Short film: The Flag (Turkey). Both this short and the feature that followed it show Turkish kids reciting a national oath, which, in this film, to an outsider looking in, sounded pretty scary. In the feature, it doesn't have the same impact, maybe because we get to see those kids as real people, (and because we'd already seen this short). And you worry about nationalism taking hold over here.
Times and Winds (Turkey). The Flag had me thought-singing Istanbul, the opening scene of this one threw me into a silent rendition of The Sun. We're introduced to some kids and learn one of them has a crush on their teacher. And soon that another wants his father dead. Why? One of the girls is her Dad's favourite. And one has no parents and gets beaten by the guy who owns the goats. And one of their parents (maybe the one who wants to kill his Dad!) is failing to live up to his own father's expectations. It took me too long to work out who belonged to who. I might've otherwise loved the film.
Blindsight A bunch of blind kids from Lhasa are taken on a trek to Everest (or nearly, they were aiming for a mountain off to the north-east a bit). An amazing film. The producer spoke before and after the screening. She could spin a question out through three tangents.
The Witnesses (France). AIDS in France in the 80s. Solid, maybe a little bit long.
Ghosts (UK). A story based on the tragic real-life deaths of twenty something Chinese illegal immigrants in the UK. I think you would've liked this one.
I haven't cried in anything yet. Came close in Blindsight when one of the girls in the group was told she'd have to go down the mountain early. And Ghosts was moving. But nothing has really affected me.