Films: By Genre/Subject

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Your search by 'Social Issues' identified 49 films

Benny
USA , 2011 , 14 min. An overweight teenager revisits an old friend—who is now a personal fitness trainer.... more
3 Hours
United Kingdom , 2010 , 14 min. Inspired by true events in Baghdad, this award-winning short follows a young boy on what turns out to be an tragically eventful day.... more
American Teacher
USA , 2011 , 81 min. Coproduced by Dave Eggers and narrated by Matt Damon, American Teacher chronicles the lives of four teachers living and working in disparate communities today, detailing their proud accomplishments and frustrating sacrifices.... more
The Bengali Detective
United Kingdom , 2011 , 110 min. Rajesh is a private investigator in Kolkata who’s passionate about his family, his job—and fancy footwork. This one-of-a-kind documentary follows the chubby detective as he tries to crack murder, counterfeiting, and adultery cases as well as win a national TV dance contest.... more
Bob and the Monster
USA , 2011 , 87 min. Documentarian Keirda Bahruth spent six years tracing the rise, fall, and near-miraculous return of Thelonious Monster frontman Bob Forrest—from arrogant young singer-songwriter poised for megastardom to heroin-addled wreck to compassionate addiction counselor.... more
Burma: A Human Tragedy
USA , 2011 , 85 min. Ongoing yet largely ignored, the horrific genocide of ethnic minorities throughout Burma is brought under close and grisly scrutiny in this secretly filmed documentary, which also exposes the rulers who live in luxury as their people suffer.... more
But I Love You
USA , 2011 , 12 min. Dasha, a young Russian-American girl, faces a difficult decision when she learns about an unexpected pregnancy.... more
Cirkus Columbia
Bosnia , 2010 , 113 min. Set in Bosnia in the early 1990s, Danis Tanovic’s period drama explores the uncertainty of a country on the brink of war through the metaphor of a divided family. Diviko Buntic returns home after 20 years to face an estranged wife, a son he never knew, and a past that’s at odds with his future.... more
Curling
Canada , 2010 , 96 min. Denis Côte’s chilling drama is set on the frozen plains of Québec, where Jean-François Sauvageau protects his preteen daughter, Julyvonne, from the world outside by isolating her. But both have their secrets, and if Jean-François doesn’t face the world he so fears, he may lose Julyvonne forever.... more
Dance Town
South Korea , 2010 , 95 min. The final installment of Korean writer-director Jeon Kyu-hwan’s Town Trilogy, Dance Town tells the story of a couple defecting to South Korea. When Man-il is caught and detained by authorities, his wife escapes alone; she tries to start life anew.... more
The Dancer
USA , 2010 , 12 min. In a remote village in India, an 11-year-old orphan boy finds a family and discovers that life is indeed a dance.... more
The Destiny of Lesser Animals
Ghana , 2011 , 89 min. Part crime drama, part personal quest, Deron Albright's first feature focuses on a Ghanian police inspector whose fondest wish is to return to the United States a decade after being deported. First, however, he’ll need to extract himself from the series of intrigues in which he’s entangled.... more
Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson
Canada , 2011 , 118 min. Paul Watson is on a mission to save the earth’s sea creatures from slaughter—one that pits him, undeterred, against entire nations. This unflinching documentary traces his passionate life’s work, from the founding of Greenpeace to violent confrontations with whaling fleets.... more
El Sicario, Room 164
USA , 2010 , 80 min. In Gianfranco Rosi's chilling documentary, a nameless former Mexican hitman (or sicario) sits, black-hooded and cold-blooded, in a Juárez hotel room, describing his 20-year career as an executioner and torturer for notorious drug cartels—and revealing the vast corruption in Mexican politics... more
Good Bye
Iran , 2011 , 104 min. Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof remains under house arrest in Tehran (he “propagandized” against the regime), but this dramatic cry for freedom has reached the West—a compelling portrait of a disbarred lawyer named Noori who seeks to leave a country where women are treated “like ghosts.”... more
The Green
USA , 2011 , 90 min. Steven Williford's contemporary drama unfolds in a quiet Connecticut town where a gay high-school teacher (Jason Butler Harner) is accused of molesting a student—fomenting crises for him, his partner (Glee's Cheyenne Jackson), their lesbian lawyer (Julia Ormond), and the outraged locals.... more
The Green Wave
