125+ films about nonviolence
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127 titles
- DirectorJehane NoujaimStarsAhmed HassanKhalid AbdallaMagdy AshourA group of Egyptian revolutionaries battle leaders and regimes, risking their lives to build a new society of conscience.
- DirectorRoman BondarchukKateryna GornostaiYuliia HontarukIn autumn of 2013, the Ukrainian government suspended meetings regarding accession to the EU. This prompted a period of civil unrest culminating in the resignation of pro-Russian president Yanukovych and open conflict in the eastern part of the country. A group of filmmakers began recording these developments in their country from up close; their collective documentary presents a mosaic of suggestive images and personal stories organized into chapters according to theme and the filmmaker's approach. The "Rough Cut" in the film's title is not an indication of the incompleteness of the work but rather a metaphorical description of the situation in which the Ukrainian state currently exists.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsAugust DiehlValerie PachnerMaria SimonThe Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II.
- DirectorAaron AitesAudrey EwellNina KrsticStarsMatt TaibbiNaomi WolfBoots RileyA compelling portrait of the Occupy Wall Street movement. From personal stories to analysis of the big picture issues, supporters, participants and critics shed light on why and how this movement took off with such explosive force, and what it means. Made in a unique and unprecedented collaboration of 99 filmmakers across the country, the production process of this feature film offers a uniquely diverse way of bringing meaning and context to the movement that has swept up America, and much of the world, with its story.
- DirectorVlad PetriVlad Petri followed the Romanian protesters who occupied the streets of Bucharest in 2012. A poignant documentary about people who are devastated and impulsive, lost and encouraged, all at once. And about a revolution that becomes a tragic absurdity.
- DirectorMichael TobiasStarsThe Dalai LamaThe first film to chronicle the world of Jainism, a vegetarian, non-violent ancient religion of India.
- DirectorDeborah MayStarsLetta MbuluFlorence MkizeThoko NtshingaThe documentary, You Have Struck a Rock describes the history of non-violent resistance by black South African women to the use of reference books or passes issued by the South African apartheid government. The pass was traditionally employed by the government to restrict and control the whereabouts of black South African men, who were forced to work away from their families for months or even years. In 1948, the Nationalist government came to power and began to introduce passes for black women. The role of the pass in the lives of black women differed from the role it played in the lives of black men. For a number of reasons concerning issues of bread-and-butter, women were forced to take political action, which was largely unified and strong for many years.
- DirectorMyron DeweyJosh FoxJames SpioneStarsAutumn DePoe-HughesThe Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota captures world attention through their peaceful resistance against the U.S. government's plan to construct an oil pipeline through their land.
- DirectorElena KhorevaDenis KlebleevDmitriy KubasovStarsMatvei KrylovOlga RomanovaBoris NemtsovTen young directors did not part from their cameras for two months. The result was a chronicle of Russia's winter protests.
- DirectorChristian RouaudStarsLéon MailléPierre BurguièreChristiane BurguièreSeated in his office in Paris, one day of October 1971, Michel Debré, minister of the Defence declares: We choose the Larzac as it is a deprived land. With no prior dialogue, his decision to extend the military camp of the Larzac is made. The first reaction of the peasants is radical: "If they want our farms and lands, we'll leave them dead and we won't be the only dead around" He sets an unanimous wave of protestations and resistances; the beginning of an amazing struggle, that will last for ten years until the elections for Presidency of May 1981
- DirectorJulia BachaFollows a Palestinian leader who unites Fatah, Hamas and Israelis in an unarmed movement to save his village from destruction. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter jumps into the fray.
- DirectorJed RothsteinStarsSherine AmrGameela IsmailAyman NourIn 2008, we travel to Egypt to tell the story of heavy metal in a conservative Muslim country. We meet the kids in Cairo's tight knit underground music scene who are the film's main characters, including the sons of the country's foremost political dissidents and the Muslim World's first all-female metal band. Living under an oppressive regime, they're denied the basic right to free expression, and risk arrest just for playing their music... Then halfway through our story, a revolution begins, casting them, and us, into the unknown, opening new horizons, and presenting our main characters with a new set of life changing dilemmas.
