Movies Similar to Luke's Dispatches: Athens - Radical Rescue Work

Lost Bodies

Thanos, 52, is a prospective pensioner, currently unemployed. Antonis, 51, is a part-time utility meter reader and a take-out deliveryman. Masquerading behind their band, iconic under grounders the Lost Bodies, they've made a life out of ignoring the system, seeking refuge in an alternative universe of their own.

Athens 2004: Olympic Opening Ceremony (Games of the XXVIII Olympiad)(2004)

With the Olympics returning to Greece, the opening ceremony of Athens 2004 sought to show the entire development of the Olympics over the centuries, until arriving at the modern Olympics.

Homefront(2024)

A family with five children flees the war raging in their home village on the Russian border. They end up in Mshanets, a farming village on the other side of the country, remote and unknown. Here the family starts building a new home. At the same time, two documentary makers come to the village, looking for a story. In the Lymar family they find the ideal characters for their film. But one day, when the renovation of their house is almost finished, the family disappears. The filmmakers go in search of their characters and along the way they try to find an answer to the question: what does a person need to feel at home?

Les enfants de la lanterne magique(2023)

Testimonies of a Massacre: Tula Toli

Filmed along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border and within Rohingya refugee camps, Shafiur Rahman’s documentary on the 2017 Tula Toli massacre exposes chilling interviews and evidence of Myanmar military’s premeditated atrocities. The film documents mass killings, sexual violence, and the systematic destruction of the village of Tula Toli, highlighting a humanitarian crisis that forced over half a million people—many of them children—to flee in an exodus of historic scale.

Intercalated Games(1906)

Highlights of the Athens 1906 Olympic Games.

Longe de Cabul(2023)

Refugees: Enemies or Victims?

The Syrian Civil War has created one of the greatest humanitarian crises in the last 60 years. REFUGEES: ENEMIES OR VICTIMS? investigates the very important question of whether the United States is doing enough to uphold its long tradition of helping those in need.

Aita Mari(2021)

The Stella Maris Berria is a tuna vessel destined for scrapping. However, Iñigo Mijangos and Iñigo Gutierrez, two members of the NGO Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario, have an unusual idea: to transform the fishing boat into a rescue boat to save refugees drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. That is how Aita Mari was born.

Refuge(e)(2019)

Refuge(e) traces the incredible journey of two refugees, Alpha and Zeferino. Each fled violent threats to their lives in their home countries and presented themselves at the US border asking for political asylum, only to be incarcerated in a for-profit prison for months on end without having committed any crime. Thousands more like them can't tell their stories.

HALEMEH(2003)

In the Gaza refugee camp of Jerash, Palestinians face the critical issue of lacking identification documents. This situation undermines their rights and hinders access to essential services and opportunities.

Refugees in Their Own Land(2015)

Refugees in Their Own Land is an intimate portrait of a man and what belongs to him, an inner struggle forged by the forces of nature.

Athens Burning(2011)

Athens Burning is a documentary that covers the history of the Georgia Theatre in historic downtown Athens, GA. Built in the 1890's, the building suffered a devastating fire in the June of 2009. Owner Wilmot Greene fought hard to have it resurrected and it re-opened in Fall 2011. The film features many interviews with prominent musicians and features the last known interview of Vic Chesnutt.

In Exchange for Five Apartments and One Shop!(2004)

"Gia pente diamerismata kai ena magazi" is a documentary about how the process of "exchange" transformed the neighborhoods of major cities of Greece, particularly Athens and Pireus.

Notices from Yonas

A cell phone was the only thing that kept Yonas, an Eritrean refugee, connected to Jérôme, the French journalist who wanted to tell his story. They met in Libya in 2019, in the abyss of a detention center. Yonas managed to escape and attempted several times to cross the Mediterranean. Like many others who jump from one hell to another, Yonas's only option was to flee forward, and what lay before him was a small boat. Yonas's News chronicles the epic journey in which his life was at stake, summarized in the WhatsApp and voice messages, photos, and videos he was able to exchange with Jérôme. Jérôme Tubiana, journalist, researcher, and member of Doctors Without Borders, has visited Libya five times between 2018 and 2020.

On Our Doorstep(2023)

On Our Doorstep delves deep into an aspect of the refugee crisis that rarely reached the press. With NGOs being blocked by red tape and the absence of any positive action by French or British authorities, the film is a behind-the-scenes look at the unprecedented grassroots movement that rose to aid the refugees in Calais, and the community that sprang up there, before it was forcefully demolished. This is the story of what happens when young and inexperienced citizens are forced to devise systems and structures to support 10,000 refugees; and are left unguided to face the moral and emotional conflicts, blurred lines and frequent grey areas of giving aid to vulnerable people. People who do not want to be there. It questions whether the aims of the volunteers were met, and whether these aims ultimately served the refugees' needs.

The Kasims

Eighteen-year-old Shahnura is about to graduate from high school. Her mother spends hours at the dining table while Shahnura is at school, wondering if her mother, sister, and brother are still alive. Living in Germany without a passport or nationality, she listens to the harrowing stories of her mother and two friends who have experienced imprisonment and re-education camps in China. These accounts reveal the suffering, human rights abuses, forced adoptions, and the grim reality of the camps where the predominantly Muslim Turkic Uyghurs are tortured and mistreated.

Rosans, Bitter Honey(2011)

In 1963, Rosans, a village in the Hautes-Alpes region depopulated by the rural exodus, welcomed Harkis (military soldiers) forced to leave Algeria for supporting France during the Algerian War. Around thirty families settled in a camp below Rosans. Nearly half a century after their arrival, first- and second-generation Harkis and native Rosanais recount their experiences of this culture clash, often painful, sometimes happy. Language barriers, religious differences, living in barracks for 14 years, and unemployment were all obstacles to overcome in order to be accepted and then achieve mutual enrichment. Enriched with archive footage to explain the historical context of the time, the film seeks above all to express feelings and unspoken words.

STARTING FROM ZERO

STARTING FROM ZERO documents the journey of three refugees — a female boxer, a TV personality and a journalist — caught in the crosshairs following the U.S. military’s sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan. Fleeing for their lives, they are transported to an unlikely luxury compound in Qatar before making their eventual journey to the United States and Germany, where they must restart their lives and confront the deferment of their dreams.

The Hearing(2023)

After crossing 11 countries irregularly to seek asylum in Canada, Peggy, Simon and their three children are waiting for the hearing that will determine whether they get refugee status or not. Having fled political repression in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the family tries to rebuild a peaceful life in Montreal, in spite of the constant threat of deportation. Between ghosts from the past, hopes for the future, a complex legal maze and seemingly endless trial, the film delves into the struggle of the Nkunga Mbala family to remain in Canada. Offering unprecedented access to their hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board, the film unveils the opaque process of claiming asylum in Canada.