Sundance ’15 Preview | Int’l Docs

Sembene!

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Sembene!
SEMBENE!

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

The Amina Profile/Canada (Director: Sophie Deraspe) — During the Arab revolution, a love story between two women — a Canadian and a Syrian-American — turns into an international sociopolitical thriller spotlighting media excesses and the thin line between truth and falsehood on the Internet.

Censored Voices/Israel, Germany (Director: Mor Loushy) — One week after the 1967 Six-Day War, the author Amos Oz and the editor Avraham Shapira recorded intimate conversations with soldiers returning from battle. The Israeli Army censored the recordings, allowing only a fragment of the conversations to be published. “Censored Voices” reveals these recordings for the first time.

The Chinese Mayor/China (Director: Hao Zhou) — Mayor Geng Yanbo is determined to transform the coal-mining center of Datong, in the Shanxi province of China, into a tourism haven showcasing clean energy. But to achieve that he has to relocate 500,000 residences to make way for the restoration of the ancient city.

Chuck Norris vs Communism/United Kingdom, Romania, Germany (Director: Ilinca Calugareanu) — In 1980s Romania, thousands of Western films smashed through the Iron Curtain, opening a window to the free world for those who dared to look. A black market VHS racketeer and courageous female translator brought the magic of film to the masses and sowed the seeds of a revolution.

Dark Horse/United Kingdom (Director: Louise Osmond) — “Dark Horse” is the inspirational true story of a group of friends from a workingman’s club who decide to take on the elite “sport of kings” and breed themselves a racehorse.

Dreamcatcher/United Kingdom (Director: Kim Longinotto) — “Dreamcatcher” reveals a hidden world seen through the eyes of one of its survivors, Brenda Myers-Powell. A former teenage prostitute, Brenda defied the odds to become a powerful advocate for change in her community. With warmth and humor, she gives hope to those who have none.

SEE ALSO: DRAMAS | DOCS | INT’L DRAMAS | NEXT | GALLERY

How to Change the World/United Kingdom, Canada (Director: Jerry Rothwell) — In 1971, a group of friends sailed into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captured the world’s imagination. Using rare, archival footage that brings their extraordinary world to life, “How to Change the World” is the story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green movement.

Listen to Me Marlon/United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Stevan Riley, co-writer: Peter Ettedgui) — With exclusive access to previously unheard audio archives, this is the definitive Marlon Brando cinema documentary. Charting Brando’s exceptional career and extraordinary life away from the stage and screen, the film fully explores the complexities of the man by telling the story in the subject’s own voice.

Pervert Park/Sweden, Denmark (Directors: Frida Barkfors, Lasse Barkfors) — Pervert Park follows the everyday lives of sex offenders in a Florida trailer park as they struggle to reintegrate into society and try to understand who they are and how to break the cycle of sex crimes being committed.

The Russian Woodpecker/United Kingdom (Director: Chad Gracia) — A Ukrainian victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster discovers a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life by revealing it, amid growing clouds of revolution and war.

Sembene!/U.S.A., Senegal (Directors: Samba Gadjigo, Jason Silverman) — In 1952, Ousmane Sembene, a Senegalese dockworker and fifth-grade dropout, began dreaming an impossible dream: to become the storyteller for a new Africa. This true story celebrates how the “father of African cinema,” against enormous odds, fought a monumental, 50-year battle to give Africans a voice.

The Visit/Denmark, Austria, Ireland, Finland, Norway (Director: Michael Madsen) — “This film documents an event that has never taken place.” With unprecedented access to the United Nations’ Office for Outer Space Affairs, leading space scientists and space agencies, “The Visit” explores humans’ first encounter with alien intelligent life and thereby humanity itself.