Social & External
Himself
While the war raged on, Henry Kissinger, national security advisor to President Nixon, and Lê Duc Tho, member of Vietnam's Politburo, held secret meetings in France.
Six months after a tsunami hit South Asia on December 26, 2004, Muslim-American and Sri Lankan-born Dr. M. Rahmi Mowjood led a team of American doctors and medical students on a relief trip. While mentoring medical students and aiding injured villagers, Dr. Mowjood also finds a way to ask someone to become a member of his own family.
A Hmong guide's daily life in the mountains of Sapa, North Vietnam.
Four young people from Tanzania and Cameroon complete a year of weltwärts voluntary service in Germany. For each of them, it is their first visit in Europe. The film follows the volunteers throughout their year of service, it expresses different expectations, enthusiasm, goals and challenges. The volunteers describe subjectively their personal experiences as well as their view of Germany. The documentary is a thoughtful and exciting vision of the exchange program seen by four young people.
Using archival footage, cabinet conversation recordings, and an interview of the 85-year-old Robert McNamara, The Fog of War depicts his life, from working as a WWII whiz-kid military officer, to being the Ford Motor Company's president, to managing the Vietnam War as defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
The aftermath of the Rwandan genocide: A student theatre troupe tours Rwanda with a comedy about the genocide, a gang of killers gets rough justice at the local genocide court, and a prosecutor investigates a priest for the murder of five Tutsi children. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Tanzania, two of the genocide's leaders face the United Nations tribunal in snappy suits, defended by a panoply of French lawyers.
A Vietnamese documentary on human suffering and the meaning of kindness.
Tunahaki is the extraordinary story of nine gifted orphans who are acrobats. We follow their journey as an American volunteer takes them from Africa to study with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. They end up touring the States and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, more than enough to build a permanent home. But how have the kids' experiences in America affected them? And how will it change things back home in Tanzania? Tunahaki's heartfelt journey gives us something new to ponder as we reach across the world to help those less fortunate—is it always the right thing to do?
In this moving documentary, Oscar-nominated filmmakers Peter LeDonne and Steve Kalafer chronicle the extraordinary life of Immaculée Ilibagiza, a young African woman who escaped genocide in Rwanda and ultimately found refuge in the United States. Seeking shelter with an Episcopalian minister, Immaculée hid from her attackers inside a bathroom for three long months but stayed centered through prayer and faith.
Esther van Neerbos searches for missing people with her dogs. Her dogs are specially trained to recognize the smell of death. Thanks to Esther's efforts, many bodies are recovered and she puts an end to the uncertainty in which those left behind live.
Childhood sweethearts Beatrice and Purudenci plan to wed until Beatrice becomes hunted by Purudenci's family during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Over the period of 25 years the director met General Võ Nguyên Giáp, a legendary hero of Vietnam’s independence wars, a number of times. She was the first American who entered the home of the “Red Napoleon”. The fruit of this friendship is a film, personal and politically involved at the same time. Travelling across the country and talking to important figures as well as ordinary people, the director finds out more about her roots and offers the audience a unique perspective on Vietnam’s present and past.
In Saigon, family culture carries on as it has for centuries, even when blood ties are broken. Through a mosaic of intimate portraits, Má Sài Gòn explores humanity’s universal desire for love, acceptance, connection and belonging through an LGBTQ+ lens. The film is a love letter – a bittersweet ode to a comforting yet disturbing mother, to a city that is as liberating as it is oppressive.
Kibbutz volunteering began in an eclipse. The idealistic and rebellious 1960s generation was charmed by the old communist ideology as it came to life in the Israeli Kibbutz. The 1967 Six-Day War attracted a wave of support for Israel that the Kibbutz Movement saw as a miracle. When travel agencies started selling “Kibbutz Volunteering” packages, it was clear that volunteering also became a profitable business. The Kibbutz found itself facing unfamiliar phenomenon – drugs, alcohol and marriage with non-Jewish volunteers.
For the last twelve years, Marisela and Ely, along with the volunteer group The Águilas del Desierto have roamed the US-Mexico desert. Their goal: to seek, find and return to their families the bodies of migrants who died while crossing on foot. This all-consuming calling takes a crushing toll on them, but how could they stop? Spare My Bones, Coyote! follows their work, dedication, and difficult lives they have chosen to live.
Blood Road follows the journey of ultra-endurance mountain bike athlete Rebecca Rusch and her Vietnamese riding partner, Huyen Nguyen, as they pedal 1,200 miles along the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail through the dense jungles of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Their goal: to reach the site where Rebecca’s father, a U.S. Air Force pilot, was shot down in Laos more than 40 years earlier.
A German Documentary about the “village of friendship” that was created by American Veteran George Mizo to help the Vietnamese kids suffering from the Vietnam War.
Once every decade, an extraordinary folk festival puts the small town of Baden in an exceptional state of vibrancy that resonates far beyond its borders. Thousands of people contribute to the success of the Badenfahrt in numerous clubs and pubs - a festival that unites the many volunteers for ten days and nights. Over a million people celebrated the last Badenfahrt. Some of the diverse people, whether asylum seekers or CEOs, who played an active role, are accompanied by this cinema documentary. Whether it's a handful of friends daringly building a pub on a steep slope, a young team turning night into day with a party club, or half a village aiming high with its rocket launching ramp: the countless helpers, who go their own ways in normal life, join forces to create something unique before, during and after the Badenfahrt. This feel-good movie is an emotional plea for diversity and for volunteerism in a country where associations are an important pillar of society.
A quarter of a million drug addicts —one of the most serious consequences of the Vietnam War. These addicts were the citizens of the South, and of Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon. Shot in 1981 by three Australian women, Changing the Needle was the first in-depth film to be made about Vietnam’s unique approach to drug rehabilitation at a time when few foreign film crews had access to Vietnam at all.
