Films

Films

Watch over 200 films curated from 140 countries around the globe, and featuring over 40 languages. SIMA Academy offers you unprecedented access on any device to authentic global perspectives and visually engaging current affairs media. Plus a constantly refreshed selection of international productions from independent distributors.

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Films
  • Return of The Rhino

    An epic feat of community transformation—that’s how the local community brought the iconic Greater One-horned Rhino back to Manas National Park. The rhino, a pivotal species in the region, was lost to poaching and habitat destruction following Assam’s tumultuous Bodoland movement in the 1980s and...

Extras

  • War and Priest

    In the last two years over 25,000 young men in Georgia have become priests. But they haven’t found God; they’ve found a loophole to avoid mandatory military service. ‘War and Priest’ follows the Church of Biblical Freedom, formed by ground-breaking political party, Girchi. Armed with it’s own 7 c...

  • A Plastic Ocean

    A Plastic Ocean begins when journalist Craig Leeson, searching for the elusive blue whale, discovers plastic waste in what should be pristine ocean. In this adventure documentary, Craig teams up with free diver Tanya Streeter and an international team of scientists and researchers. They travel to...

  • Abuelos

    Separated by years of immigration policy, a young girl dreams of meeting her grandmother for the first time. Thanks to the bi-national cooperation of governments on both sides of the US/Mexico border, her grandmother embarks on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to reunite with her undocumented loved o...

  • Minerita

    Life and survival is incredibly difficult in the bleak Cerro Rico mining district in Potosi, Bolivia. This is true for the men risking their lives going down into the mine shafts looking for silver ore, but especially so for the women, who are viewed by the men as fair game.

    This powerful and br...

  • Free To Care

    A single mother with a passion for nursing, Lisa Creason wanted the freedom to pursue her dreams. When an unjust law prohibited her from doing so, she took the fight into her own hands and ended up opening doorways for thousands like her.

    Director: Chris Temple
    Producers: Jenna Kelly & Jo Jensen...

  • Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices From A Plantation Prison

    The story of Liza Jessie Peterson's shutdown performance of her play The Peculiar Patriot at Angola, America’s largest prison-plantation. The documentary examines what led to the shutdown, the material that confronted a system and the impact of her visit after it was erased by prison authorities....

  • Águilas (Eagles)

    Along the southern desert border in Arizona, it is estimated that only one out of every five missing migrants are ever found. Águilas is the story of one group of searchers, the Aguilas del Desierto. Once a month these volunteers—construction workers, gardeners, domestic laborers by trade—set out...

  • Last Day Of Freedom

    When Bill Babbitt realizes his brother Manny has committed a crime he agonizes over his decision- should he call the police? Last Day of Freedom, a richly animated personal narrative, tells the story of Bill’s decision to stand by his brother in the face of war, crime and capital punishment. The ...

  • Tashi and The Monk

    On a remote mountaintop a brave social experiment is taking place. Former Buddhist monk Lobsang was trained under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and has created a unique community in the foothills of the Himalayas which rescues orphaned and neglected children. Five-year-old Tashi is ...

  • UnBroken

    Youth turn to Side by Side when others have given up on them. Facing a variety of challenges in their lives–whether gang violence, emotional disabilities, or aging out of the foster care system–each program tailors their approach to address every client’s specific needs. Three youth find themselv...

  • UNESCO We Teach Here, Uganda

    This video shows the experiences of local Ugandan and refugee teachers in a refugee camp in Uganda through professionally filmed footage and user-generated content where the teachers film their daily experiences themselves, allowing the viewer to share their daily experiences up close. Dedicated ...

  • Testimony of Ana

    Anaben Pawar is an elderly tribal woman accused of witchcraft in rural India. Through Ana's story, we delve into a deep-rooted culture of patriarchy and examine one of the most monstrous attacks on women's bodies in modern India: the witch-hunt.

    Director: Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda

    Producers: Jan...

  • Forest, Indigenous People, and Industry

    Indonesia has the largest tropical rain forest on Earth. Therefore, Indonesia has long been known as the ‘lungs’ of the world. Forests has an important role in maintaining climate balance. But for indigenous peoples in Tanah Papua and the Maluku Islands, forests are not only as ‘lungs’. For them,...

  • Farmer's Footprint

    This film features the trials, learnings and victories of the four generation Breitkreutz family from Stoney Creek Farm transitioning from conventional farming to regenerative agriculture in Redwood Falls, Minnesota. Using conventional methods they saw their soils degrade and their input costs ri...

  • From Gangs to Gardens

    Organic gardener and vegan chef Ietef Vita is an award winning international recording artist and activist who uses Hip-Hop culture to inspire young people to connect to the earth by teaching them how to grow food, and cultivate healthy eating habits. Through his lyrics and gardens, Ietef is plan...

  • From The Same Soil

    The film portrays the lives of two gay men and one transgender woman who left their home countries because of discrimination and persecution. Now in South Africa they applied for refugee status on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Despite the fact that in South Africa both national law...

  • Girls in Control: Tanzania

    On any given day millions of girls and women worldwide are menstruating. In Tanzania, 75% of rural schoolgirls never used commercial sanitary pads. This is a striking story of Vanencia, a 14-year-old student. As the leader of the school Health Club she aims to break the silence on menstruation- w...

  • International Aid Hurts Palestinian Civil Society

    In International Aid Hurts Palestinian Civil Society grassroots civil society activists discuss their experiences with international aid. Frustration and anger are evident as Palestinians explain how their work is undermined by policies and procedures imposed by international donors and NGOs. Thi...

  • Path of Freedom

    In the harsh environment of a Rhode Island men's prison, a group of fifty inmates are transforming their lives through the practice of meditation. Path of Freedom follows former inmate Fleet Maull as he visits prison to share his strategies for surviving on the inside. The film offers a rare glim...

  • Right To Identity

    With one of the lowest levels of birth registration in Africa, Tanzania’s failing infrastructure and logistical challenges have left decades of backlog in birth registrations. A Tanzanian governmental agency, RITA, joined forces with some strong partners and decided to tackle the issue of birth r...

  • Dùthchas

    After the Highland Clearances in the 18th and 19th centuries, where communities were expelled from their lands in favour of sheep, legislation was brought in to give people secure tenancies, called crofts, to protect them from being cleared from the land again. In 2007 the Crofting Reform Act ope...

  • Oil On Their Hands

    For almost half a century, Quechua, Achuar, and Kichwa communities in Northern Peruvian have suffered extreme negative environmental, health, cultural, social, and economic impacts as a result of the operations of the oil companies, Occidental Petroleum (1971-2000) and subsequently Pluspetrol (20...

  • Homecoming

    “If not us, who will protect our territories? Who will manage our territories?”

    Indonesian Indigenous Youth called their fellow brothers living in the cities and finished their studies back to the community. They called it the ‘Homecoming movement.

    Youth are driving new models of sustainable ru...

  • Brighter

    What if you could pay for a young woman’s university education by providing her with a “gap year” job?

    In Uganda, where few women are encouraged, or can afford, to attend university, Liz Forkin Bohannon decided to do something about it. She taught three young women to make strappy sandals which ...