The Dissident

MBS, the Arabia of the future

January 2025 •French

For almost a decade, Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, the crown prince and de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, has been shaking up all the pillars of this extraordinary kingdom. The cradle of Islam and the world's leading exporter of crude oil, this Gulf giant has embarked on an unprecedented transformation to meet the existential challenge of the post-oil era. Dreaming of becoming the leader of a stable and prosperous Arab world, MBS is undertaking to transform the austere and rigorous Saudi Arabia into a futuristic utopia. But the rise of tourism, entertainment and the excesses of construction sites are still struggling to make us forget authoritarianism and the repression of opponents. As for the silencing of the religious police, it has not put an end to the oppression of women.

Kingdom of Silence

October 2020 •English

A political thriller examining the complex relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and how the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi amplified entanglements between the two countries.

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia

October 2019 •English

One year after the murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a two-hour FRONTLINE documentary investigates the rise and rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia (MBS). Correspondent Martin Smith, who has covered the Middle East for FRONTLINE for 20 years, examines the crown prince’s vision for the future, his handling of dissent, his relationship with the United States — and his ties to Khashoggi’s killing. This Episode can be watched Online at (last Update 18th Oct 24): https://www.pbs.org/video/crown-prince-saudi-arabia-1jt2ey

The Reddiest 2006

December 2024 •Arabic

In light of the rise and inflation of the Saudi stock market in 2006, the painful crash that caused the loss of one trillion riyals in a short period of time, with the loss of money begins the misfortunes of families among themselves and the issues of money are innumerable. Abdulrahman and his wife Samar, a small family lost in the midst of these misfortunes, a husband who wants wealth and stability but himself is greedy, falling into the same hole again and again, and a good wife trying to hold on to this relationship no matter what. How would you behave in this case?

Eisenhower's Revenge

October 2024 •English

After the attack on Pearl Harbour, President Eisenhower committed to a reigme of ruthlessness. The blood of Americans would not have been spilt in vein and what followed was a furious and vicious series of retaliation strikes at key point around the world.

Like an abortion, for the very first time

October 2018 •

The Umbrella Movement was a wave of street protests that took place in Hong Kong from September to December 2014 as a reaction to oppressive practices of the Chinese government against the citizens of Hong Kong dissatisfied with planned changes in the electoral system. In her feature film debut, To Liu captured the citizens of the western part of Kowloon, Mong Kok, whose protests might not have been as visible as those of the leading activists, but were no less important. The documentary rhythmized by opening entries and darkening of the scene, much like the director’s first film, follows two characters, a master and an apprentice.

The Hit: An Investigative Documentary

March 2022 •English

Award-winning investigative journalists and forensic engineers analyze never-before-seen evidence that indicates NASCAR legend Tony Stewart killed a competitor after accelerating his car and fishtailing it toward the defenseless man.

Interview with Robert Kramer

January 2015 •English

This last testimony of Robert Kramer (1939-1999) is a moving documentary with the independent American film director, in which he speaks of his political activism, his way of filmmaking, his relationship with Portugal and the revolutionary movements.

La divina cometa

May 2023 •Italian

The Monsters of Florence

August 2020 •English

It is a cold case that after 50 years still haunts Italy today - an epic travesty of justice shrouded in mystery and deception involving he ritualistic serial murder of eight young couples in the country lanes around Florence in the 1980s.

Kennedys Liebe zu Europa

October 2022 •German

A docudrama on John F. Kennedy's early travels through Europe with his best friend Lem Billings. A road trip that would lay the foundation for JFK's later love for Europe and its countries, such as Germany.

Amate sponde

March 2023 •English

As in a long suite, the cinematographic story of a country, Italy, in its current physiognomy, in a film made only of images and music. A home atlas of wonders that are sometimes misunderstood and of places known, loved and often lost. And of people cultured in their living in a highly stratified territory, between the still usable grandeur of the past and the apparent stasis of the present. A country marked by strong inequalities and nevertheless in continuous transformation in the difficult race towards sustainable development, problematically suspended between the old and the new and the increasingly difficult search for a balance to safeguard its éthos.

Camilo Torres Restrepo, el amor eficaz

October 2022 •Spanish

An experimental documentary that dares to gather diverse and plural audiovisual archive materials, which gives itself the possibility of creating an imaginary, but concrete, intense and profound conversation between the filmmaker Marta Rodríguez and the indefinable Camilo Torres Restrepo. A film that invents the opportunity to talk to a dead man, why yes, Camilo died, but his questions, his ideas and his effective love remain strong and powerful within Marta's life and political and artistic reflection. Who was Camilo Torres Restrepo? The documentary tries to answer this question by looking at Colombia today, analyzing it, and understanding it, perhaps a little more, in its inequalities and its constant violence. Perhaps this is the greatest legacy that Camilo left to those who are still alive.

Everybody Loves Chris Rock

March 2021 •English

Trace the beloved comedian, actor, and producer’s journey to superstardom — from the mid-1980s stand-up comedy circuit to SNL to the big screen.

The Red Box: The Infinite War of Antoni Campañà

June 2021 •Catalan

Hidden in a house, about to be demolished, in the town of Sant Cugat del Vallès, located in the Spanish province of Barcelona, two red boxes are found; and inside them a totally unexpected treasure: thousands of photographs that the Republican photographer Antoni Campañà Bandranas (1906-89) took during the three years of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39); an enormous frieze of daily life in cruel times.

LeF

June 2016 •Russian

Director Dmitry Lavrinenko, famous for his documentary about the rock band Auktyon (АукцЫон) "Encore", mounts the story of Fedorov from images equally momentary and eternal, and stories at the same time everyday and worldly. Phantoms and chronicles, tales about recording the first solo album in an unheated Lendok studio, a confessional story about the death of his father, memories of meeting Henri Volokhonsky and Khvost (Aleksei Khvostenko), who scared dad with his complete freedom from reality, drinking vodka at a meeting with grateful and not very listeners. Behind the mosaic painting is a whole story about the thorny path of the artist, the courage to leave the comfort zone and spiritual poetry, which the film is looking for a visual equivalent.

The Wonder World of K. Gordon Murray

December 2010 •English

Interviews and archive footage trace the career of the pioneering exploitation filmmaker.

Obey the Artist

June 2014 •Russian

A curious portrait of graffiti artist Shepard Fairey.

Amanda F***ing Palmer on the Rocks

June 2014 •English

Follow punk-cabaret icon Amanda Palmer as she hits the stage at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Since her record-breaking $1.2 million crowd-funded Kickstarter campaign, Palmer (formerly of the Dresden Dolls) has carved out a path of fearlessness and independence outside the norms of the music industry.

Where Is This Street? or With No Before or After

August 2022 •Portuguese

From our window one can see a set of the film The Green Years, directed by Paulo Rocha in 1963. This was our starting point: guided by Rocha's gaze, we look back at the places of that film. The successive geological, urbanistic and social strata of Lisbon, besieged by the pandemic that interrupted the shooting, are drawn out in front of our camera, like a contemporary jazz impro from a score written in 1963.