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Last year at the start of the pandemic, discrimination against African immigrants in the Chinese city of Guangzhou hit the international news circuit. A McDonalds branch refused to serve Black people in the city, there were reports of Black students being evicted from their accommodations, and there were reports of a Nigerian man attacking a Chinese nurse. It’s within this context that The Endless Cycle is set, featuring a Ghanaian immigrant in Guangzhou. The opening scene addresses the tension straight away with the protagonist watching the Chinese news report on the Nigerian man that attacked a Chinese nurse.
The Endless Cycle feels like a documentary in the way that we follow the main character’s everyday life. It features the monotonous tasks in his routine, such as cycling from place to place, Face-Timing friends and relatives, and working at the office. There’s not much dialogue either to make it feel more like a drama. In his routine, we get a glimpse into life in COVID era China where temperature checks and QR code tracking are just part of the new paradigm. It looks more normal than quarantine life elsewhere in the world, making it interesting to see for the American viewer.
However, the documentary style is a bit misleading as there are some scenes which are obviously dramatized, such as the scenes between the main character and his boss’ kid at work. The dialogue in these scenes feels more forced and unnatural. The most obvious example of this is the Taxi Driver scene which ends in him fighting a taxi driver in the road. What is probably meant to highlight the prejudice against Black people in China (with the taxi driver’s avoiding him) ends up supporting ignorant stereotypes of Black male aggression and thereby ruining the otherwise interesting portrayal of the Black experience in China. It also damages the credibility of other scenes that we may have otherwise trusted. Because of the obvious dramatization in certain scenes, it feels like this is probably more of a Chinese perspective of the Black experience in China.
Therefore if you’re looking for a film which shows a Chinese perspective of the Black experience in China, The Endless Cycle is worth a watch. However, if you’re looking for a movie about the Black experience in China told by a Black person, The African Who Wanted to Fly might be the closest you can get.
Shaina (Shine) is a teenager who has a knack for making something out of nothing and could have a promising future as an engineer, except for the fact that she doesn’t believe in herself. When she and her best friends are faced with a host of grown-up problems – loss of loved ones, unpaid exam fees and the curse of “blessers” – they come close to giving up. Their story is one of forgiveness and friendship, of creating a new family from the people who love you, and of the very real girl power.
Once you see Shaina you’ll realize that this blurb is sugar coated. Her “grown-up problems” are a list of the very worst things that could happen to a kid: losing your only guardian, being unable to afford education, and stalkers that groom you. Based on what happens, this could be one of the most depressing films of recent times, in the same field as Capernaum, but it chooses not to be. Despite the awful conditions, Shaina is filled with vibrant colors, positive music, and dancing. It’s unrealistic hopefulness is present from the opening scene in which Shine digs for scraps in the local junkyard whilst uplifting music plays in the background. Even though it feels overly optimistic considering the circumstances, the hopeful portrayal of Shine and her friends is needed to prevent this from becoming poverty porn.
However, the credibility of the film isn’t helped by the clichéd characters. One friend resorts to prostitution to help get by, another friend is pregnant, and there’s a dodgy crime lord. It’s also not helped by what feels like an overwritten script which verbalized everything in the dialogue, leaving little to be said by the images.
Another thing that felt too obvious was the film’s love for capitalism. It’s presented as the obvious answer to Shine’s problems despite all the awful things that she has to deal with. It conveys that it’s no big deal that she has to raise money to pay for her school exams now that her family has died and people have stolen what was left for her education, because she can just become an ‘entrepreneur’ and make enough money by selling eggs after school. The movie chooses to use Shine’s inventiveness as a wonderful way out of poverty instead of examining why she has to make money to pay for her education after she’s left an orphan in the first place. Perhaps this isn’t surprising given that this is a film made with U.S. Aid. However, the focus on the American dream just feels like a hopeful distraction from Shine’s reality.
In 2013, the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court stripped the citizenship of anyone with Haitian parents, retroactive to 1929. The ruling rendered more than 200,000 people stateless, without nationality, identity or a homeland. Stateless follows Rosa Iris, an attorney with family who have been exiled by the country’s recent laws, as she mounts a grassroots electoral campaign to advocate for social justice. But it also follows her antithesis, Gladys Felix, an outspoken supporter of the nationalist movement, fighting for for stricter immigration control.
Like Softie, Stateless is an observational documentary that captures an activist from outside of the system fighting against corruption. Through Rosa’s story we’re exposed to the emotional trauma of the country’s recent anti-immigration policies. Simply put, they’re racist, and this is obvious right from the opening scene in which Rosa is representing a client in a government office. Her client is applying for an updated citizenship card but is being denied by the officer because “he doesn’t speak clear Spanish”. This is not an isolated incident. Rosa’s activism is also justified by her personal stakes. She has the same Haitian lineage as the people she’s representing that the country is persecuting. So she runs for government to represent people like her exiled because of their race.
