カテゴリー: Documentary films
Documentary expertly follows the only woman to have climbed the mountain 10 times through spectacular scenery and a traumatic personal lifeThis portrait of title subject Lhakpa Sherpa, the only woman to have summited Mount Everest 10 times, is so dense…
Two assessors ask questions but it’s the detail and nuance that is so compelling in this gently absorbing documentaryIn Bhutan, they measure progress not just by GDP, but also Gross National Happiness. This quiet, gently absorbing documentary follows t…
Shot over 15 years between Denmark and Pakistan, the film-maker captures day-to-day life in Karachi, and explores how freedom and human rights are not doled out equallyShot over the course of 15 years, Anita Mathal Hopland’s documentary provides a cine…
Flickering Lights review – how the arrival of electricity heralded peace in a turbulent Indian state
Years in the making, this documentary shows preparations for the arrival of mains power in a village in Nagaland as part of a deal with the Indian governmentWith great patience over a period of years, Indian film-makers Anirban Dutta and Anupama Sriniv…
Documentary reveals the cost to Nepalese villagers of harvesting a supposed aphrodisiac that sells for more than gold in ChinaEvery year, thousands of Nepalese villagers make their way to the Himalayan foothills in search of a fungus called yarsagumba….
Exploring the whistling traditions of the Hmong people of northern Laos, whose language straddles the boundary between music and speech, this film witnesses a collision of ancient tradition with modern urban life. With urbanisation and the advent of mo…
Documentary traces a 21st-century American evangelical’s reckless efforts to convert an isolated tribe, and his fatal encounter with themOne of the most isolated Indigenous people on Earth, the Sentinelese of India’s North Sentinel Island remain a myst…
The story of girl’s refusal to be shamed by her gang-rape and a father’s fight for justice, defying a village’s hostility and the dead weight of patriarchy, is told in Nisha Pahuja’s film To Kill a TigerWhen his 13-year-old daughter stumbled home six y…
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is revered as a founder of modern India and for his work fighting the caste system. A new documentary looks at his lasting popularityThere may only be a few people outside the subcontinent who have heard of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar…
It’s no surprise that Ibrahim Nash’at’s documentary lacks in-depth interviews – his subjects barely tolerate his presence as he reveals the fighters’ lack of purpose after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan The spoils of war are a chore in this fascina…
Anam Abbas’s documentary records the preparations for and dangerous execution of a countrywide rally against patriarchal violenceChronicling the weeks leading up to – and the day of – the 2020 edition of the “aurat march”, a multi-city women’s demonstr…
This documentary about women who make an epic annual trek across a rocky mountain pass draws an intriguing contrast between the vast landscapes and intimate family dynamicsBaato – “the path” in Nepali – is the extraordinary journey taken annually by vi…
Documentary follows Somi and her husband, who are struggling to live an ordinary life after their past as Naxalite guerrillasIf it’s the function of a documentary to open a window on the world – a part of the world that isn’t revealed by the nightly TV…
News anchor Kumar stays quietly courageous amid nationalist hysteria in Vinay Shukla’s tense documentary – but its final note of hope has been undermined by recent eventsEvents have overtaken this sombre documentary, which, though interesting and relev…
The eminent journalist’s fearless reporting on India under Narendra Modi cost him his job and freedom. Now broadcasting to millions on YouTube, he is the subject of a new documentaryRavish Kumar was born near the same Indian city – Motihari in Bihar – …