World Documentary Competition | 2021 Sundance Film Festival
/The World Cinema Documentary Competition category at Sundance features an offering of immersive and moving stories from around the world. This year's section included some of the most acclaimed films in the festival, such as Flee, President and Sabaya. Check out our thoughts on all 10 docs featured in the lineup!
Captains of Zaatari
Two best friends Mahmoud and Fawzi living in the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan have an undying dream of becoming professional soccer players while facing the difficult reality of their lives. Despite being confined under dire conditions, they remain hopeful and practice day in and day out. When a world-renowned sports academy visits, both have a chance to make this dream come true.
Director: Ali El Arabi
Country: Egypt
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on Captains of Zaatari on the Intercut Podcast!
Faya Dayi
A spiritual journey into the highlands of Harar, immersed in the rituals of khat, a leaf Sufi Muslims chewed for centuries for religious meditations – and Ethiopia’s most lucrative cash crop today. A tapestry of intimate stories offers a window into the dreams of youth under a repressive regime.
Director: Jessica Beshir
Country: Ethiopia & U.S.
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on FAYA DAYI on the Intercut Podcast!
Flee
Amin arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Denmark from Afghanistan. Today, he is a successful academic and is getting married to his long-time boyfriend. A secret he has been hiding for 20 years threatens to ruin the life he has built.
Directors: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Country: Denmark, France, Sweden & Norway
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on FLEE on the Intercut Podcast!
Misha and the Wolves
A woman’s Holocaust memoir takes the world by storm, but a fallout with her publisher-turned-detective reveals her story as an audacious deception created to hide a darker truth.
Director: Sam Hobkinson
Country: U.K. & Belgium
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on MISHA AND THE WOLVES on the Intercut Podcast!
The Most Beautiful Boy in the World
Synopsis: Swedish actor/musician Björn Andresen’s life was forever changed at the age of 15, when he played Tadzio, the object of Dirk Bogarde’s obsession in Death in Venice – a role which led Italian maestro Luchino Visconti to dub him “the world’s most beautiful boy.”
Directors: Kristina Lindström, Kristian Petri
Country: Sweden
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOY IN THE WORLD on the Intercut Podcast!
Playing With Sharks
Synopsis: Valerie Taylor is a shark fanatic and an Australian icon – a marine maverick who forged her way as a fearless diver, cinematographer and conservationist. She filmed the real sharks for Jaws and famously wore a chainmail suit, using herself as shark bait, changing our scientific understanding of sharks forever.
Director: Sally Aitken
Country: Australia
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on PLAYING WITH SHARKS on the Intercut Podcast!
President
Synopsis: Zimbabwe is at a crossroads. The leader of the opposition MDC party, Nelson Chamisa, challenges the old guard ZANU-PF led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, known as “The Crocodile.” The election tests both the ruling party and the opposition – how do they interpret principles of democracy in discourse and in practice?
Director: Camilla Nielsson
Country: Denmark, U.S. & Norway
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on PRESIDENT on the Intercut Podcast!
Sabaya
Synopsis: With just a mobile phone and a gun, Mahmud, Ziyad and their group risk their lives trying to save Yazidi women and girls being held by ISIS as Sabaya (abducted sex slaves) in the most dangerous camp in the Middle East, Al-Hol in Syria.
Director: Hogir Hirori
Country: Sweden
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on SABAYA on the Intercut Podcast!
Taming the Garden
Synopsis: A poetic ode to the rivalry between men and nature.
Director: Salomé Jashi
Country: Switzerland, Germany & Georgia
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on TAMING THE GARDEN on the Intercut Podcast!
Writing With Fire
Synopsis: In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues and within the confines of their own homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.
Director: Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
Country: India
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on WRITING WITH FIRE on the Intercut Podcast!
Pictures and images above are Courtesy of the Sundance Institute and the films’ respective Studios.
