GENRE: Political

A bracing examination of the U.S.’s longstanding racially and politically biased justice system, this powerful documentary bears witness to the lifelong efforts of Michael Africa, Jr. to secure the freedom of his parents, members of 1970s Black Liberation group MOVE, who were incarcerated for four decades.

After idealistic law student Luisa is convinced by her best friend to move into an Antifa commune in Berlin, she falls under the sway of charismatic radical Alfa and is soon surprised by the changing nature of her own convictions. This urgent drama details the many faces of activism and dissects the nature of justice in the face of extremism.

A group of four men in modern-day Iran plot to burn down a movie theater, an act that replicates a historical tragedy that occurred 40 years prior, as society was teetering on revolution. The cinema in their crosshairs is premiering a film about an unexploded missile—a crowd gathers outside the theater in anticipation. Past and [...]

In this richly drawn portrait of real-life Czech faith healer Jan Mikolášek, who cured hundreds with natural remedies only to later be prosecuted for charlatanism, master filmmaker Agnieszka Holland shines a light on a singular, extraordinary figure and reveals the complexity of—and human susceptibility to—the political machinations of one’s times.

This epic docuseries from Hoop Dreams director Steve James captures Chicago at a crossroads, still reeling from the shooting of Laquan McDonald and in the midst of the contentious 2019 mayoral election. From protests to penthouses, James chronicles the divisions that separate and the issues that unite our city.

In this one-of-a-kind concert film, Oscar-winning director Spike Lee brings the Talking Heads frontman’s critically acclaimed Broadway show to vivid life. Recorded during its recent run in New York City, the production sees Byrne joined by an ensemble of 11 musicians, singers, and dancers from around the globe—including Chicago bassist Bobby Wooten III and Milwaukee [...]

In 1962, when a strike at a local factory catches ardent Communist Party official Lyudmila and her colleagues off guard, Moscow steps in. Left searching for her missing daughter, who joined the strike, Lyudmilla’s eyes are opened to the human toll of state-sanctioned violence. Filmed in arresting black and white, this historic tale bristles with immediacy.

In 2017, Chinese student Yingying Zhang went missing just weeks after arriving at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Filmmaker Jiayan “Jenny” Shi investigates the mystery surrounding Yingying’s disappearance and its devastating impact on her family and her community.

An intimate and candid portrait of a savvy, indefatigable teen, this captivating documentary tracks climate activist Greta Thunberg for 13 momentous months from her initial school strike for climate justice outside the Swedish Parliament to her astonishing wind-powered voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. A Hulu Original Documentary.

It should come as no surprise that the FBI mounted a relentless campaign of surveillance and harassment of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but this astonishing documentary reveals both the shocking details of the operation and the complexity of the iconic man in its crosshairs. Using newly declassified files, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Pollard (Chicago International [...]

Silver Lion, Venice Film Festival Imagine the French Revolution transposed on contemporary Mexico City in the hands of provocative Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco (Daniel and Ana, After Lucia, Chronic). The result: a riveting and prescient dystopian drama that serves as a disquieting cautionary tale for a society marked by extreme class divisions. Just beyond the [...]

A young man is sent to "La Maca,” a prison in the middle of the Ivorian forest ruled by its inmates. As tradition goes with the rising of the red moon, he is designated by the Boss to be the new “Roman” and must tell a story to the other prisoners. Learning what fate awaits [...]

From the Oscar-nominated director of Fire at Sea, this lyrical tour-de-force captures the peoples and places ravaged along the borders between Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, and Lebanon. The mournful dirges of mothers, plaintive patients enacting a play in a psychiatric hospital, the grace of female Peshmerga warriors, a lone boatman navigating waters against the backdrop of [...]

This riveting exposé investigates the unlikely connection between Jews and evangelical Christians in the U.S. and Israel, uncovering a shocking alliance rooted in apocalyptic prophecy and driven in unprecedented ways by Donald Trump’s White House.