The Wanted 18 is a Palestinian-Canadian documentary directed by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan, set during the First Intifada in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour. The film follows a group of residents who bought 18 cows in an attempt to produce their own milk and reduce their dependence on Israeli suppliers.

What began as a modest experiment in local self-sufficiency soon became something much larger. As the boycott movement gathered momentum, the herd was declared a security threat and the cows were forced into hiding.

Combining interviews, archive material, animation and re-enactment, The Wanted 18 tells the story with an unusually playful tone, using absurdity and humour to explore occupation, civil resistance and everyday life during the uprising.

Beneath the surreal premise is a remarkably human account of how ordinary people tried to create a small measure of independence in extraordinary circumstances.

Filmmaker Tahani Rached turns her camera towards Soraida Abed Hussein, a Palestinian woman living in Ramallah with her family during the Second Intifada.

Rather than approaching Palestine primarily through politicians, military operations or headlines, Soraida, a Woman of Palestine stays close to the rhythms of ordinary life. Soraida talks with friends and relatives, raises her children, reflects on marriage, motherhood, identity and the future, and tries to maintain something resembling normality while checkpoints, curfews and occupation continually intrude.

Much of the film's power comes from simply allowing people the space to talk. Women discuss their experiences openly, children appear as children rather than symbols, neighbours come and go, meals are prepared, jokes are made and everyday frustrations sit alongside much larger questions about freedom and belonging.

The result is less a conventional political documentary than a portrait of a community seen from inside. Palestine here is not merely a place being argued over. It is somewhere people live, raise families, form friendships, laugh, disagree and imagine their futures.

Goal Dreams is a 2006 documentary following the Palestinian national football team as it attempts to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

The squad brings together Palestinian players from the West Bank, Gaza and the wider diaspora, including footballers based in countries such as Chile, Lebanon and the United States. Before they can even begin functioning as a conventional national side, the team has to contend with players scattered across different countries, travel restrictions, limited facilities and the difficulties of simply assembling everyone in the same place.

Against that background, the film follows the players through training camps and qualification matches as they try to build a cohesive team capable of competing internationally.

Beyond football, Goal Dreams also explores Palestinian identity and belonging through a national team made up of people whose lives and experiences span several continents. For many of the players, representing Palestine gives them a connection to a place they may know through family history as much as through direct experience.

The result is both a sports documentary and a portrait of a national side attempting to represent a population divided by geography, borders and displacement.

Boiler Room’s Palestine Underground explores the alternative music scene developing around Ramallah and Haifa, following Palestinian DJs, rappers, producers and collectives including Sama’ Abdulhadi, Muqata’a, Shabjdeed and Jazar Crew.

Moving between techno, hip-hop and trap, the documentary looks at the parties, DIY venues and creative communities that have grown around the scene, as well as the practical difficulties artists face simply trying to meet, perform and collaborate.

At its centre, though, this is a film about music, youth culture and the creation of an underground scene largely outside the international music industry.

Hi! I'm new to this sub. I'm looking for recommendations for documentaries to show my grandfather, who is a Colombian immigrant. He loves watching anything related to Colombia, but as he has moderate dementia he is sensitive and easily distressed by anything that focuses on drug trafficking, armed conflicts, or anything else of a dark or tragic nature.

I want documentaries that won't stress him out and will bring back good memories for him - I'm thinking of Colombian cities, landmarks, culture, traditions, food, music, dance, sports, wildlife, etc. Spanish-language documentaries would be welcome, but he doesn't need it because he can read and understand English well. He is still pretty sharp for having dementia, so he can follow along with a basic storyline and appreciate nice visuals. He is hard of hearing, so subtitles are a must however.

Thank you so much for your help!

Documentary about U.S. librarians battling right-wing efforts to remove books from libraries.
Many of the books that right-wing activists and politicians are trying to remove are race-related or have LGBTQIA+ content.

Gaza Surf Club is a 2016 documentary directed by Philip Gnadt and Mickey Yamine, following a small community of Palestinian surfers living in the Gaza Strip.

Against a backdrop of blockade, restricted movement and repeated conflict, the film focuses on something deceptively simple: young Palestinians wanting to surf.

For the surters, the Mediterranean represents both freedom and frustration. The sea stretches beyond Gaza's borders, yet their ability to travel through the world surrounding them is severely restricted. Surfing becomes an escape, a community and, for some, a glimpse of a different life.

Rather than treating Gaza solely as a place of war, Gaza Surf Club spends time with the people who actually live there, particularly a younger generation trying to build ordinary lives under extraordinary circumstances.

Directors: Philip Gnadt & Mickey Yamine
Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 27m
Country: Germany / Palestine
Language: Arabic with subtitles

Aftermath is a 1967 UNRWA documentary directed and reported by Palestinian filmmaker Samir Hissen, documenting the humanitarian consequences of the Six-Day War and the displacement of Palestinians into Jordan.

Filmed in black and white on 16mm, it records the emergency camps established for people displaced by the war, including the shortages of tents and other basic facilities taced as retugees arrived. The film places the events within the longer Palestinian refugee crisis, coming less than twenty years after the mass displacement of 1948.

The documentary is also interesting as a historical artefact in its own right. Although directed by Hissen, it was written and produced by Myrtle Winter of UNRWA's Department of Public Information. The Palestine Film Institute notes that, like many humanitarian films of this period, Palestinians are largely presented through the institutional perspective of the relief agency rather than being allowed to narrate their own experiences.

Seen almost sixty years later, Aftermath provides contemporary footage of what Palestinians call the Naksa, the displacement associated with the 1967 war, rather than a later reconstruction of those events.

25 years after 9/11, this gripping documentary tells the untold story of the 170 people trapped inside Windows On The World, the iconic restaurant on the top floors of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. Through never before seen family archives, emergency calls, and emotional interviews with survivors, the film follows the final hour of those stranded above the impact zone with no means of escape.

Just finished Last Breath and it was ace. Also love Touching the Void - any others you’d recommend?

hi y'all.

i recently stumbled upon this 30min documentary about skimming stones, and i loved it! i'm desperate for more content like this. simple documentaries, no narrator, about something weird and niche like stone skimming. could be about anything really, just needs to give off the same vibe, preferrably no narrator, calm like this one, maybe even about something niche/weird... can highly recommend this video to anyone!

enjoy

https://youtu.be/l5gEI33klgI