Guy Hircefeld: A Guy with a Camera

Standing Alone Together

Since the October 7 attacks and the ensuing war forever changed the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian solidarity movement Standing Together has taken the world by storm, and this documentary offers an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the movement and its leaders, Rula Daood and Alon-Lee Green.

Black Power: A British Story of Resistance

2021 · ★ 6

An examination of the Black Power movement in the late 1960s in the UK, surveying both the individuals and the cultural forces that defined the era. At the heart of the documentary is a series of astonishing interviews with past activists, many of whom are speaking for the first time about what it was really like to be involved in the British Black Power movement, bringing to life one of the key cultural revolutions in the history of the nation.

Innocence

2022 · ★ 7.5

Innocence tells the story of children who resisted to be enlisted but capitulated. Their stories were never told as they died during their service. Through a narration based on their haunting diaries, the film depicts their inner turmoil. It interweaves first-hand military images, key moments from childhood until enlistment and home videos of the deceased soldiers whose stories are silenced and seen as a national threat.

Visit Palestine

2005 · ★ 7

What drives a young, well-educated Westerner to volunteer as a “peace activist” in the Middle East? Caiomhe Butterly is one of a growing number of volunteers who risk their own safety to intervene in the long-running and bloody conflict between Israel and Palestine. Several internationals, including her, have now been injured. Some have died. In this film, she describes witnessing the aftermath of the attack on Jenin in April 2002. The film follows her work, the main emphasis being “the accompaniment of communities at risk”. Despite being threatened, shot in the leg and deported later that year, she is determined to go back.

The Niagara Movement: The Early Battle for Civil Rights

2023

An examination of the heated debate and conflict between W.E.B DuBois and William Monroe Trotter with Booker T. Washington on how to best uplift the race and secure equality for their community, which led to the Niagara Movement, a short-lived movement that laid the cornerstone of the civil rights movement.

Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege

2021 · ★ 7.1

During the Syrian civil war, the district of Yarmouk, home to thousands of Palestinians, became the scene of dramatic and ferocious fighting. The film follows the destiny of civilians during the brutal sieges, imposed by the Syrian regime, that took place in the wake of the battles. With his camera, Abdallah Al-Khatib composes a love song to a place that proudly resists the atrocities of war.

Son of the Streets

2020

13-year-old Khodor is a child whose family tries to issue him an ID document that proves his existence and gives him the right to education, health-care and movement outside of the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut, Lebanon. Through the process, many of the family's old secrets are revealed.

Waiting For Giraffes

2016

After two intifadas and the construction of the Israeli wall, the only Palestinian zoo is still there and is now seeking for international recognition and to replace their lost giraffes.

Lenin kam nur bis Lüdenscheid - Meine kleine deutsche Revolution

2008 · ★ 6

The free, almost naive view from the perspective of a child puts the "68ers" in a new, illuminating light in the anniversary year 2008. The film is a provocative reckoning with the ideological upbringing that seemed so progressive and yet was suffocated by the children's desire to finally grow up. With an ironic eye and a feuilletonistic style, author Richard David Precht and Cologne documentary film director André Schäfer trace a childhood in the West German provinces - and place the major events of those years in completely different, smaller and very private contexts.

Lebanese, Hostages of Their City

1982 · ★ 10

Jocelyne Saab toured the city of Beirut devastated by Israeli bombings. She assesses the number of victims and the extent of the destruction.

Aisheen (Still Alive in Gaza)

2010 · ★ 6.6

Going behind the usual images of war-torn Gaza, Swiss documentarian Nicolas Wadimoff offers this look at how people survive despite constant threat of danger. Children still play, rappers still create music and families still love one another. In addition to visiting the United Nations Food Distribution Center, Wadimoff films at a derelict amusement park and profiles the DARG TeaM rappers, whose politically charged music proclaims their defiance.

The Tank and the Olive Tree, Another History of Palestine

2019 · ★ 7.9

The Tank and The Olive Tree recalls a certain number of forgotten fundamentals and sheds new light on the history of Palestine. By combining geopolitical analysis, interviews with international personalities who are experts on the subject and testimonies from Palestinian and French citizens, this documentary offers the keys to understanding what the media call the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Enough to rid people's minds of clichés and prejudices! If The Chariot and the Olivier is intended to be educational, it speaks above all of a magnificent territory, and of a people who constantly affirm that “to live is already to resist”...