Behind the Mask

The Acadian Connection

September 1995 •French

National Film Board of Canada documentary of stories of Acadians (French Canadians from the eastern Maritime provinces). Hundreds of thousands of Acadians emigrated to Louisiana following deportation by the British during the Acadian Expulsion of the mid-18th century, hence the term 'Cajun.'

Death by Rescue: The Lethal Effects of Non-Assistance at Sea

April 2016 •English

In April 2015, two shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean resulted in over a thousand deaths. The first, on 12 April, occurred when an overcrowded boat was approached by a large commercial vessel. Less than a week later, on 18 April 2015, a similar incident led to over eight hundred deaths after an overcrowded vessel collided with a cargo ship that had approached to rescue its passengers. Both incidents are in part the result of changing EU policies toward at-sea rescue, particularly the retreat of state rescue operations and a resulting onus on commercial vessels to fill the ‘rescue gap’.

Blood and Water

September 2007 •English

When the 2004 tsunami hit the coast of Sri Lanka, 65-year-old Anton Ambrose's wife and daughter were killed. "In five minutes," he says, "I lost everything." A year later, Anton returns to Sri Lanka. With him is his nephew, award-winning filmmaker Rohan Fernando. A Tamil, Anton moved to California in the 1970s and became a very successful gynecologist. His daughter, Orlantha, made the opposite journey, returning to Sri Lanka where she ran a non-profit group that gave underprivileged children free violin lessons. Blood and Water is the story of one man's search for meaning in the face of overwhelming loss, but it is also filled with improbable characters, unintentional comedy and situational ironies.

Elena

April 2013 •Portuguese

Petra heads to New York in search of her older sister after a long time of being separated. They are both movie actresses and heirs of the wounds of the Brazilian dictatorship. But Petra has only a few clues: home movies, newspaper clippings, a diary...

My Dad and the Volcano

August 2024 •English

Gavin built a giant volcano sculpture that's now in his dad's shed. Gavin seeks his dad's understanding but he's uninterested in modern art and refuses to participate in the documentary.

Old Fashioned: The Story of the Wisconsin Supper Club

April 2015 •English

Supper club restaurants were the hot dinning trend in the mid twentieth century. They provided a place for people to spend their evenings enjoying cocktails, home cooked, high quality food and entertainment. The supper club scene slowly faded from the rest of the country, but kept a strong hold in Wisconsin due to a culture that allowed it to thrive. Around for decades, supper clubs in Wisconsin have been able to hold their own style and traditions. While chain restaurants continue to expand and threaten their future, supper clubs are fighting to survive while continuing to offer the same exceptional dinning experience and a personal touch that is not seen in the modern lifestyle of dine and dash. Old Fashioned: The Story of the Wisconsin Supper Club takes you into this uniquely Wisconsin institution.

Political Animals

June 2016 •English

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

Oxhide

February 2005 •Chinese

Director Liu Jiayin casts her parents and herself as fictionalized members of a Beijing family that has fallen on hard times and ekes out an existence by making bags out of oxhide for sale.

My Makhzen and Me

February 2012 •English

In the summer of 2011, Nadir Bouhmouch, a Moroccan student studying abroad in California returns to his home country and finds it in a state of turmoil. The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt had spread to Morocco. Organized by a group of students called the February 20th movement through Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and a website called Mamfakinch; People were flooding the streets and demanding change. But the Makhzen (the ruling elite) refuses to abandon it's grasp. This film investigates what gave birth to the revolt and the obstacles it encounters on it's struggle for freedom, democracy, human rights and an end to corruption and poverty.

Amakki

May 2024 •Oromo

A dream-like exploration of the interconnected lives of two women and two children, celebrating the profound moments of love, loss, and resilience that shape the tapestry of womanhood. Set to the backdrop of Sidama's coffee-growing hills, 'Amakki', meaning 'your mother', captures the intricate threads that bind these women to the land, to each other, and to the unspoken essence of motherhood. The language spoken in this film is Sidaamu Afoo.

Things of a Lifetime, Intimate Archeological Exercises

October 2024 •French

The filmmaker’s grandmother moved into this house in 1971. When Rolande Ségalini died, everything remained as it was during her lifetime. But what to do with all the accumulated things? As her granddaughter Céline begins to film this material legacy, she realises that her grandmother has remained an enigma to her to this day. Room by room, she inventories, classes, counts, sorts the possessions retrieved from wardrobes, drawers, cabinets and boxes and arranges the objects into new still lives. It is an attempt to understand the deceased woman better and find out more about her. Step by step, the heiress discovers various connections to France’s colonial history.

Kalkidane, le serment d'une adoptée

November 2022 •French

Disturbing the Peace

December 2009 •Chinese

"Disturbing the Peace" is a documentary of an incident during Tan Zuoren's trial on August 12, 2009. Tan Zuoren was charged with inciting subversion of state power. Chengdu police detained witnessed during the trial of the civil rights advocate, which is an obstruction of justice and violence. Tan Zuoren was charged as a result of his research and questioning regarding the 5.12 Wenchuan students' casualties and the corruption resulting poor building construction. Tan Zuoren was sentenced five years to prison.

Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World

June 2003 •English

A feature-length documentary that explores the immense changes that occurred for gays, lesbians and transgender people living in the Global South. In the last decade of the 20th Century, a new heightened visibility began spreading throughout the developing world and the battles between families, fundamentalist religions, and governments around sexual and gender identity had begun. But in the West, few people knew about this historic social upheaval, until 52 men on Cairo’s Queen Boat discothèque were arrested for crimes of debauchery. That explosive story focused attention to the lives and trials of gay people coming out in the developing world and the film chronicles those events.

Now That the Sun Begins to Set

September 2022 •Spanish

Rafaela, an 80-year-old woman, has a long conversation with her grandson, going over his path from childhood to old age. Now that she has been diagnosed with chronic breast cancer, faith is more present in her life than ever, which coexists with Rafaela's fear of death, and her grandson's fear of dying.

It Started with Trees – Revolt in the Gezi Park

June 2013 •Czech

Protesters diary from Gezi Park - Taksim Square, Istanbul. Occupy Gezi movement started when the government decided to build shopping mall in place of the last green area that remained in the middle of Taksim Square.

Renée R. : Lettres retrouvées

January 2014 •French

Bridegroom

April 2013 •English

A documentary that tells the emotional journey of Shane and Tom, two young men in a loving and committed relationship — a relationship that was cut tragically short by a misstep off the side of a roof.

A Place of Absence

November 2025 •English

This poetic film follows director Marialuisa's journey with Anita and Leticia, Central American women traveling with the Caravan of Mothers of Missing Migrants.

Prisoner of Her Past

February 2010 •English

Sonia Reich- who survived the Holocaust as a child by running and hiding, suddenly believes that she is being hunted again, 60 years later.