Equilibrium
In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the populace with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death. A man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system.
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Winston Smith is a government employee whose job involves the rewriting of history in a manner that casts his fictional country's leaders in a charitable light. His trysts with Julia provide his only measure of enjoyment, but lawmakers frown on the relationship -- and in this closely monitored society, there is no escape from Big Brother.
The Tale of Despereaux
Once upon a time... in the far away kingdom of Dor... lived a brave and virtuous mouse with comically oversized ears who dreamt of becoming a knight. Banished from his home for having such lofty ambitions, Despereaux sets off on an amazing adventure with his good-hearted rat friend Roscuro, who leads him, at long last, on a very noble quest to rescue an endangered princess and save an entire kingdom from darkness.
Persepolis
In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.
THX 1138
People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.
Fortress 2
John Brennick once again finds himself imprisoned, but this time in a new, more sophisticated fortress prison in outer space. But Brennick's not a man to give in easily, and with a 10-year-old son waiting for him back on earth, he's going to pack some serious assault on the evil corporation.
One, Two, Three
In Cold War-era West Berlin, American Coca-Cola executive C.R. 'Mac' MacNamara is tasked with playing babysitter to his boss' spoiled 17-year-old daughter Scarlett, who proves more difficult than anticipated when she reveals that she is pregnant by a Communist.
Fahrenheit 451
In the future, the government maintains control of public opinion by outlawing literature and maintaining a group of enforcers, known as “firemen,” to perform the necessary book burnings. Fireman Montag begins to question the morality of his vocation…
Before Night Falls
Spanning several decades, this powerful biopic offers a glimpse into the life of famed Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, an artist who was vilified for his homosexuality in Fidel Castro's Cuba.
Keepers of the Fog
Images and reality intermingle in this account of the writer's own experiences under totalitarian regime.
Politzek, the voices that challenge the Kremlin
In Russia, criticizing the war in Ukraine or Vladimir Putin’s regime has become a crime. Thousands of ordinary citizens are being arrested, tried, and imprisoned. They are called “Politzek”: political prisoners. Filmed clandestinely over the course of more than a year, Politzek gives a platform to those who, despite the fear, continue to speak out against Putin’s repressive Russia. Through the intersecting stories of a teenager sentenced to five years in prison for criticizing the government on social media, a young artist jailed for placing anti-war stickers, a human rights activist, and two theater directors facing Kafkaesque trials, the film unveils the machinery of state repression in Russia. With rare footage, broken yet unyielding voices, this is a story of silenced resistance.
Résistance
Dominated by an Insect's totalitarian regime, the staff of a restaurant organizes a plot to knock down the established order.
Cronache 2037
In the year 2037, a series of encrypted video journals begin surfacing across a collapsed digital network, documenting the final days before an unexplained global blackout changed civilization forever. As governments fall silent and entire cities disappear offline, a small group of survivors attempts to uncover the truth behind a classified experiment that may have triggered humanity’s downfall.
Salvador (Puig Antich)
The story of Salvador Puig Antich, one of the last political prisoners to be executed under Franco's Fascist State in 1974.
1984
In a bleak and oppressive totalitarian society ruled by Big Brother, personal freedoms are nonexistent and surveillance is constant. Art is mocked and destroyed, and imagination is considered a serious illness. In this grim world, a brilliant mathematician engages in a forbidden romance with a colleague and learns about a secret resistance. He is faced with a choice - to join or betray it.
Russia, China, Iran: The Axis of Revenge
Russia, China and Iran: three former empires are determined to take their revenge and reassert their power after centuries of humiliation. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, they have never been so aligned on the international stage. Their common goal: to put an end to Western hegemony, restore their zone of influence and propose a new model of society. To achieve this, they are waging a hybrid war against the democracies: military, technological, economic, informational and ideological. Are they on the verge of joining forces to create a new world order?
Closet Land
A young writer is interrogated by a sadistic secret policeman. She is accused of embedding political messages in her children's stories. The entire movie takes place in one room, with only the two actors. The movie is set in an unidentified, modern police state.
Betrayal
After the war, in Bucharest, a young Romanian poet arrested for having written an article denouncing Stalinist crimes, will save his life by accepting to become a hostage of the regime.
1984
George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love. Episode 1 of Season 6 of Studio One's anthology series.