Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Politics, Law & Justice / All Films

Thabyay

Mon, 6 Apr 2026 10:20:24 GMT

Set against one of the world's deadliest yet least-covered conflicts, Thabyay: Creative Resistance in Myanmar examines how creativity becomes both a tool and a lifeline under a brutal military junta: how songs, poems, paintings, and grassroots cultural events can be as potent as any weapon. The film also traces the moral and emotional journey of non-violent leaders forced to decide whether to endorse armed struggle, while still holding onto a vision of a peaceful, inclusive Myanmar.

The film profiles four figures working at the intersection of art, activism, and armed struggle: Susanna Hla Hla Soe, painter and government-in-exile minister, whose canvases document the impact of war on women and children; Maung Saungkha, poet and free-speech advocate turned commander of the first Bamar ethnic army; Phoe San, musician and composer who uses sound to sustain revolutionary spirit and support trauma recovery; and Thet Swe Win, human rights activist whose "artivist" gatherings mobilize the collective power of creative expression against repression.

Through intimate portraits and on-the-ground footage, Thabyay captures a movement that refuses to surrender its humanity, asking what is lost, and what might be gained, when non-violent leaders are pushed toward armed struggle in a war the world has largely chosen to ignore.

This is the latest work by Jeanne Hallacy, a documentary filmmaker with over two decades of engagement with social and human rights issues in Southeast Asia, particularly Burma and Thailand. Her filmography charts a sustained commitment to the region's most urgent stories, from Burma Diary (1997) and Mercy (Meddah) (2002) through This Kind of Love (2015), Sittwe (2017), Mother, Daughter, Sister (2018), and Padauk: Myanmar Spring (2021).

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

HUMAN Int'l Documentary Festival, Norway, 2026

City College of San Francisco, USA, 2026

University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2026

FRAME, Thailand, 2025

Reconference: CREA's Global Conference, Nepal, 2025

University of Bielefeld, Germany, 2025

Asia Pacific Social Forum, Thailand, 2025

National Chengchi University, Taiwan, 2025

George Washington University, Washington, DC, 2025

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The Song of Aida

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 11:34:33 GMT

The Song of Aida
Buy Now: $320.00

As a teenager, Aida dreamed of becoming a model and singer. Now in her thirties, she is trapped in an arranged marriage and feels stuck living in a shack in a Roma community in Bari, Italy. She suffers from depression, longs to leave her marriage and return to Romania, where living conditions are better. Shot over a twenty-year period, filmmaker Giovanni Princigalli offers an intimate portrait of one woman’s struggle for emancipation, providing insights into life in the deeply patriarchal and tradition-bound Roma community in Bari, Italy. Princigalli makes it clear from the opening sequence that the Roma community in Bari does not represent that of Roma in other parts of Europe today.

Princigalli was born in Bari, Italy and studied Political Sciences at the University of Bari. His first film Japigia Gagi (Roma Stories) profiles the Bari community as he found it in 2001 and 2002. Song of Aida draws on footage from this early project as well as from visits in 2014 and in the early 2020s, when he focused on Aida’s story. This longitudinal view allows viewers to embrace Aida’s struggle as she finds her voice and independence from her family. The film also shows poetic animations that are used to illustrate the imagination of the protagonists.

“This film is the story of her [Aida’s] struggle for emancipation, independence and a new life outside the Roma camp.” — Giovanni Princigalli, Spring 2024

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

21st edition of the Int'l Human Rights Film Festival (FICDH), Argentina, 2025

Nordic Anthropological Film Association (NAFA) Int'l Ethnographic Film Festival, Norway, 2024

Ethnocineca Int'l Documentary Film Festival, Vienna, 2024

Festival de Cine Etnográfico de Ecuador, Ecuador, 2024

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Cruces

Wed, 5 Jun 2024 18:06:15 GMT

Cruces
Buy Now: $295.00

Cruces is an experiential expedition into the geographies and stories of immigrants from Latin America as they journey to reach US soil. By weaving together oral histories and images of the landscape, the film highlights the constitutive elements of transit, such as trains and rivers, and the obstacles migrants face, such as forests, deserts, and border regimes.

