Traction

Beyond Borders

October 2003 •English

Sarah Jordan, an American living in London in 1984, is married to the son of a wealthy British industrialist. She encounters Nick Callahan, a renegade doctor, whose impassioned plea for help to support his relief efforts in war-torn Africa moves her deeply. As a result, Sarah embarks upon a journey of discovery that leads to danger, heartbreak and romance in the far corners of the world.

The Sum of All Fears

May 2002 •English

When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.

Target of Opportunity

July 2005 •English

Jim Jacobs and Nick Carlton, childhood friends, are CIA operatives on a sting operation in Chechnya. The raid of a rebel militia group goes bad and the entire teams gets wiped out except for Jim and Nick, who manages to save them both. Five years later, they are out of the CIA game.

Purgatory

March 1998 •Russian

This is a story about the battle for a hospital building in Grozny (Chechnya) in January 1995 between Russian Army forces and Chechen rebels supported by Arabian mujahideen and international mercenaries. Although the story is fictional, most of the characters are based on real-life prototypes and events are the compilation of true events during the Grozny Siege in the First Chechen War.

Titan

Invalid date •English

A team of young doctors on a humanitarian mission through the Amazon rainforest come to realize that not everyone – or everything – is happy to see them. Their arrival draws the attention of an ancient predator, the “Boiúna”. This ancient killer, dominant on land and water, emerges to reclaim the jungle. The ensuing fight for survival blurs the roles of hunter, prey, and hero.

Resistance Climbing

April 2023 •English

In 2014, during a trip, American Tim Bruns discovered cliffs in a small village five minutes north of Ramallah in Palestine and got to work equipping all the easy routes, then setting up climbing routes so that we can start teaching people how to climb. Bruns and Harris also opened Wadi Climbing, the first indoor climbing gym in Palestine. Today, gathered in the conflict-torn hills of Palestine, a diverse team of Bedouins, activists and urban professionals have embraced climbing as a much-needed respite from the burden of Israeli occupation. American writer and climber Andrew Bisharat visits the West Bank to explore his own roots and the power of climbing to transform lives. This documentary is part of the Reel Rock 17 series released in 2023.

Eliso

October 1928 •Georgian

Georgia, 1864. The Tsarist regime is using Cossacks to forcibly resettle Muslim Georgians to Turkey in order to steal their land. Meanwhile a Muslim girl falls in love with a Christian from the next village.

The Betrayed

January 1995 •English

As Russian tanks advance over the plains of Chechnya, a group of Russian mothers search for the sons, conscripts from the ill-fated 131st Brigade, they believe have been captured by the Chechens. They place their trust in Colonel Kosov, a Russian liaison officer responsible for organising prisoner exchanges across the front line.

Frost

August 2017 •Lithuanian

Rokas and Inga, a couple of young Lithuanians, volunteer to drive a cargo van of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. They cross the vast snowy lands of the Donbass region, drifting into the lives of those affected by the war.

12

June 2007 •Russian

A loose remake of “12 Angry Men”, “12” is set in contemporary Moscow where 12 very different men must unanimously decide the fate of a young Chechen accused of murdering his step-father, a Russian army officer. Consigned to a makeshift jury room in a school gymnasium, one by one each man takes center stage to confront, connect, and confess while the accused awaits a verdict and revisits his heartbreaking journey through war in flashbacks.

Amok

December 1944 •Spanish

After being caught embezzling from his clinic to impress his high society lover and support his gambling habit, a doctor flees to a remote Indian village to volunteer as a humanitarian aid worker. There he tries to mitigate the onslaught of a strange disease called "Amok," while his past continues to haunt him.

Prisoner of the Mountains

March 1996 •Russian

Two Russian soldiers, one battle-seasoned and the other barely into his boots and uniform, are taken prisoner by an anxious Islamic father from a remote village hoping to trade them for his captured son.

La vita facile

March 2011 •Italian

An Italian doctor starts a new life in Kenya to escape the city, but life catches up with him when an old friend offers his assistance along with his wife, who happens to be an old lover.

War

March 2002 •Russian

During the bloody war in Chechnya, a British couple and two Russian soldiers are taken hostage by Chechen rebels. Two of the hostages are then released to bring the money for the British woman who is forced to wait for the ransom.

Dictator: One Crazy Job

June 2013 •French

They’ve become the human face of inhuman barbarity. Leaders like Hitler, Idi Amin Dada, Stalin, Kim Jong Il, Saddam Hussein, Nicolae Ceausescu, Bokassa, Muammar Kadhafi, Khomeini, Mussolini and Franco governed their countries completely cut off from reality. These paranoid leaders were driven to abuse their power by the pathology of power itself. Dictators are driven by a relentless, thought-out determination to impose themselves as infallible, all-knowing and all-powerful beings. But they are also men ruled by their caprices, uncontrollable impulses, and reckless fits of frenzy, which paradoxically render them as human as anyone else. The abuses they committed were clearly atrocious, yet some of them were as outlandish as the characters portrayed in the film The Dictator. They sunk to depths worthy of Kafka: so incredibly absurd, they are outrageously funny.

Hiver 54 : L'Abbé Pierre et l'insurrection de la bonté

January 2024 •French

Kadyrov, The Dictator of Chechnya

May 2018 •French

The lifestyle, self-styling and political opinions of Chechen dictator Ramsan Kadyrov are examined in this documentary.

Ego Trip

July 2015 •French

Talk show host Marc Morin is at a crossroads in his career and in his personal life. The ratings of his show are failing and he is losing touch with his family. In an effort to regain the love and respect of his audience, Marc’s agent decides to send him, against his will, on a humanitarian mission to Haiti. Nothing can prepare Marc for the journey on which he is about to embark.

Simone Veil - Les combats d'une effrontée

October 2023 •French

Simone Veil, une loi au nom des femmes

February 2010 •French

The debate in France about the abortion laws in 1974.