Iran , 2011 , 80 min. MUST END Thursday, August 30th at the DenverFilmCenter/Colfax Digital presentation - Green is the color of hope. Green is the color of Islam. And green was the symbol of recognition among the supporters of presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who became the symbolic figure of t... more
The High Level Bridge
Canada , 2010 , 4 min. Trevor drops his camera from Edmonton's High Level Bridge in memory of those who have jumped.... more
The High Life
China , 2010 , 96 min. Documentary filmmaker Zhao Dayong makes his fiction debut with this bleak but absorbing look at a cross-section of Chinese urban life. Zhao’s genius for capturing precisely the vivid details of a decaying slum stands in sharp contrast to his shifting perspective on modern-day morality.... more
The House
Slovak Republic , 2011 , 97 min. The crusty Slovakian father in Zuzana Liová's satirically laced drama debut dreams of building a house for each of his two daughters on the family's plot of land—but the girls, of course, have other plans. Leading man Miroslav Krobot is simultaneously a pain in the neck and a joy to behold.... more
Joanna
Poland , 2010 , 105 min. The eponymous heroine of Feliks Falk's World War II drama, set in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, is a bright and wary young Pole (Urszula Grabowska) whose quest for simple survival is turned inside out when she discovers a seven-year-old Jewish girl hiding in a church—and decides to harbor the child.... more
Kinyarwanda
Rwanda , 2011 , 100 min. MUST END Thurs, Jan 22nd Winner of the Starz People's Choice Award for Narrative Feature - SDFF34 35mm presentation - In the genocide that swept though Rwanda in 1994, the Hutu ethnic majority killed almost a million Tutsis—a bloody tragedy that was the subject of the 2004 Oscar nomi... more
Kumare
USA , 2011 , 84 min. MUST END Thursday, July 19th at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax Digital presentation - Kumaré is a wise guru from the East who indoctrinated a group of followers in the West. Kumaré, however, is not real – he is the alter ego of American filmmaker Vikram Gandhi who impersonated a spiritu... more
Le Havre
Finland , 2011 , 103 min. Le Havre looks like a 1960s B-movie, but its storyline is wholly contemporary. Finland’s official entry for best foreign-language film at next year’s Academy Awards offers a light-hearted look at shoeshine man Marcel’s efforts to provide safe harbor for a young African immigrant.... more
Leaving
Czech Republic , 2011 , 94 min. Acclaimed absurdist playwright Václav Havel’s first dramatic feature, Leaving, follows the King Lear-like chancellor of an unnamed country as he relinquishes power to a sleazy archrival. Havel denies autobiographical connections, though echoes of his political career abound.... more
Library of Dust
USA , 2011 , 16 min. The discovery of thousands of abandoned, corroded urns at a state mental hospital inspires an unusual photo exhibit that reveals secrets, influences political decisions, and reunites families.... more
Maria My Love
USA , 2011 , 99 min. Jasmine McGlade Chazelle's witty feature debut examines the unlikely friendship between a young café waitress who's grieving the death of her mother and a strangely insightful maternal figure (Hollywood veteran Karen Black)—who also happens to be a compulsive hoarder.... more
Mi Hatice
Turkey , 2010 , 19 min. The pace of the city contrasts with the life of a young Turkish wife who struggles with her husband’s extreme indifference.... more
Mozart Town
South Korea , 2008 , 90 min. South Korean writer-director Jeon Kyu-hwan’s 2008 debut was the first in the Town Trilogy (appearing as a whole in SDFF34), which examines themes of urban alienation and desperation. Sara is a pianist who sees Seoul through the eyes of a tourist, while the city’s own residents struggle daily.... more
Ms. G's Class
USA , 2011 , 10 min. Ms. G’s Class highlights the gap between the promise and the reality of education in the minority community.... more
No One Shall Be Called Illegal
USA , 2011 , 6 min. Lacking legal status, a college student strives to be accepted by the very society in which he was raised.... more
Pariah
USA , 2011 , 86 min. Writer-director Dee Rees makes her debut with the semi-autobiographical tale of a Brooklyn teenager struggling to retain her grace, tenacity, and humor while struggling with the decision to come out as a lesbian. Spike Lee serves as executive producer.... more
A People Uncounted
Canada , 2011 , 99 min. Aaron Yeger’s heart-wrenching documentary chronicles the genocide of the Roma people, also known as Gypsies, during the Holocaust. Although an estimated 500,000 Roma perished, their story is rarely told; A People Uncounted aims to change all that by highlighting Roma music, art, and poetry... more
