Movies: Poverty

Can there be a bleaker portrait of a life half-lived? Cinematic treatment of poet R.S. Thomas's story of Twm, the "shy soul" who lives and dies alone in the "grim house nailed to the mountainside", oblivious to the interest shown in him by young girl...

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Real-life drama about why, in a beautiful and quirky rural town, film- maker Jez Lewis' childhood friends are killing themselves. Beginning with a personal quest for understanding, the film moves into a year-long drama of human tragedy and redemption...

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?...

In 2059, in a broken-down world, silicon has become the most precious material on the planet. A man and a girl barter transistors and microchips for a few larvae and some water. Their routine will be broken by the discovery of a forgotten heirloom, s...

The Vietnamese Nghi has a bad feeling as she sees the foreign Chinese groom for the first time on the day of her daughter’s wedding. Nghi and Phuong decided that the 17 years old should get married to relieve the family of their debts. But then, the ...

Ranka is a street orphan, all of ten years old. He makes manjha used in kite flying for a living, and he has to take care of his three-year-old little sister Chimi, who is somewhat mentally challenged....

Borinage left Henri Storck profoundly disturbed by injustice and social poverty. When he was offered a chance to make the film he undertook an in-depth survey into the working class and slums and shouldered his camera as a militant filmmaker. In a pl...

Documentary presenting the theory and application of the Theology of Liberation via interviews to priests from humble parishes in the slums of Lima. A fruitful labor of a Catholic Church sector committed to address social issues....

Documentary about the foreign tourism in Rocinha, the biggest Latin America's favela, which receives about 3.000 foreign tourists per month. They come to Rocinha looking for the most varied aspects, from the poorness to the violence, from the geograp...

Benok, robbed off his childhood, had to work due to poverty. While his mother spends time on gambling. In his eyes, the world has changed where children work and adults play. Benok finds his way to experience how to become a real kid again....

Award-winning documentary maker Bryan Bruce investigates New Zealand's housing crisis and what might be done to solve it. Bruce consults with recognised world experts (in Canada, Ireland and Germany) to discuss their global research – this time on f...

In 1985 a picturesque Argentinian holiday town was completely flooded, not to re-emerge until 2009. Now only Pablo remains in this modern day Atlantis....

Documentary film about a slum community on the outskirts of Recife, a major city in northeastern Brazil. A portrait of life in extreme poverty and lawlessness: men without work, hopeless women, hungry and sick children....

Life on the breadline in the 1930s was hard enough, but times were desperate when you fell beneath it. Hunger marches organised by the National Unemployed Workers' Movement drew attention to the cause, but this left-wing collective picked up a cine-c...

Between the city and the countryside, the subtle and modern forms of slavery unfold. A girl waits for the pick-up truck that will transport her to the city. Once there, amidst a never-ending row of walls and fences, she peeks into the entrance to a s...

In the form of a posthumous letter to Storck, using clippings from the original 'Borinage' film, the director paints a personal picture about a corner of Western Europe, where shocking living conditions of those trapped within...

Riles is a documentary about the life of a riles resident, Eddie, in a squatter area along the railroad tracks within the downtrodden section of Balic-balik, Manila....

After the waning of the protests in Sanrizuka, Ogawa Pro started questioning the future of the collective and looking for other subjects to film. Following the method developed in the previous films, the filmmakers moved to the slum of Kotobuchi in the ...

Funny story of an unemployed metalworker, self-proclaimed Marxist, his views and whereabouts....