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Socialist films
| Title
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Year of release
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Director
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Plot
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Link to watch
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| Salt of the Earth
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1954
|
Herbert J. Biberman
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Mexican workers at a zinc mine call a general strike. It is only through the solidarity of the workers, and importantly the indomitable resolve of their wives, mothers, and daughters, that they eventually triumph. This movie was banned in the US upon release and the director blacklisted
|
Youtube
|
| Battle of Algiers
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1966
|
Gillo Pontecorvo
|
Filmed in a semi-documentary format, this film deals with the battle of Algiers (1956-57) part of the broader fight for Algerian independence (1954-62) from French colonial rule. This film was banned in France for decades.
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archive.org
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| Battleship Potemkin
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1925
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Sergei Eisenstein
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Odessa, 1905. The crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin mutiny against their uncaring, sadistic officers and take over the ship. The mutiny starts an uprising against the tsarist government among the people of Odessa. Silent film.
|
Youtube
|
| Black Girl
|
1966
|
Ousmane Sembène
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A young Senegalese maid follows her French employers as they return to their home in Antibes, in the south of France. The pleasure of discovering this new world quickly turns into deep disappointment. Isolation, contempt from her employers, pervasive racism, and endless household chores become her daily life.
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Youtube
|
| Soy Cuba
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1964
|
Mikhaïl Kalatozov
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Four vignettes about the lives of the Cuban people set during the pre-revolutionary era.
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Youtube
|
| Calcutta '71
|
1972
|
Mrinal Sen
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Four stories of people of four different generations in India, all struggling for survival in this gritty meditation on poverty, natural disaster and political strife.
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| Do Bigha Zamin
|
1953
|
Bimal Roy
|
A struggling farmer and his young son travel to Calcutta to look for work, in order to make money that’ll save their ancestral land from being seized by the landlord and sold to a corporation.
|
Youtube
|
| Strike
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1925
|
Sergei Eisenstein
|
Arranged in six parts, the film depicts a strike in 1903 by the workers of a factory in pre-revolutionary Russia and the subsequent suppression of their protests by the state.
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| Sorry to Bother you
|
2018
|
Boots Riley
|
Dark comedy that follows a young black telemarketer in Oakland who discovers a career breakthrough by adopting a convincing "white voice" on calls. The film satirizes capitalism, labor exploitation, systemic racism, and the dehumanizing effects of corporate greed, highlighting the moral compromises individuals make for personal gain.
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| Ernst Thälmann: sohn seiner klasse
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1954
|
Kurt Maetzig
|
Biography of politician and revolution Ernst Thälmann
|
Youtube
|
Anti-imperialist films
| Title
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Year of release
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Director
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Plot
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Link to watch
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Films tackling social issues
| Title
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Year of release
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Director
|
Plot
|
Link to watch
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| Bacurau
|
2019
|
Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles
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Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants notice that their village has literally vanished from online maps and a UFO-shaped drone is seen flying overhead. Soon after, a band of armed mercenaries arrive in town picking off the inhabitants one by one.
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| La Haine
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1995
|
Mathieu Kassovitz
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Vinz, Hubert and Said live in the poorer part of Paris and have to use all their street smarts to get by. After an incident in which the police assaulted a friend of theirs, tensions between police and young working-class men, such as themselves, escalate. Incensed at the potential death of his friend, Vinz is out for revenge. The film follows the next 24 hours of their lives.
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| The Circus
|
1936
|
Grigori Aleksandrov
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In the mid-1930s, circus actress Marion Dixon flees the United States with her young black son. Arriving with an original attraction in the USSR, she finds friends here and decides to stay forever.
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Youtube
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| Pratidwandi
|
1970
|
Satyajit Ray
|
Siddharta, an educated middle-class man is unable to find a job to earn a living. He is caught up in rampant corruption and unemployment of 1970s India are rampant. Unable to align himself with either his Naxalite brother or his career-oriented sister, he starts hallucinating.
|
Youtube
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Documentaries
| Title
|
Year of release
|
Director
|
Plot
|
Link to watch
|
| Red Army/PFLP: Declaration Of World War
|
1971
|
Masao Adachi, Koji Wakamatsu
|
A newsreel film depicting the everyday activities of Arab guerrillas as a cinematic narrative on the world revolution
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| Jenin, Jenin
|
2003
|
Mohammed Bakri
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A heart-rending depiction of the aftermath of Israel’s destruction of Jenin refugee camp in 2002.
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