar Arias: Without a Shot Fired" is a Don Quixote-like saga with great historical touchstones -- Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Cold War politics and Communism, Central American War and Peace. It follows a slight, academic, and most unlikely hero over the course of more than fifty years, as he travels the world in a quest to stop the spread of the weapons of war. In the end, it is a story about the triumph of reason, of the sparrow triumphing over the eagle, and how the impossible dream can sometimes come true.

Vote Jesus: The Chronicles of Ken Stevenson(en)

A notorious political satirist conceals his identity and poses as a political candidate.

Stolen Ground(en)

In US society, people of East Asian heritage are often perceived through an obscuring lens of ethnic and cultural stereotypes. In STOLEN GROUND, six Asian-American men talk about their experience of the highly racialized United States, and consider how racism has affected their lives and those of their family members.

Lady Sings the Blues(en)

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.

Un peu, beaucoup, passionnément... Les Présidents et les Français(fr)

Chairman for Life(en)

China’s President Xi Jinping is a force to be reckoned with. As leader of the Communist colossus, he commands the world’s attention, but who is China’s strongman and what is his agenda?

American Inquisition(en)

An examination of the effect of McCarthyism on two ordinary Americans. Interviews with Paul McCarty and his family describe the loss of his job in a Paducah, Kentucky power plant in 1953 when his loyalty was questioned; he lost job after job for over twenty years. Interview with Luella Mundel, the object of false accusations based on her unconventional views and actions. Interviews with colleagues, friends, and a historian recreate the dramatic trial which devastated Mundel personally.

Laboratory Greece(en)

A journey through Greece and Europe’s past and recent history: from the Second World War to the current crisis. It is a historical documentary, a look into many stories. «If Democracy can be destroyed in Greece, it can be destroyed throughout Europe» Paul Craig Roberts

Four Hours at the Capitol(en)

The documentary is an immersive chronicle of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, when thousands of American citizens from across the country gathered in Washington D.C. to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election, many with the intent of disrupting the certification of Joe Biden's presidency.

Reagan(en)

Americans know President Ronald Reagan s politics, his policies, and his oratorical prowess. But as we approach what would have been his 100th birthday in February 2011, the totality of the legacy of America s 40th president is still eclipsed by the myth. While some say he s a hero, and others call him an empty suit, one thing is for certain President Ronald Reagan made history. But what made him? Using rare archival footage and personal interviews with those who knew him best, REAGAN goes beyond the myth to reveal the epic story of an unforgettable man who, against all odds, rose to the pinnacle of power. A brand-new HISTORY special that uses rare archival footage and personal interviews to reveal the President Reagan that few of us knew.