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“Shoe Shine Caddy” is an essential documentary in the sense that it shines a light on the humanitarian trap that is homelessness. Humane and truthful, elegantly filmed, structured and paced, it remains poignant without falling into the trappings of sentimentalism.

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For aeons, the poor have had to make way for the needs of the ruling class. Villages and neighbourhoods were sacrificed for a capitalist need. Such is the case of the Brazilian village Jaguaribara, which is to be flooded to create a damn for a bordering metropolis area. Wolney Oliveira slyly starts his documentary as a historic footage reel, showing clips of the old Jaguaribara, the painful exodus and the village's destruction. But he also seamlessly changes gears, opening up a Pandora’s box of contemporary critique, of consequences for the environment and the region's welfare. Water is a lifeline in Jaguaribara. But what will become of its people in the absence of it?

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How to make a movie in an absence? That is the question director Yvann Yagchi is confronted with in his documentary. Not just of land, that once belonged to his Palestinian ancestors and now is being settled by Jewish immigrants. But of a friendship that once was, between a Swiss-Palestinian and a Swiss Jew, in which the latter decided to become a settler himself. In the absence of hearing two accounts of this decline, Yagchi eloquently sets out to look for answers amongst his own family, the historical records, and the people he meets on both sides. Avoiding to draw clear lines in the sand, Yagchi seeks to reconnect the dots of what was and is. But he and the viewer just become painfully aware, they might be already too scattred.

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For decades, they seemed a constant threat in the Columbian jungle. Now, after disarmament, they will slowly move into the realm of painful Colombian history. Pierre Carles does, what not many directors or storytellers would do. He gives the Colombian guerillas a voice. Joining them in the jungle, there is a certain provocation in how matter-of-fact they talk about their past. But by cross-referencing romantic film portrayals, media coverage and contemporary footage, a deeper glimpse into the ideals of these guerillas emerges. One does not have to agree with them. But the rare possibility to do so makes this documentary even more intriguing.

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The first thing we note in the "Sarura" Documentary is that Palestinians and Israelis look alike, and the only difference is the guns and uniforms used by the seconds. They also live in greener hills, while the Palestinian have only rocky country to them.
"Sarura" follows up another documentary made many years ago in the same vein, with hopes that it would improve the world, the news is that nothing has changed. Pacific resistance against an armed power is only possible if watched by a third party. Children filmed on the first, documentary are now the filmmakers doing the second. But what they register hasn't changed: groups of children traveling to the school escorted by the Israeli army for fearing harassment from Israeli illegal Colonizers, goat shepherds advised to go away to not antagonize these, olive trees planted by the firsts and burned by the last, and more, much more, It's a sour documentary, reporting a very slow stealing process in action, under the awareness of a world wide public, a necessary one, if we want to understand the explosions that periodically happen in the Middle-East.