Our Faces Have Been Taken Away

TUNAHAKI

March 2010 •English

Tunahaki is the extraordinary story of nine gifted orphans who are acrobats. We follow their journey as an American volunteer takes them from Africa to study with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. They end up touring the States and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, more than enough to build a permanent home. But how have the kids' experiences in America affected them? And how will it change things back home in Tanzania? Tunahaki's heartfelt journey gives us something new to ponder as we reach across the world to help those less fortunate—is it always the right thing to do?

Death of a Nation

August 2018 •English

Parallels are drawn between Abraham Lincoln's presidency and the presidency of Donald Trump. Not since 1860 have the Democrats so fanatically refused to accept the result of a free election. That year, their target was Lincoln. They smeared him. They went to war to defeat him. In the end, they assassinated him.

The Middle Passage

December 1997 •English

"Explores the 400-year era of the transatlantic slave trade, when millions of Africans were kidnapped and shipped to the Americas. Features interviews with scholars, oral histories and a dramatic recreation of the Middle Passage" (The History Channel).

Surviving Clotilda

Invalid date •English

In July 1860, the schooner Clotilda slipped quietly into the dark waters of Mobile, Ala., holding 110 Africans stolen from their homes and families, smuggled across the sea, and illegally imported to be sold into slavery. Surviving Clotilda is the extraordinary story of the last slave ship ever to reach America's shores: the brash captain who built and sailed her, the wealthy white businessman whose bet set the cruel plan in motion, and the 110 men, women, and children whose resilience turned horror into hope.

Abina and the Important Men

June 2017 •English

Set against the backdrop of the Gold Coast of West Africa in 1876, "Abina and the Important Men" follows the harrowing true story of Abina Mansah, a young girl who is enslaved and struggles against the British colonial system that seeks to control trade and manipulate local customs for its own benefit. Despite the abolition of slavery, Abina finds herself trapped in a society where the trade in slaves, particularly children, persists under the guise of protectorate laws. After being sold and forced to marry against her will, Abina flees to seek her freedom and confronts the British legal system. Her battle for justice is a poignant narrative that exposes the hypocrisy of the colonial powers and the resilience of those who fought against their oppression. Told through stunning animation, the film is a compelling historical drama that delves into the complexity of freedom, colonialism, and the human spirit's unyielding desire for autonomy and dignity.

The Divided Union: The Story of the American Civil War

Invalid date •English

Peter Batty presents a gripping account of the bloodshed and horror of the American Civil War. From the origins of the unrest between North and South, the specific events of the war and the eventual assassination of Abraham Lincoln, this program is a powerful, comprehensive account of the American Civil War with large scale battle re-enactments, superb contemporary photographs and period music.

Aimé Césaire, Un homme une terre

May 1976 •French

Alternating interview segments, shots of Martinique landscapes and scenes from Aimé Césaire's play La Tragédie du roi Christophe (1963), Sarah Maldoror portrays her friend as a politician, a poet, and a founder of the Négritude movement.

La montagne est verte

June 1950 •French

Grenada: Confronting the Past

May 2022 •English

In the eighteenth century, the family of BBC World News anchor and correspondent, Laura Trevelyan, were absentee slave owners on the island of Grenada, profiting for years from the sale of sugar harvested from five different sugar cane plantations. When slavery was abolished in 1834, the UK government paid compensation to slave owners, but the enslaved received nothing. In the wake of the racial reckoning in America following the death of George Floyd, Grenada's national commission on reparations for slavery has begun to meet and debate what reparations means. In this film, Laura she travels to Grenada to try and learn more about the legacy of slavery on Grenada and her family's involvement in the slave trade.

Boy 23: The Forgotten Boys of Brazil

July 2016 •Portuguese

The film accompanies the investigation of the historian Sidney Aguilar after the discovery of bricks marked with Nazi swastikas in the interior of São Paulo. They then discover a horrifying fact that during the 1930s, fifty black and mullato boys were taken from an orphanage in Rio de Janeiro to the farm where the bricks were found. There they were identified by numbers and were submitted to slave labour by a family that was part of the political and economic elite of the country and who did not hide their Nazi sympathizing ideals.

Ghost Fleet

August 2018 •English

Ghost Fleet follows a small group of activists who risk their lives on remote Indonesian islands to find justice and freedom for the enslaved fishermen who feed the world’s insatiable appetite for seafood. Bangkok-based Patima Tungpuchayakul, a Thai abolitionist, has committed her life to helping these “lost” men return home. Facing illness, death threats, corruption, and complacency, Patima’s fearless determination for justice inspires her nation and the world.

Nazaten

February 2025 •Dutch

Frans Bromet goes in search of his family history and discovers that Hermanus Bromet was a well-known slave trader in Suriname. Should he feel guilty for what his ancestor did? How do you deal with a burdened family past?

Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party

July 2016 •English

Bestselling author and influential filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza reveals the sordid truth about Hillary Clinton and the secret history of the Democratic Party. This important and controversial film releases at a critical time leading up to the 2016 Presidential campaign and challenges the state of American politics.

A Year Towards Tomorrow

January 1966 •English

Documentary about the VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program.

Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & The Presidency

June 2007 •English

A fascinating account of the presidency of Andrew Jackson, who was both one of America's great presidents and a borderline tyrant. The seventh president shook up the glossy world of Washington, DC with his "common-man" methods and ideals, but also oversaw one of the most controversial events in American history: the forced removal of Indian tribes, including the Cherokees, from their homes.

The Shadow of Hate: A History of Intolerance in America

June 1995 •English

The film expresses the history of oppression, discrimination, violence and hate in America. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Caixa D'Água: Qui-Lombo é Esse?

December 2012 •Portuguese

The documentary "Caixa D'água: Qui-lombo is this?" It reports, through testimonies from former residents and photographic collections, the importance in the cultural and historical scope of the Getúlio Vargas neighborhood located in Aracaju, capital of Sergipe. Emphasis is placed on black culture and the presence of black slaves and their descendants, with the rescue of issues related to their origin, orality, geographical location and awareness of their racial identity, showing that, although this community exists in an urban area, it still maintains many aspects of the quilombo life of the former black slaves in Brazil.

Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives

February 2003 •English

When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years later, the memories of some 2,000 slave-era survivors were transcribed and preserved by the Library of Congress. These first-person anecdotes, ranging from the brutal to the bittersweet, have been brought to vivid life in this unique HBO documentary special, featuring the on-camera voices of over a dozen top African-American actors.

The Salt of the Earth

August 2014 •French

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

13th

October 2016 •English

An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.