"In 1981, chalk slogans written in uppercase letters started appearing in public spaces in the Romanian city of Botosani. They demanded freedom, alluded to the democratic developments taking place in Romania's socialist sister countries, or simply called for improvements in the food supply. The culprit was Mugur Calinescu, a teenager who was still at school at the time and whose case is documented in the files of the Romanian secret police. Theatre...

"Literature teacher Manana has been married for 25 years and lives in a three-bedroom flat in Tbilisi with her husband, parents, two adult children, and her son-in-law. But on the evening of her 52nd birthday, she announces to the surprise of her family that she wants to leave. When she packs her suitcase and leaves, the family is shocked and incredulous: Where is she going? What is the reason for the decision? She is past the age of a divorce and...

The year is 1981 and South Africa's white minority government is embroiled in a conflict on the southern Angolan border. Like all white boys over the age of sixteen, Nicholas Van der Swart must complete two years of compulsory military service to defend the Apartheid regime. The threat of communism and 'die swart gevaar' (the black danger) is at an all-time high. But that's not the only danger Nicholas faces. He must survive the brutality of the army,...

"A young teacher in modern Bhutan, Ugyen shirks his duties while planning to go to Australia to become a singer. As a reprimand, his superiors send him to the most remote school in the world, in a village called Lunana, to complete his service. He finds himself exiled from his Westernized comforts after an arduous eight day trek just to get there. There he finds no electricity, no textbooks, not even a blackboard. Though poor, the villagers extend...