However, unlike Softie, which focuses solely on Boniface’s family life and his campaign for government, Stateless also documents the other side of the fight against racism by following Gladys Felix, a member of the country’s anti-immigrant nationalist movement. We follow her as she spews racist rhetoric about the nature of Haitian immigrants and gaslights the experiences of Haitians she meets at a government built camp for sugar cane workers near the border. Whilst it feels odd to have their stories running alongside each other, it makes Stateless stand out. It allows us to see how present the threat is – not just to Rosa and her cousin Teofilo, but to all Haitian immigrants and Black Dominicans. Gladys adds a face (and very present reality) to the sometimes invisible state sanctioned racism of the Dominican Republic. She gives the audience something visual to root against.
If you’re looking for a documentary that examines racism in the Dominican Republic’s past and present through two women campaigning at either end of the political spectrum, this is the film you’re looking for.
Boniface “Softie” Mwangi was drawn to political activism during his time photographing the post election violence in 2007. Now, he’s running for office in a regional Kenyan election. To succeed, he has to radically change a democracy tainted by corruption, violence, and mistrust. This documentary follows his journey as he campaigns to reform Kenyan politics whilst struggling to hold his family together.
Unlike other political documentaries like Knock Down the House and The Great Hack where Western viewers might have a bit of familiarity with the focus (the Democratic “Blue Wave” of the 2018 House elections and the Cambridge Analytica controversy respectively), Softie’s story is unknown. Western media rarely covers the political protests and uprisings in Africa – especially sub-Saharan Africa where pro-U.S. dictators reside. Therefore, Softie has to do a bit more than these other films to get you up to speed with Kenyan politics. Luckily Boniface’s life is a kind of awakening to the national political situation, so this is covered within his story – his life as a photographer led him to political activism, and his political activism led him to run in the elections. The filmmakers concisely fill in the gaps – British colonialism creating a nation governed by tribalism – to flesh out a more complete picture.
The majority of Softie takes place during his campaign for office. It documents a lot of the day to day tasks of campaigning much like Kazuhiro Soda’s Campaign – from handing out flyers and greeting locals to securing funds to keep it going. However it’s not quite as focused on just the campaign, as we also follow Boniface’s wife (Njeri) and children on a personal level as they bounce between Kenya and the U.S. to escape death threats. It feels like we have almost unrestricted access to both Boniface and Njeri’s personal lives. Boniface first tells Njeri of his goal to run for office on camera (her reaction gives that away) and we’re often closer to Njeri and their children in the U.S. than Boniface is in Kenya making it feel like we know their emotions better than their other halves. It almost feels like we’re the relationship mediator between them at times. This personal, emotional layer emphasizes the challenges of trying to build a family whilst focused on your career, allowing us to empathize with them much more.
The other negative plus that Softie has on the U.S. political documentaries is that the political situation in Kenya is more immediately dangerous than those in Knock Down the House and The Great Hack. Boniface’s life always feels in danger of being extinguished by his political rivals, as journalists and people linked to the voting systems are murdered whilst his story is told. The higher stakes make this film more urgent and tense. It sometimes feels like we’re watching a hagiography of someone that will be martyred.
If you’re looking for an observational documentary that follows a political activist trying to change a corrupt system by running for government and the effects this has on their family, Softie is the film for you.
Here’s a small selection of quick fire reviews of a selection of the Sundance Film Festival Shorts we caught at the 2021 virtual edition of Sundance.
Lizard (Nigeria)
An 8 year old girl with an ability to sense danger gets kicked out of Sunday School service. In her boredom, she wanders around the church complex and unwittingly uncovers the underbelly of a Mega Church in Lagos.
There are a lot of films that capture a kid’s perspective, but rarely do they make you feel like your inside the kid’s head. Lizard does just that, immersing the viewer in the curious mind of an 8 year old girl wandering a church complex in Lagos. We’re distracted by the visions in her imagination which lead us into places we shouldn’t be. However, our older minds, more than hers, can see the underbelly of the church that she doesn’t. The grainy footage helps draw the viewer in by creating the same look as home videos from the 80’s and 90’s, making it instantly feel more personal. If you’re after an immersive, magical realism infused glimpse of the hidden side of Lagos, seek out Lizard.
In the Air Tonight (U.S.A)
A ghost story, a simulation, a message unspooling from a fax machine: In the Air Tonight recreates the apocryphal narrative of the origins of Phil Collins’ anthemic ‘80s mega-hit, via the voiceover of an “artist friend” nicknamed Slipperman.
