Mike Lerner

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is the only one running against Lukashenko in the 2020 Belarusian election. When Lukashenko declares a victory of 80% questions regarding the fairness of the election are being raised.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is the only one running against Lukashenko in the 2020 Belarusian election. When Lukashenko declares a victory of 80% questions regarding the fairness of the election are being raised.

Unique access to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other key figures in the administration who are fighting to save their country against Russia’s invasion by combatting disinformation.

Everyday people find themselves in the midst of a global tragedy when two Boeing 737 Max planes crashed only five months apart in 2018 and 2019. This powerful documentary is told through the perspective of affected family members, their legal teams, whistleblowers, and Pulitzer-winning Seattle Times journalist, Dominic Gates.

This provocative consideration of the lasting influence and draw of Hitler provides insight into the resurgence of white supremacy, antisemitism, and the weaponization of history.

Documentarian Hind Meddeb takes her camera through the streets of the French capital’s Stalingrad district and meets many of the refugees struggling to make a home for themselves there, in this eye-opening exploration of the perils and perseverance that shape the migrant experience.

In 2008, Natasha, a newly rich woman, decides to open an independent TV station in Russia and builds an open-minded team of outcasts. By 2020, Natasha has lost everything to Russia's war between Propaganda and Truth.

The inside story behind the hunt for ISIS poster boy "Jihadi John" by the US and British military and intelligence services. An interrogation of the twisted worldview espoused by ISIS and its propaganda machine which was operated by "Jihadi millennials" who turned social media sites such as Twitter and YouTube into recruitment platforms.

The inside story of Mohammed Emwazi's journey from being an ordinary London boy to becoming terrorist 'Jihadi John', and the intelligence operatives' attempts to catch him.

Data—arguably the world’s most valuable asset—is being weaponized to wage cultural and political wars. The dark world of data exploitation is uncovered through the unpredictable, personal journeys of players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data story.

In full-on investigative mode, reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Hollywood Reporter doggedly pursue the story of US $3.5 billion missing from a Malaysian wealth fund. They trace the dirty money, via real estate deals and movie financing, back to the top tiers of the Malaysian government. Incredibly (but oh, how fitting!), the audacious swindlers chose to back the 2014 blockbuster The Wolf of Wall Street. Hollywood A-listers, including Leonardo DiCaprio, attended lavish parties hosted to launch the film. The embezzlement was orchestrated by a flamboyant fancier, Jho Low, and Riza Aziz, the stepson of the then-Malaysian Prime Minister. As the truth finally comes to light, assets are frozen and the fall-out begins.

An intimate character study of the complex figure Ittetsu Nemoto, an aimless and rebellious former punk rocker-turned-Buddhist priest. He is renowned in Japan for saving the lives of countless suicidal men and women through his wise and compassionate counsel. But Nemoto is now approaching middle-age with a wife and young boy of his own, when he learns his life is at risk from heart disease, compounded by the heavy emotional workload of supporting those who no longer want to live. When saving others takes such a toll, can he find the resiliency to save himself?

BORN TO BE FREE is a revelatory investigation by three intrepid free-diving journalists, Gaya, Tanya and Julia, into the global trade in wild sea mammals. Their journey takes us to the most remote corners of Russia and witnesses, for the very first time, the shocking treatment that whales, dolphins and walruses are subjected to and discovers the corruption at the heart of this cruel international business.

A powerful investigation into the political and criminal enterprise of kidnappings as ISIS rose to power in war torn Syria. It inter cuts exclusive footage with interviews of negotiators, investigators, fixers and even a used car salesman who are caught up in the confusion.

British documentary filmmaker Chloe Ruthven’s grandparents were aid workers in Palestine. Growing up, she had avoided getting too involved in the subject, recalling how mention of the country made all the adults in her life angry. In her forties, after revisiting her grandmother’s book on the subject, she starts to research a documentary on the effects of foreign aid in the area and is shocked at the continued reliance on it there. Along the way she meets Lubna, a Palestinian woman who acts as her driver and fixer, and who is fiercely critical of Western aid efforts in her country. What begins as a quest to better understand her family history turns into a deeply emotional account of two women trying to understand one another. Ruthven’s determination to focus her film on deeply subjective analysis results in a unique joining of the acutely personal and complexly political. (Source: LFF programme)

The Pink Panthers have stolen over £270m in diamonds in more than 241 robberies in cities from Paris to Tokyo. The film explores the rise of the group during the 1990s Balkan conflict when economic sanctions imposed on Serbia fueled illegal activities. The criminals reveal an underworld driven by fast wealth and paranoia, while the detectives and inspectors, who are working with Interpol, are on a mission to stop their crime spree with growing success.

In the winter of 2011, after a controversial election, Vladimir Putin was reinstalled as president of Russia. In response, hundreds of thousands of citizens rose up all over the country to challenge the legitimacy of Putin’s rule. Among them were a group of young, radical-feminist punk rockers, better known as Pussy Riot. Wearing colored balaclavas, tights, and summer dresses, they entered Moscow’s most venerated cathedral and dared to sing “Mother Mary, Banish Putin!” Now they have become victims of a “show” trial.

The Square looks at the hard realities faced day-to-day by people working to build Egypt’s new democracy. Cairo’s Tahrir Square is the heart and soul of the film, which follows several young activists. Armed with values, determination, music, humor, an abundance of social media, and sheer obstinacy, they know that the thorny path to democracy only began with Hosni Mubarek’s fall. The life-and-death struggle between the people and the power of the state is still playing out.

For decades in Toledo, Ohio, Lott Industries has excelled at manufacturing small car parts. All 1,200 Lott employees have developmental disabilities, yet the company competes with traditional non-disabled businesses and achieves the highest quality ratings. When the US auto industry crisis hits, however, Lott's market is wiped out and president Joan Browne has 12 months to reinvent or close the doors. For the workers, the stakes are even higher since their jobs are a refuge, not only from the impoverishment that affects the majority of America's disabled, but from social isolation. For employees Kevin, Wanda and T.J., work is more than just a direly needed paycheck, it's a lifeline, a symbol of their dignity, and their dreams made real. The race to find a new business plan drives this engrossing recession economy drama, but it's the humanity the film restores to the balance sheet that makes A Whole Lott More such a rare achievement. Written by Myrocia Watamaniuk

What does it mean to lead men in war? What does it mean to come home? Hell and Back Again is a cinematically revolutionary film that asks and answers these questions with a power and intimacy no previous film about the conflict in Afghanistan has been able to achieve. It is a masterpiece in the cinema of war.

For more than half a century, Beate and Serge Klarsfeld have hunted, confronted, and exposed Nazi war criminals. Now in their 80s, they still continue their activism against today’s new Nazis and far right extremists.