Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers

Buy Bye Beauty

January 2001 •English

Buy Bye Beauty is a 2001 documentary film by Swedish director and performance artist Pål Hollender. The film is about the way Latvian sex industry and its being fueled by businessmen and sex tourists from Sweden visiting Riga. The film was shot in Riga in July 2000. The narration of the film is in English, with interviews conducted in Russian and Latvian.

Sexwork & Me

January 2012 •English

21st century legal prostitution through the frank stories of Amsterdam red-light district sex workers at a time when tighter regulation threatens their livelihood.

Land Without Bread

December 1933 •Spanish

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Megacities

August 1998 •English

Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.

Philip K Dick: A Day in the Afterlife

April 1994 •English

A poetic look at the life and legacy of legendary author Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), who wrote over over a hundred short stories and 44 novels of mind-bending sci-fi, exploring themes of authority, drugs, theology, mental illness and much more.

Homeland

October 2000 •English

Following four Lakota families over three years, Homeland explores what it takes for the Lakota community to build a better future in the face of tribal and government corruption, scarce housing, unemployment, and alcoholism. Intimate interviews with a spiritual leader, a grandmother, an artist, and a community activist from South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation reveal how each survives through family ties, cultural tradition, humor, and a palpable yearning for self-reliance and personal freedom.

Methadonia

October 2005 •English

Shot over the course of 18 months in New York City's Lower East Side, METHADONIA sheds light on the inherent flaws of legal methadone treatments for heroin addiction by profiling eight addicts, in various stages of recovery and relapse, who attend the New York Center for Addiction Treatment Services (NYCATS).

The Salt Mines

October 1990 •English

Explores the lives of Sara, Gigi and Giovanna, three Latino transvestites who for years have lived on the streets of Manhattan supporting their drug addictions through prostitution. They made their temporary home inside broken garbage trucks that the Sanitation Department keeps next to the salt deposits used in the winter to melt the snow. The three friends share the place known as "The Salt Mines".

Livet är kort, konsten lång – filmen om Åke Göransson

April 2023 •Swedish

Meth Storm

March 2017 •English

As police and DEA agents battle sophisticated cartels, rural, economically-disadvantaged users and dealers–whose addiction to ICE and lack of job opportunities have landed them in an endless cycle of poverty and incarceration–are caught in the middle.

All Boys

June 2009 •Finnish

A look behind the scenes of the Czech gay porn boom.

The Donut King

August 2020 •English

Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy builds a multi-million dollar empire by baking America's favourite pastry: the doughnut.

The Pimp’s World

January 1983 •English

The world of pimping in early 1980s America offers a rare, unfiltered glimpse into a controversial underground lifestyle. Through exclusive interviews with the notorious figure “Harold” and his associates—Alice, Lori, and Karen—the film provides a nuanced exploration of the lives of pimps and streetwalkers and the ways their paths intertwine. With a focus on both the allure and inherent dangers of this lifestyle, the documentary reaches a sombre climax, shedding light on the tragic murder of Alice Franklin, one of Harold’s streetwalkers, later that same year.

Ava

September 2023 •Spanish

Made in Serbia

March 2005 •Serbian

MADE IN SERBIA portrays the Serbian video porn industry by presenting four life stories of domestic porn actors. Unlike their Western counterparts, these people work in porn industry in order to survive and obtain basic life supplies. The film follows the young hot shot porn star who travels to a shoot in Hungary, a bisexual actor who visits hometown, a 40 year old actress that invites her husband into the porn business and a peasant who became a local legend thanks to working in porn industry. The whole story is framed within one young man's search for the long lost girl who appears to have entered the world of porn. He shoots the documentary in order to find her.

Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam

December 1995 •English

A documentary crew from the BBC arrives in L.A. intent on interviewing Heidi Fleiss, a year after her arrest for running a brothel but before her trial. Several months elapse before the interview, so the crew searches for anyone who'll talk about the young woman. Two people have a lot to say to the camera: a retired madam named Alex for whom Fleiss once worked and Fleiss's one-time boyfriend, Ivan Nagy, who introduced her to Alex. Alex and Nagy don't like each other, so the crew shuttles between them with "she said" and "he said." When they finally interview Fleiss, they spend their time reciting what Alex and Nagy have had to say and asking her reaction.

School for Hope

November 2024 •Bulgarian

Animari and Zlatko's mission is to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds get the best possible care and education. Will they manage to find funding to welcome more children and to start a high school?

Köyhät, nöyrät ja häpeämättömät

November 1999 •Finnish

Documentary film about four families in Pori, Finland, all struggling with unemployment and poverty.

The End of Poverty?

May 2008 •English

The End of Poverty? asks if the true causes of poverty today stem from a deliberate orchestration since colonial times which has evolved into our modern system whereby wealthy nations exploit the poor. People living and fighting against poverty answer condemning colonialism and its consequences; land grab, exploitation of natural resources, debt, free markets, demand for corporate profits and the evolution of an economic system in in which 25% of the world's population consumes 85% of its wealth. Featuring Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz, authors/activist Susan George, Eric Toussaint, Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera and more.

Chained Girls

March 1965 •English

This exploitation classic purports to expose the secrets of the 1960s lesbian underworld.