Behind the Burning Cross: Racism USA

There's Something in the Water

2019

Elliot Page brings attention to the injustices and injuries caused by environmental racism in his home province, in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to protect their communities, their land, and their futures.

Beard, Hair & Stache

2016

Afonsinho, Paulo Cézar Caju and Nei Conceição started their careers in the mid-1960s, a time of strong political repression in Brazil. Originally teammates of a celebrated generation of the Botafogo football team superstars, they did not give up their freedom when the military dictatorship decided to take control of the field.

Race War

2018

The explosive documentary from Black Channel Films daring to ask the question "Is it still just racism or is it a race war?" NOW IS THE TIME TO ASK IS IT STILL JUST "RACISM" OR IS IT A RACE WAR? RACE WAR IS THE FIRST DOCUMENTARY IN HISTORY THAT EXAMINES EVERY LEVEL OF AMERICAN SOCIETY TO EXPLORE THE MOST EXPLOSIVE ISSUE FACING AMERICA ALL OF OUR YESTERDAYS . . . AND TOMORROW.

La Tragédie des Brigades Internationales

2016

Myanmar: The Rebel Army

2024

After the coup d'état on 1 February 2021, which brought the ten-year transition to democracy in Myanmar to an abrupt end, thousands of young urbanites, both men and women, gave up their lives to join the resistance against the junta.

I Beg You to Like Me

2022

“I Beg You To Like Me”, serves as a testimony of individuals who felt oppressed about their body image for not meeting the standard beauty criteria, and demonstrates how a reckless language based on others’ physical appearance could turn violent. It aims to achieve much more than simply stating the obvious, which is that we are not obligated to submit to the ideal beauty standards dictated by the media, consumerism and the beauty industry. The intimate stories about one’s own body image as told by women, men, disabled people and LGBT individuals make it apparent that any one of us could end up being a victim and a perpetrator at the same time. What if, this iconic body image is nothing but an unobtainable fallacy? “Is it not yet the time to openly discuss the conventional perception of beauty, and step up onto the catwalk in our actual likeness?

The Drunkmen’s Marseillaise

2024

In the summer of 1961, a group of young Italian anthropologists made a clandestine journey through Spain, in order to record popular songs that supported anti-Franco resistance. As a result of their work, they were prosecuted and their recordings were censored. Sixty years later, and guided by Emilio Jona, aged 92, the last living member of that group of travellers, we recover the unpublished recordings and reconstruct the journey, today, across an emotional and political landscape, regaining historical memories through these songs, as relevant today as they were then.

Un racisme à peine voilé

2004

October 2003, Alma and Lila Levy are excluded from the Lycée Henri Wallon in Aubervilliers solely because they were wearing a headscarf. What follows is a deafening political and media debate, justifying in most cases the exclusion of girls wearing head-scarves to school. February 2004, a law was eventually passed by the National Assembly. "A thinly veiled racism" is about this controversy since the affair of Creil in 1989 (where two schoolgirls were excluded for the same reasons) and attempts to "reveal" that maybe what hides behind is the desire to exclude these girls. This film gives them a voice as well as others - teachers, community activists, feminists, researchers - gathered around the group "A School for You-All" fighting for the repeal of this law they consider sexist and racist ... This movie was censured in Septembre 2004 in France.

VH1 News Special: Inside Hate Rock

2002

VH1 uncovers the frightening allure and danger of skinhead rock, a key recruitment tool in the U.S. white power movement. You'll hear from the bands and their fans, and learn the remarkable story of George Burdi, a hate rock pioneer who now plays in a multicultural band in Toronto. We'll also examine the rock against racism movement, revealing a battle for the hearts and minds of young music fans.

Autodeclarado

2022

The Blinding of Isaac Woodard

2021

In 1946, Isaac Woodard, a Black army sergeant on his way home to South Carolina after serving in WWII, was pulled from a bus for arguing with the driver. The local chief of police savagely beat him, leaving him unconscious and permanently blind. The shocking incident made national headlines and, when the police chief was acquitted by an all-white jury, the blatant injustice would change the course of American history. Based on Richard Gergel’s book Unexampled Courage, the film details how the crime led to the racial awakening of President Harry Truman, who desegregated federal offices and the military two years later. The event also ultimately set the stage for the Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which finally outlawed segregation in public schools and jumpstarted the modern civil rights movement.

Open Secret

2025

This riveting documentary investigates allegations of systemic racism and child sexual abuse in the New Hanover School District.

LA 92

2017

Twenty-five years after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked several days of protests, violence and looting in Los Angeles, LA 92 immerses viewers in that tumultuous period through stunning and rarely seen archival footage.

Black Ice

2023

This incisive, urgent documentary examines the history of anti-Black racism in hockey, from the segregated leagues of the 19th century to today’s NHL, where Black athletes continue to struggle against bigotry.

Parallel Lives

2021

Born June 8, 1964, Frank Matter films four "twins", born the same day as him, but in other latitudes. Interweaving their life stories with rich archival material, the filmmaker links these Parallel Lives with elements from his own biography, to compose a fascinating fresco where intimate trajectories are part of the advent of the global village.