Documentaries

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13th
(2016, USA, 100 mins)
Dir. Ava DuVernay

This powerful documentary, made available by Netflix in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, is an indictment of the American criminal justice system. 13th offers itself as an education in institutionalised racism as well as an explanation of #DefundPolice.

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Desert Coffee
(2017, USA, 53 mins)
Dir. Mikael Lypinski

An intimate documentary portrait of Slab City, 'the last free place in America'. Somewhere in the ungoverned part of California's Sonoran desert, a community of squatters gather at Rob's improvised caravan-cafe for free coffee and wifi.

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Divorce: Iranian Style
(1988, Iran/UK, 76 mins)
Dir. Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini

A documentary following four Iranian women as they seek to divorce their husbands and present their cases before the Islamic authority. Filmed in fly-on-the-wall style and entirely on-location in a crowded courthouse in Tehran.

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The Floating Tomatoes
(2010, Myanmar, 30 mins)
Dir. Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi

A short documentary about the floating tomato farms of Inle Lake in Myanmar (the country’s second largest) and the effects of pesticide use on the water, crops, and the Intha people. Made by activist-filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi who is an outspoken critic of the Myanmar military and was arrested on the first day of the 2021 military coup.

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Four Women of Egypt
(1997, Canada & Egypt, 89 mins)
Dir. Tahani Rached

An award-winning documentary about a group of four women in Egypt who come different religious beliefs and political backgrounds. Four Women of Egypt does more than chronicle invaluable microhistories of young women’s movements during the 1950s revolution, it also presents a candid portrait of female friendship.

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Haenyeo: Wisdom of the Sea
(2018, Brazil & Korea, 65 mins)
Dir. Lygia Barbosa

Follow a Brazilian photographer on assignment to photograph the legendary female divers of Jeju Island, Korea. The women, known as haenyeos, are mostly grandmothers but they continue working even in the harshest conditions, diving for catch throughout the icy winter months. In recent decades, however, industrial fishing has accelerated and the small-scale, sustainable livelihoods of these women look more uncertain than ever.

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Karama Has No Walls فيلم ليس للكرامة جدران
(2014, Yemen, 26 mins)
Dir. Sara Ishaq

Content warning: scenes of violence. A short documentary consisting mainly of direct footage of the chaos and killings that occurred on 18 March 2011—a day now known as the Friday of Karama (Dignity)—when state troops built a wall and opened fire on unarmed protestors.
Read also this interview the director.

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Knock Down the House
(2019, USA, 87 mins)
Dir. Rachel Lears

Like a superhero origins story, but for the women in the US congress.

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Madonna
(2014, Georgia, 58 mins)
Dir. Nino Gogua

An hourlong documentary about Madonna Naroushvili, the only female bus driver in the country of Georgia. Having worked in her chosen profession for over 30 years, Madonna—now in her late 50s—is a veteran of the capital city Tbilisi’s motorways. But here, as well as in a 2011 BBC interview, Madonna confesses that she struggled for long time to be accepted, especially by other women who faulted her for doing (and loving) a ‘man’s job’.

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Mom and Me
(2016, USA & UK, 75 mins)
Dir. Ken Wardrop.

After a deeply personal short film about his mother, Irish filmmaker Ken Wardrop travels outward to Oklahoma (crowned “America’s Manliest City”) in search of other son's mothers. Held together by a gruff local radio host who encourages his ‘manly’ listeners to call in and talk about their mothers, Mom and Me manages to be two things at once: a lovingly mundane portrait of mother-son relationships and a charming exploration of the intersection between masculinity and being a mommy’s boy.

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Mother of Many Children
(1977, Canda/ First Nation, 58 mins)
Dir. Alanis Obomsawain

Through oral histories of First Nations women, the documentary reflects on the centuries-old customs of these matriarchal societies and the meanings of cultural pride and resistance. By legendary American-born Canadian Abenaki decolonialist filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin who has over 50 documentaries to her name.

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Our Mothers' Land
(2020, Indonesia, 55mins)
Dir. Leo Plunkett

Indonesian women have a long history of activism. Independent journalist Febriana Firdaus meets with rural Indonesian women who lead their communities’ anti-corporate grassroots protests.Read Febriana Firdaus’s report here.

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Plastic China (shortened version)
(2016, China, 26 mins)
Dir. Wang Jiuliang

A documentary featuring a young migrant girl whose home is the last point of China’s plastic waste importing economy. When it aired, the film made waves in China and abroad; filmmaker Wang Jiuliang has talked about the guilt and anger felt by domestic and international audiences after watching it.Rent the full-length version on Vimeo.

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Period. End of Sentence.
(2018, India, 25 mins)
Dir. Rayka Zehtabchi

This documentary follows a group of female garment workers in Bangladesh over five years. The women are variously involved with workplace unions (notably the National Garment Workers Federation), alongside male colleagues, organising against unfair and illegal workplace treatment including beatings, withholding of wages, and threats. The film also presents glimpses into the families of the garment workers who lost their lives in the 2012 Tazreen factory fire and 2013 Rana Plaza collapse.For more films about women’s work, see 'global feminisms bibliography'.

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Sunday Beauty Queen
(2016, Philippines, 94 mins)
Dir. Baby Ruth Villarama

Beneath Hong Kong's glittering facade, Filipinas working as domestic helpers work in relative anonymity and for near slave wages. In a beauty pageant like no other in the world, five helpers give themselves makeovers for a day and gleefully reclaim their dignity.Read an excerpt from a conversation with two of the documentary's stars, Daddy Leo Selomenio and Mommy Judy Sison.

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To Singapore With Love
(2013, Singapore, 67 mins)
Dir. Tan Pin Pin

Interviews with Singapore's political exiles. Banned in Singapore for "distorted" presentation of history that "undermines national security".
Available for rent on Vimeo outside Singapore.

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The Story of Kam Agong
(2018, Malaysia, 29 mins)
Dirs. Lawrence Jayaraj, Agnes Padan, and Wong Chin Hor.

19 years ago, Kam Agong died giving birth to her eight child at the Lawas District Hospital in the interior of Sarawak, Malaysia. It didn’t take long for her daughter and son-in-law, co-directors Agnes Padan and Lawrence Jayaraj, to realize that her death was the result of medical negligence which the hospital attempted to cover up. The Story of Kam Agong recounts the yearslong lawsuit that followed and the grieving family’s battle to lobby for better maternal healthcare in remote Sarawak.

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This Land is Our Land
(2013, Myanmar, 30 mins)
Dir. Sai Kong Kham

This debut documentary from Myanmar independent film collective Tagu Films chronicles the struggles faced by five farmers. A thriving forest in the Dry Zone is confiscated; drought leads to wood-cutting leads to drought as vicious cycle spins in another area; the Ayerwaddy eats away an island village that used to be prosperous; coal mines and landfills replace farmlands and villages in and villages in Tigyit (Shan State). As these farmers grapple with the changes of their land they share their stories, thoughts, worries and hopes.

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Trailer Boys
(2018, Singapore, 23 mins)
Dir. Yusri Sapari

Documentary-style short film about a young man and his community of heavy vehicle drivers in Singapore.

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Udita / Arise
(2015, UK, 75 mins)
Dir. Rainbow Collective

A group of local women learn how to make low-cost biodegradable sanitary pad and sell them to other women in their community, providing affordable access to feminine hygiene. A 25-minute documentary about menstrual equity and a female-centric micro-economy in the village of Kathikhera situated outside New Delhi, India. This film won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 2018.For more films about menstruation, see 'global feminisms bibliography'.

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