Recorded in 2019 and early 2020, this multi-vocal ethnography conveys a collective view of the multiple stories of journey and arrival. Enhanced by an immersive soundtrack and an experimental narrative, Cruces offers a raw exploration of the terrain and testimonies constituting one of our age's most defining, challenging, and politicized phenomena.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS
The Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival, UK, 2023

Athens Ethnographic Film Festival, Greece, 2022

Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, USA, 2022
Mimesis Documentary Film Festival, USA, 2022

Bogoshorts Film Festival,Colombia, 2021

Multimedia Anthropology Showcase in Madrid (MAAM), Spain, 2021

VI Mexican Congress of Anthropology and Ethnology Film Festival, Mexico, 2020
VI Latin American Anthropology Congress Film Festival, Uruguay, 2020

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Padauk: Myanmar Spring

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 17:50:59 GMT

Padauk: Myanmar Spring
Buy Now: $320.00

Padauk: Myanmar Spring takes the viewer to the streets of Myanmar during the heady days following the February 2021 military coup. Through Nant, a young, first-time protester, we meet three human rights activists whose lives have been turned upside down by the coup.

As the protests continue, Nant comes to understand the truth of a brutal regime that has continued to wage war against its own people for decades. Against a foreboding backdrop, Nant’s political awakening regarding the plight of others in her ethnically diverse country gives hope for the future.

Beautifully augmented by poetry and art, Padauk: Myanmar Spring shows the resilience and determination of the people of Myanmar, and the sacrifices they've made.

"This film fits well within the discussion of global protest during 2020-2021 against discrimination and threats to democracy and is highly recommended." – Tashia Miller, Educational Media Reviews Online

Selected Screenings & Awards

Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival, USA, 2021

Seoul International Women’s Film Festival, South Korea, 2021

Busan Peace Film Festival, Busan, South Korea, 2021

Dharamshala International Film Festival, India, 2021

Myanmar Film Festival of Los Angeles, 2021

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40 Years of Silence

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 09:18:00 GMT

40 Years of Silence
Buy Now: $320.00

40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy tells the story of one of the largest unknown mass-killings of the 20th century. In 1965-66, an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 people were secretly killed when General Suharto began a bloody purge of suspected communists throughout Indonesia. For decades, the Indonesian government repressed all memory of this event, and the world looked away.

Based on the research of prominent anthropologist Robert Lemelson and edited by two-time Academy Award winner Pietro Scalia, this film follows the compelling testimonies of four individuals and their families from Central Java and Bali, as they break their silence for the first time. Told in understated detail, the cumulative effect of their stories is heartbreaking, profound and ultimately redemptive.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Winner, Best Asian Documentary, Endeavors Documentary Film Festival, Singapore, 2013

Nominee, Best Editing in a Documentary Film, St. Tropez International Film Festival, Nice, France, 2013

Winner, Award of Excellence, Canada International Film Awards, 2013

Winner, Best Foreign Feature, Oregon Film Awards, 2012

Winner, Award of Excellence, International Film Festival for Peace, Inspiration & Equality, Indonesia, 2012

Nominee, Most Innovative Production, History Makers Awards, 2011

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901/904

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 09:18:00 GMT

901/904
Buy Now: $320.00

In this film we accompany patrol cars 901 and 904 as they ply the streets of Pittsburgh. The diversity of situations to which the policemen are called upon to respond are striking: from a man who is furious because he can not get his twenty dollar deposit refunded on an exhaust system that does not fit his car, to an elderly white man who says he wants to shoot the black teenagers playing handball on his house wall, to a group of white teenage youths loitering in the street on a sultry summer day.

Scenes from short films such as Henry is Drunk and A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding are intercut with other material, including footage in the police station where the men talk about their experiences.The striking element in many of the scenes is the level of frustration, anger, and at times a feeling of impending violence. This is true of the policemen themselves (from "I'm not talking nice no more" to some brutal beatings), as well of the people of the city, who speak of guns and fear.

As Laura Nader points out in the film Little Injustices, the typical American ignorance of, and lack of access to, the law so often leads not to the resolution of but to the escalation of conflict. As one irritated man exclaims to the officer who seems to dismiss his complaint as though he were just a cantankerous old pest, "That's where I'd like to know the definition of breaking the law!"Viewing this film, we also understand the exhaustion that police work often entails, for the policemen often have no real solutions themselves. It is clear why policemen are so often the victims of public rage, and why they in turn may vent their own frustrations on the public.

