I Want to Live (2015)

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4131686/

Director & Writer: Karzan Kardozi

I Want to Live is a documentary on the lives of Kurdish Refugees from Syria, living in refugee camps in Kurdistan. Shot on location, it is set against the Syrian civil war and the ISIS (Islamic State) attacks upon Kurdistan. Told through the eyes of a young boy, Shndar, living with Thalassemia disease, he searches for an immediate treatment as he ages without losing hope, leaving his home amid simmering ethnic and religious hatred to live the life of a refugee. The film tells stories of daily life on the camp and outside of it. More than being a film on the life of refugees, it is an intimate character study and gripping tale of innocent lost amides wars, a meditation on life, death, war, peace, and tolerance.

Iraq | Syria | Iran

Language: Kurdish | Persian | English

With English hardsubs

 

Swiadectwo urodzenia (1961)

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055492/

Swiadectwo urodzenia / Birth Certificate

Director: Stanislaw Rózewicz

Stars: Henryk Hryniewicz, Beata Barszczewska, Andrzej Banaszewski, Edward Mincer, Wojciech Siemion, Pawel Rózewicz, Wanda Luczycka, Malgorzata Lesniewska, Emil Karewicz

Three episodes dealing with the harsh situation of children at the time of war. They stay at orphanages, wait for their parents to come back, help the soldiers, hide in the forests and do their best to survive.

Poland

In Polish, with English subs (VobSub)

 

Central do Brasil (1998)

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140888/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Station_(film)

Central do Brasil / Central Station

Director: Walter Salles

Stars: Fernanda Montenegro, Vinícius de Oliveira, Marília Pêra, Soia Lira, Othon Bastos, Otávio Augusto, Stela Freitas, Matheus Nachtergaele, Caio Junqueira

An emotive journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

Brazil

In Portuguese, with English, Spanish, French subs (embed)

 

Trincheira (2020)

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13153954/

Director: Paulo Silver

Star: Gabriel Nunes Xavier

In a landfill, a boy observes the imposing wall of a luxury condominium. Gabriel uses his imagination to build his fantastic world.

Short

Brazil, in Portuguese, no translation needed

 

El santo oficio (1974)

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073656/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Office_(film)

El santo oficio / The Holy Inquisition / The Holy Office

Director: Arturo Ripstein

Stars: Jorge Luke, Diana Bracho, Claudio Brook, Ana Mérida, Rafael Banquells, Mario Castillón Bracho, Arturo Beristáin, Jorge Fegán, Farnesio de Bernal

The long arm of the Inquisition, or the "Holy Office," reached at least as far as 16th-century Mexico (known as New Spain at the time). Many Spanish Catholics of Moorish or Jewish origin found it expedient to flee to the New World to escape the suffocating attentions of the Inquisition. In Spain, simply being descended from these suspect peoples is sufficient to guarantee a gruesome death by immolation. In the New World, it took slightly more. This 1974 Mexican film deals with the suffering of one family of conversos who are secretly practicing Judaism and are betrayed to the Inquisition by a family member.

Mexico

Language: Spanish | Hebrew | Latin

With English subs (muxed)

 

Snake River Desperadoes (1951)

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044052/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_River_Desperadoes

Director: Fred F. Sears

Stars: Charles Starrett, Don Reynolds, Tommy Ivo, Monte Blue, Smiley Burnette

Starrett tries to prevent a range war between settlers and the Native Americans. Blue and his fellow scoundrels think they can profit from the bloodshed,but the Durango Kid along with a couple of precocious youngsters put an end to Blue's terrorism.

USA

In English

 

Fighting Back (1948)

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040354/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Back_(1948_film)

Director: Malcolm St. Clair (as Mal St. Clair)

Stars: Paul Langton, Jean Rogers, Gary Gray, Joe Sawyer, Morris Ankrum, John Kellogg, Dorothy Christy, Tommy Ivo, Lelah Tyler, Pierre Watkin, Daisy (Snuffy - a Dog)

Fighting back is the story of Nick Sanders a former GI, honorably discharged from the Army with a pardon on his former crimes. When he returns home he comes back to his wife and son, however, his former past rears its ugly head when a former acquaintance, Sam Lang, imposes on his life.

USA

In English

 

Children of Invention (2009)

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1322282/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Invention

Director & Writer: Tze Chun

Stars: Cindy Cheung, Michael Chen, Crystal Chiu, Stephen Gevedon, Frank Pando, Kieran Campion, Jackson Ning, Remmi Franklin

Two young children living illegally in a model apartment outside Boston are left to fend for themselves when their hardworking mother disappears.

USA

Language: English | Cantonese | Mandarin

With English hardsubs for non-English parts

 

Xiang ri kui (2005)

 

Xiang ri kui / 向日葵 / Sunflower

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401808/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_(2005_film)

Director: Yang Zhang

Stars: Joan Chen, Zhang Fan, Ge Gao, Bin Li, Jing Liang, Zifeng Liu, Haiying Sun, Haidi Wang, Hong Yihao

Relationship between father and son on a background of Maoist regime in China in the mid-20th century. The father, a painter by profession, interned in a labor camp for "re-education" and loses his ability to paint. he teaches his son to draw, but does so obsessively. The convoluted relationship between father and son that spread over the period of childhood, adolescence and maturity of the son are being resolved in a surprising and sensitive way.

China

In Mandarin, with English subs (embed)

 

Los gigantes no existen (2017)

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3781940/

Los gigantes no existen / Giants Don't Exist

Director: Chema Rodríguez

Stars: Rafael Rojas, José Javier Martínez, Luis Carlos Pineda, Marta Tuyuc, Patricia Orantes, Luis Carlos Pineda, Andrés Toz

Guatemala in the 1980s, at the height of the ruthless civil war against the country’s indigenous communities. Andrés is 9 years old. He lives with Pedro González, one of the men who massacred all the women and children in his village. Andrés has survived, but he’s scared. Pedro’s wife, María, is also scared, scared to go out, scared to lose Andrés, whom she considers her new son… even Pedro is scared, scared of himself and what the Army orders him to do. Andrés would like to run away but he also wants to stay in his new family. The unexpected arrival of his biological sister will change everything.

Guatemala

Language(s): Spanish, Mayan

Subtitles: Spanish (hard for Mayan parts), English (.srt in the archive)