The Price of Sex
USA , 2011 , 73 min. Emmy-nominated photojournalist Mimi Chakarova goes undercover to document the trafficking of Eastern European women after the fall of Communism. Poverty makes them targets; forced into prostitution, the women endure harrowing experiences in a network that reaches far beyond their squalid hometowns.... more
Protect The Nation
Germany , 2010 , 16 min. Against the backdrop of xenophobic attacks in his neighborhood, a young boy wrestles with the distinction between right and wrong.... more
The Sacred Science
USA , 2011 , 77 min. Documentarians Nick Polizzi and Dan Bailey accompany eight people suffering from cancer, depression, diabetes, and other ailments to the Amazonian rain forest, where shamans employ centuries-old traditions of medicinal and spiritual healing—traditions under modernist siege—to help them get well.... more
Safe & Sound
United Kingdom , 2011 , 27 min. Aman works as a janitor in a luxurious residential building in Iran. When it's time for him to get married back in his village, he decides to borrow a security guard's uniform to impress his fiancé’s family.... more
Santiago from the Other Side
Mexico , 2011 , 11 min. Sometimes life has a surprise in store—sometimes two! Lucia is pregnant and wants to find the right moment to tell her longtime boyfriend Santiago. A party seems the ideal moment... more
Solar Eclipse
Czech Republic , 2011 , 81 min. Martin Maracek's documentary charts the absurdist collision of European goodwill and Third World improvisation as a pair of frustrated electricians from the Czech Republic try to repair the damage done by locals to a solar-panel system they’d installed a few years earlier in a remote village... more
Stick
Netherlands , 2010 , 11 min. Len is on the playground when he meets a classmate who offers to introduce him to the mysteries of the fairer sex. There’s only one condition: Len must learn what to do with a stick.... more
The Tailor
USA , 2011 , 6 min. Set on the streets of Brooklyn, The Tailor is a multicultural mash-up involving two Talmudic students, a pair of Catholic nuns, and a brand-new suit.... more
Tales of the Waria
USA , 2010 , 56 min. Chinese-American documentarian Kathy Huang takes a fascinating look at Indonesia's waria—men living as women—that plays havoc with the usual Western notions of Muslim intolerance and gender identity. In the city of Makassar, at least, the waria are clearly accepted as equals... more
Tasnim
Israel , 2011 , 12 min. Tasnim, a strong and opinionated 10-year-old, lives with her mother and siblings in a neglected Bedouin village. A surprise visit from her father forces her, for the first time in her life, to confront the conservative norms of the family tribe and the fact that she is no longer daddy's little girl.... more
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
USA , 2001 , 104 min. On April 3, 2002, The Starz FilmCenter opened its doors for the first time as the year-round home of the Denver Film Society with the film Thirteen Conversations About One Thing.... more
Tyrannosaur
United Kingdom , 2010 , 93 min. In actor Paddy Considine’s impressive filmmaking debut, an angry widower tangles with a vulnerable Christian woman, who meets his violent outbursts with compassion. Stellar performances anchor this gritty, character-driven drama.... more
Vending For Change
USA , 2011 , 13 min. In Denver, there are sign-flying homeless people on most street corners downtown. Weaving through them is a different group of homeless people who stand proud with newspapers and ask, “Dollar donation for the... more
We Shall Not Be Moved: The Nashville Sit-Ins
USA , 2011 , 10 min. In 1960 a group of courageous college students took part in an event that would become one of the most important moments in the Civil Rights Movement.... more
Where Soldiers Come From
USA , 2011 , 91 min. Documentarian Heather Courtney spent four years chronicling the fortunes of three young Army National Guardsmen from Michigan—and two of their worried families—as the bewildered boys move from high school to the terrors of combat in Afghanistan and back home again.... more
Wild Horses & Renegades
USA , 2011 , 80 min. In this provocative documentary, director James Anaquad Kleinert examines the corporate interests at stake in the regularly scheduled round-ups of supposedly protected wild horses that roam states like Colorado. The capture and subsequent destruction of these creatures could mean the end for an icon... more

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