Films in the Pittsburgh Police series

901/904

After the Game

A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding

The 4th and 5th and the Exclusionary Rule

Henry is Drunk

The Informant

Inside/Outside Station Nine

Investigation of a Hit and Run w/ Legal Discussion

Manifold Controversy

Nothing Hurt But My Pride

Three Domestics

Twenty One Dollars or Twenty One Days

Youth and the Man of Property

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Democrats

Tue, 9 Oct 2018 15:11:00 GMT

Democrats
Buy Now: $340.00

In the wake of long-time leader Robert Mugabe's contentious 2008 presidential win, Zimbabwe took a historic step forward by convening a bipartisan constitutional committee as the country tried to evolve past its years of corrupt, authoritarian leadership. Two men from rival political parties were appointed to the committee: Paul Mangwana and Douglas Mwonzora, opposites in politics and personality, but both passionate and united in their ambition to deliver a historic new foundation for a reformed nation. Should they fail at securing maximum influence for their respective parties on the provisions in the new constitution, dire consequences loom for each. Democrats was filmed over the course of three years with unprecedented access to the two political rivals overseeing the committee, offering a rare, first-hand account of a country's first steps towards democracy.

Following a bitter war of liberation, Robert Mugabe became president of Zimbabwe in 1980. Under his leadership, the country made educational and economic progress until Mugabe evolved into a more dictatorial leader as opponents were put down and civil rights restricted. In 1999, in light of rising demands for reform, a new party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), rose up to challenge Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party. After a decade of strife, in 2009 the two parties formed a coalition government with Mugabe agreeing to share power with the leader of the MDC, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. It was up to the rival parties? two representatives, Mangwana and Mwonzora, to rise to the daunting challenge of creating a constitution to lead their nation to prosperity and freedom. But with Mugabe increasingly stubborn about stepping down and both constitutional leaders facing death threats, will the nation move forward or erupt into chaos?By documenting the contentious process of drafting a new constitution, Democrats offers a fascinating glimpse at the political mechanics of a modern African country struggling toward democratic change.

“Even the slyest political satire couldn't outdo this riveting docu study of Zimbabwe's troubled coalition government.”
— Variety

“Outstanding, urgent, vivid… Finally a film that deserves to be called necessary.”
— New York Times

“As excellent a documentary about politics as you will ever see.”
— Village Voice

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Best Feature Length Film, Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival, USA, 2016

Best Documentary Feature, Tribeca Film Festival, USA, 2015

Best Director, One World Human Rights Film Festival, Prague, 2015

Reel Talent Award, Special Jury Mention, CPH:DOX, 2014

Nominee, Best Feature Documentary, Best Production, Cinema Eye, 2015

Audience Award, Budapest Documentary Film Festival, 2015

Best International Documentary, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, USA, 2015

Freedom Award, Tel Aviv Docaviv Int'l Documentary Film Festival, 2015

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Video in the Villages: Amazon Projects series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Video in the Villages: Amazon Projects series
Buy Now: $400.00

These videos give examples of environmental protection and sustainable development projects taking place in indigenous areas of the Amazon. With their cultural respect for natural resources, these indigenous groups have a lot to teach other cultures about co-operation with the environment.

Films in the Amazon Projects series:
Agenda 31

Signs Don't Speak

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Video in the Villages: Ashanika Villages series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Video in the Villages: Ashanika Villages series
Buy Now: $850.00

Made by indigenous filmmakers, these inventive videos document a range of development projects, beliefs and cultural practices in indigenous communities of Acre, Brazil. We see how contemporary people have maintained some traditional practices and adopted new ones in these dynamic and diverse cultures.

Films in the Ashanika Villages series:
Iauaretê, Waterfall of the Jaguars

Imbé Gikegü, The Scent of Pequi Fruit
Kiarãsâ Yõ Sâty, The Agouti's Peanut

New Era

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Video in the Villages: Conflicts in the Amazon series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Video in the Villages: Conflicts in the Amazon series
Buy Now: $400.00

This series examines conflict and sustainable development in indigenous areas.

Films in the Conflicts in the Amazon series

Free-For-All In Sararé

It's Now or Never!

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