Perhaps one of the festival’s least popular sections, among the twelve selected titles in 2010’s Sundance World Cinema Documentary Competition, we have seven world premieres including Jose Padiha’s latest and the U.S premiere of Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home – winner of the 22nd International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Word to publicists: please keep some screeners handy. Here are the selections:
“Enemies of the People” (Cambodia-U.K.) – Directed by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, which recounts the shocking revelations that ensue when a young journalist whose family was killed by the Khmer Rouge befriends the perpetrators of the Killing Fields genocide. World premiere.
“A Film Unfinished” (Germany-Israel) – Directed by Yael Hersonski, in which film found in Nazi archives reveals the means used to stage Warsaw ghetto life. World premiere.
“Fix Me” (France-Palestinian Territories-Switzerland) – Directed by Raed Andoni, in which Andoni seeks different forms of help for a relentless headache in his hometown of Ramallah. International premiere.
“His and Hers” (Ireland) – Directed by Ken Wardrop, in which 70 Irish women offer insights into the relationships between women and men. World premiere.
“Kick in Iran” (Germany) – Directed by Fatima Geza Abdollahyan, about the struggles of the first female Taekwondo fighter from Iran to qualify for the Olympic Games. World premiere.
“Last Train Home” (Canada) – Directed by Fan Lixin, which focuses on the ordeals of a Chinese migrant worker who, along with many others, tries to reunite with a distant family. U.S. premiere.
“The Red Chapel” (Denmark) – Directed by Mads Bruegger, about a journalist without scruples, a self-proclaimed spastic and a comedian travel to North Korea under the guise of a cultural exchange visit to challenge the totalitarian regime. U.S. premiere.
“Russian Lessons” (Georgia-Germany-Norway) – Directed by Olga Konskaya and Andrei Nekrasov, which looks into ethnic cleansing in Georgia revealed by an investigation of Russian actions during the 2008 war. World premiere.
“Secrets of the Tribe” (Brazil) – Directed by Jose Padiha, which examines the scandal and infighting within the academic anthropology community regarding the representation and exploitation of indigenous Indian in the Amazon Basin. World premiere.
“Sins of My Father” (Argentina-Colombia) – Directed by Nicolas Entel, which delves into the life and times of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar through the eyes of his son, who fled Colombia to lead his own life. North American premiere.
“Space Tourists” (Switzerland) – Directed by Christian Frei, a humorous look at billionaires who pay large sums to travel into outer space for fun. North American premiere.
“Waste Land” (U.K.) – Directed by Lucy Walker, which reveals how lives are transformed when international artist Vik Muniz collaborates with garbage picker in the world’s largest landfill in Rio de Janeiro. World premiere.