The film’s description above does a pretty good job of describing exactly what In the Air Tonight is, but only really makes sense once you’ve seen the film. It helps to have know Phil Collins’ hit, In The Air Tonight before watching this, as the director knows you’ll be waiting for the song’s crescendo. When it comes, it’s accompanied by one of the most obnoxiously over-the-top sequences I’ve ever seen. In this context, after telling a strangely curious fake story about the former pop superstar, it comes as a humongous bang of a punchline, which depending on your humor, is incredibly hilarious or incredibly stupid.
The Longest Dream I Remember (Mexico)
As Tania leaves her hometown, she must confront what her absence will mean in the search for her disappeared father.
In The Longest Dream I Remember, the feeling of the film is much more memorable than what’s going on. It captures the haunting melancholy of the search for a lost relative. Without any more clues to get closer to finding her father, the film instead tries to piece together memories to reconstruct her lost father. This way of processing comes across as more eerie than sad, as the ambiguity of his disappearance keeps them from achieving closure.
You Wouldn’t Understand (U.S.A)
An idyllic picnic for one is upended after the suspicious arrival of a stranger.
Time loop stories are fun to watch when they make sense, and luckily You Wouldn’t Understand doesn’t run for long enough to get confusing. In fact, if anything, it could run a little longer. It also contains just enough of a ‘something’s not quite right’ feeling to keep you watching.
Misery Loves Company (South Korea)
As Seolgi is lying on a grass field with friends, a shooting star falls, and dark, intrusive thoughts hit her. Her melancholy blooms into bright and colorful ‘flower people,’ dancing and wishing for a meteorite to end the world.
In just 3 minutes, Misery Loves Company animates the thoughts of a depressed high school girl wishing for an easy way to end the monotony of life. However, as depressing as it sounds, the animation is surprisingly uplifting with flower headed people celebrating the imagined end of the world to Seolgi’s singing. It reminded me a bit of the Blockhead’s ‘The Music Box’ – another colorfully animated music video with depressing undertones.
Ghost Dogs (U.S.A)
A family’s new rescue pup is terrorized by deceased pets in this odd-ball horror.
If you’re a fan of dogs and horror movies, and can appreciate a good animation, you should like Ghost Dogs. Firstly, the animation is brilliantly eerie. It looks a bit like a The Simpsons Halloween special gone awry with the dogs looking a bit too human and the house a bit too off balance and vibrantly colored. However, the tension built off the uncanniness is offset by a few moments which play off the horror genre nicely – what seems scary to us isn’t necessarily scary for our rescue pup.
Five Tiger (South Africa)
Set in present day South Africa, Five Tiger tells the story of Fiona, a god-fearing woman, who finds herself in a transactional relationship with the leader of her church as she tries to support her daughter and her sick husband.
Like Lizard, Five Tiger depicts the questionable side to Christianity in Africa. Fiona is stuck in a loop of exploitation she’s unwilling to escape, symbolized in a 50 Rand bill – which equates to roughly $3 – as it transfers hands between her and the church. Five Tiger’s story is shot well, and told concisely, with just enough subtlety in it’s portrayal of Fiona’s situation to keep the viewer feeling clever for understanding what’s going on.
Excuse Me Miss, Miss, Miss (Philippines)
Vangie, a miserable contractual sales lady, is about to lose her job. But in her desperate attempt to persuade her boss not to sack her, Vangie uncovers the ultimate secret to keeping it.
Excuse Me Miss, Miss, Miss carries a light humor that felt very similar to last year’s Filipino festival hit, Death of Nintendo. There’s bright colors, characters you can laugh at, and creepy supernatural events. However, instead of teenage boys, this short follows a young woman working at an empty mall. If you can handle a bit of silly humor, and are intrigued by the supernatural twist, give this one a shot.
The Fourfold (Canada)
Based on the ancient animistic beliefs and shamanic rituals in Mongolia and Siberia, The Fourfold is an exploration of the indigenous worldview and wisdom. Against the backdrop of the modern existential crisis and the human-induced rapid environmental change, there is a necessity to reclaim the ideas of animism for planetary health and non-human materialities.
The animation of The Fourfold reminded me of the arts and crafts classes from primary school; it feels very home-made. In this sense, animating leaves, textiles, and other materials feels like a perfect fit for the narrative of animistic spirituality. However, the visuals don’t compensate for the lack of a tangible narrative to follow in the voice-over, leaving the film feeling a bit too ethereal.
For more from films outside of the Sundance Film Festival shorts head to our Sundance 2021 page.
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