Kicking Off 2021 with the Best of World Cinema

Ring in the New Year with some of the best of the best documentary films from around the world. In these selected documentaries, we travel across South America, Central Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, exploring stories about hope, loss, superstition, humanity, and much more.

Está todo bien

67 min • Health & Science, Society • 2015

#Venezuela #PublicHealth #Medicine

Watch Esta Todo Bien – It’s All Good Streaming Online | iwonder

As the public health system collapses, a pharmacist, a trauma surgeon, a social activist, and two cancer patients confront the same questions as millions of other Venezuelans struggling to survive in a nation plunged into chaos: to protest or to acquiesce, to emigrate or to stick it out, to lose all…

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For decades, Venezuela boasted one of the best public health systems in the region.

However, the economic crisis has caused near-total collapse of the health system, resulting in medicine shortages, increased infant mortality, and the reappearance of once-eradicated diseases.

In the film, we meet Venezuelans who ask themselves difficult questions—should they protest or acquiesce, emigrate or remain, lose all hope or hang onto faith?

Honeyland

85 min • Culture, Nature & Environment • 2019 • M *In Australia only

#Balkans #Honeybee #Oscars

Watch Honeyland Streaming Online | iwonder

Nestled in an isolated mountain region deep within the Balkans, Hatidze Muratova lives with her ailing mother in a village without roads, electricity or running water. She’s the last in a long line of wild beekeepers, eking out a living farming honey in small batches to be sold in the closest city –…

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Deep in the Balkan Mountains, Hatidze Muratova lives with her ailing mother in a village without roads, electricity or running water.

She’s the last in a long line of wild beekeepers, eking out a living by farming honey in small batches, but her peaceful existence is thrown into upheaval by the arrival of an itinerant family.

A must-see film that made history as the first documentary to be nominated for both Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars.

For Sama

95 min • Society, Politics & World Affairs • 2019 • NC16

#Syria #Uprising #Oscars

Watch For Sama Streaming Online | iwonder

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: This film contains graphic images that some viewers may find distressing. Viewer discretion is advised. A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in l…

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The Oscar-nominated For Sama follows Waad al-Kateab’s life through 5 years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her.

Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival, as she faces an agonising decision whether to flee to safety or stay behind to help the innocent victims of war.

In the Shadow of the Sun

88 min • Society, Health & Science • 2012

#Tanzania #Albinism #Superstition

Watch In the Shadow of the Sun Streaming Online | iwonder

In Tanzania, witch doctors are spreading a belief that the body parts of albino people will bring wealth and good fortune. Referred to as ‘White Ghosts’ and ‘Devils’ within their communities, the superstition surrounding them has grown so strong that albinos now fear for their lives.

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In Tanzania, Albino people are referred to as “White Ghosts” and “Devils”, and witch doctors spread the belief that their body parts will bring wealth and good fortune—leading to an escalation in brutal murders of people with albinism.

Filmed over 6 years, In the Shadow of the Sun tells the story of two albino men as they attempt to follow their dreams in the face of prejudice and fear.

SELECTED REVIEWS

Esta todo bien

Tuki Jencquel Introduces His Film “Está Todo Bien” (“It’s All Good”)

“The stark discrepancy between the official narrative and the reality for ordinary Venezuelans was so big that it needed to be addressed...”

MUBITuki Jencquel

Honeyland

‘Honeyland’: To Bee or Not to Bee

An award-winning documentary on a Macedonian beekeeper is an experiential wonder, a cutting critique on capitalism and a genuine must-see

Rolling StoneDavid Fear

Honeyland review – beekeeper’s life with a sting in the tale

In this terrific documentary shot in North Macedonia, a woman tending wild hives is rattled by her new, disruptive neighbours

The GuardianCath Clarke

“Honeyland,” Reviewed: A Gripping, Frustrating Documentary About a Beekeeper’s Fragile Isolation

Richard Brody reviews “Honeyland,” a documentary about beekeeping, by the filmmakers Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov.

The New YorkerRichard Brody

‘Honeyland’ Review: Macedonia’s Last Beekeeper Is the Heart of Harrowing Doc About Environmental Balance

This bitter and beautiful Sundance-winning doc focuses on a single beekeeper as though our collective future hinges on her hives.

IndieWireDavid Ehrlich

Review: ‘Honeyland’ is a heartbreaking documentary about a vanishing way of life

Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s Sundance prize-winning documentary is captivating, then devastating.

Los Angeles TimesJustin Chang

A Rare Nature Documentary That Tells a Deeply Human Story

‘Honeyland’ is both a personal tale about a lonely beekeeper in Macedonia and an epic with the aloof grandeur of ‘Planet Earth.’

The AtlanticDavid Sims

For Sama

For Sama review – affecting chronicle of life in war-torn Aleppo

Syrian film-maker Waad al-Kateab documents both the city’s siege and the birth of her daughter

the GuardianMark Kermode

For Sama (2019)

A young woman is followed through five years during the revolution in Aleppo, Syria - through love, marriage and motherhood.

Rotten TomatoesDavid Stratton

For Sama movie review & film summary (2019) | Roger Ebert

It is up to the world to take in every piece of For Sama, and truly grasp the human cost of the crisis.

Roger EbertTomris Laffly

The Horror Is Real in the Syrian Doc For Sama

The film doesn’t feel like raw footage — it has been carefully shaped, with a bit of movie-­ish suspense during the final hours.

VultureDavid Edelstein

In the Shadow of the Sun

In the Shadow of the Sun (2012)

Josephat and Vedastus pursue their dreams in the face of prejudice about their albinism.

Rotten TomatoesSarah Boslaugh

In the Shadow of the Sun (2012) - IMDb

In the Shadow of the Sun is a movie starring Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Mussa, and Mizengo Pinda. Ukerewe Island, in Tanzania is home to a large community of people who live with albinism. While many albinos are killed at birth or...

IMDb

In the Shadow of the Sun: IDFA Review

Harry Freeland’s British documentary examines the plight of albinos suffering discrimination and persecution in Tanzania.

The Hollywood ReporterNeil Young

SELECTED AWARDS

For Sama

Academy Awards, USA 2020

BAFTA Awards 2020

Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival 2019

Critics' Choice Documentary Awards 2019

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2019

International Documentary Association 2019

International Emmy Awards 2020

Melbourne International Film Festival 2019

Sheffield International Documentary Festival 2019

SXSW Film Festival 2019

Honeyland

Academy Awards, USA 2020

Critics' Choice Documentary Awards 2019

DocAviv Film Festival 2019

International Documentary Association 2019

Sundance Film Festival 2019

Sydney Film Festival 2019