Bettina and Frank are from Saxony, without a job and are on vacation for the first time. They go to the sunny beach, where the unemployed Bulgarians Tenscho and Radka open a boutique to earn money with the Germans.
Over 300,000 children were given food aid in the UK last year. While politicians argue about why so many kids are experiencing food poverty, we ask the children themselves to tell us why they think the cupboards are bare.
Francis has been living in his apartment for several years. However, his world quickly falls apart has he learns that he has five minutes to leave his apartment and pack his belongings.
Tony, Pol and Baby are three friends that get together to search a solution to their project for the future, at a standstill. They criticize constantly the system and the other people's precariousness, without realizing that they share the same feeling of poverty.
Between the city and the countryside, the subtle and modern forms of slavery unfold. A girl waits for the pick-up truck that will transport her to the city. Once there, amidst a never-ending row of walls and fences, she peeks into the entrance to a school. Lined up and in uniform, those girls are not the ones Carmen will join.
In China, Ben & his friend watch a ping-pong competition on a communal village TV, and Ben's dreams begin. Ping-pong is in Ben's heart, but he can't ask his mum for money to buy the balls & paddles.
"The prevailing stigmatization of the 'villero' universe is fed back by the images. In order to dismantle this stigmatization, other images must be presented or we need to reveal what the existing ones seek to cover up. The slum is usually represented from a limited and deceitful visual panorama. This representation has an intention. Cinema and television are two image-producing devices that strengthen the stereotypes that we have about the people who inhabit these spaces. And what happens in the field of painting? Do clichés reign there too? This visual essay seeks to confront various works by national painters and sculptors, belonging to the Palais collection, with the kinetic images of current cinema and television, to reflect on both the differences and the similarities in the meanings and discourses that both regimes of images can produce." César González
In a sprawling city, a man's firm belief that people are innately selfless is severely tested.
Homeless student in New York City documents her family struggles.
Colors explores the bonds of a young family living in the Bronx. They are displaced after unforeseen circumstances take the family to unexpected places. Despite the challenges they face, they find joy, hope and each other.
The Vietnamese Nghi has a bad feeling as she sees the foreign Chinese groom for the first time on the day of her daughter’s wedding. Nghi and Phuong decided that the 17 years old should get married to relieve the family of their debts. But then, the bride disappears after the ceremony and the mother faces the decision what she is ready to give for her family's happiness.
There are thousands of people working as scrap workers in Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana, and Abdallah is one of them. Like the majority, Abdallah is from the northern part of the country and behind him, there is a big family awaits support. The air pollution caused by the open burning of electronic scraps has raised Muntaka’s concern, who is trying to stop them from burning…
A short day in the life of a child living in poverty.
This film was shot in Cuba in 1994. The opportunity came when Russel Porter, an Australian documentary filmmaker, was invited to teach at the international film and television school (EICTV) located some forty kilometers from Havana. He took the opportunity to make a film about life in Cuba today. He examines how people are surviving the hardships caused initially by the "blockade" imposed by the USA over 30 years ago and increased by the more recent loss of trade with the countries of Eastern Europe. The goal was to faithfully and objectively portray the current atmosphere and character of this "little island in the Caribbean." Apart from Russel and producer Denise Patience, the film crew was Cuban: cinematographer Alejandro Perez, sound recordist Lenin de los Reyes, production manager Elaine Santos, and local liaison Alex Alday.
The story of unemployment in New Zealand and In A Land of Plenty is an exploration of just that; it takes as its starting point the consensus from The Depression onwards that Godzone economic policy should focus on achieving full employment, and explores how this was radically shifted by the 1984 Labour government. Director Alister Barry's perspective is clear, as he trains a humanist lens on ‘Rogernomics' to argue for the policy's negative effects on society, as a new poverty-stricken underclass developed.
After agreeing to work as a hitman for a dangerous mafioso, Simon faces a moral dilemma when he rescues a man, who happens to have a shocking story to tell.