- DirectorChie MikamiStarsChie Mikami
- DirectorBen MosesStarsAlfred MolinaCourageous democracy activists in five countries (Egypt, Malaysia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zimbabwe) risk it all to bring freedom to their people.
- DirectorDieter RuchtThe documentary portraits the work of four full-time political activists dealing with issues of nuclear energy, genetically modified food, and regulation of the finance industry.
- DirectorSteve KoketteStarsNicole StewardD.W. WanbergOne Punch Homicide aims to reduce violence, reduce crime, reduce murders, and perhaps become the most watched film ever because adults worldwide will want teens to see it. It will force parents and educators to teach kids to NEVER hit someone first because of the consequences it could have for your victim, yourself, and the loved ones of both. It is about those who killed and those who were killed with one punch, and their loved ones. Much of it interviews five inmates in five states who killed someone with one punch. It examines about 40 incidents in the U.S., Canada, and Australia where someone was killed with one punch, and only one punch.
- DirectorSteve JamesStarsTio HardimanAmeena MatthewsToya BateyA year in the life of a city grappling with urban violence.
- DirectorRuaridh ArrowStarsRobert HelveyJamila RaqibGene SharpHOW TO START A REVOLUTION is the remarkable untold story of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gene Sharp, the world's leading expert on non-violent revolution. This new film (from first time director Ruaridh Arrow) reveals how Gene's work has given a new generation of revolutionary leaders the weapons needed to overthrow dictators. It shows how his 198 steps to non-violent regime change have inspired uprisings from Serbia to Ukraine and from Egypt to Syria and how his work has spread across the globe in an unstoppable wave of profound democratic change. How To Start A Revolution is the story of the power of people to change their world, the modern revolution and the man behind it all.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsMichael FassbenderLiam CunninghamStuart GrahamIrish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
- DirectorAnders ØstergaardStarsGeorge W. BushJoshua Min HtutKo MuangUsing smuggled footage, this documentary tells the story of the 2007 protests in Burma by thousands of monks.
- DirectorNissim MossekCitizen Nawi documents the tumultuous life of one of the most fascinating men in the Israeli left - Ezra Nawi - a plumber by trade and a political activist who fights for Palestinians' rights. Simultaneously, Nawi engages in a personal battle for his partner Fuad, a Palestinian from Ramallah and an illegal resident chased by law enforcement officials. Tracking the two intertwined parts of Nawi's life, the film uncovers a deep seated racism and homophobia that is common everywhere.
- DirectorStuart TownsendStarsAndré 3000Jennifer CarpenterIsaach De BankoléActivists arrive in Seattle, Washington en masse to protest a meeting of the World Trade Organization. Riots and chaos ensue as demonstrators successfully stop the WTO meetings.
- DirectorYuri GruzinovCristian JereghiKostiantyn KliatskinTwelve young filmmakers made this the guiding principle of the featured documentary film. They mingle amongst the demonstrators on Independence Square and in the Donetsk region, shooting a "Chronicle of Civil Protest", a kaleidoscope of voices, opinions and events which bears witness to the circumstances surrounding solidarity and struggle. The viewer observes the Ukrainians at first hand, experiencing how a hard-pressed society becomes more militant and slides ever deeper into the abyss of civil war.
- DirectorPavel KostomarovAleksey PivovarovAleksandr RastorguevStarsKseniya SobchakIlya YashinAlexei NavalnyThe film is a view from the inside on how it is to be in opposition in Russia of Putin. Attempts, mistakes, political tricks, seen through the eyes of the opposition leaders.
- DirectorJames TustyMaureen Castle TustyStarsHeiki AhonenGustav ErnesaksLinda HuntMost people don't think about singing when they think about revolutions. But song was the weapon of choice when, between 1986 and 1991, Estonians sought to free themselves from decades of Soviet occupation. During those years, hundreds of thousands gathered in public to sing forbidden patriotic songs and to rally for independence. "The young people, without any political party, and without any politicians, just came together ... not only tens of thousands but hundreds of thousands ... to gather and to sing and to give this nation a new spirit," remarks Mart Laar, a Singing Revolution leader featured in the film and the first post-Soviet Prime Minister of Estonia. "This was the idea of the Singing Revolution." James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty's "The Singing Revolution" tells the moving story of how the Estonian people peacefully regained their freedom--and helped topple an empire along the way.