Hurricane Season

On the Italian island of Lampedusa, a twelve-year-old boy learns to use a slingshot, a doctor treats seasick islanders, and a radio operator hears distress calls from boats in the Mediterranean. The film cuts between the island's daily life and the coast guard rescuing people from overloaded boats. It won the Golden Bear at Berlin.

Why it’s here: The film holds two worlds side by side and refuses to explain either: the island that goes on with its life, and the people who arrive. What's punk is the refusal of voiceover and the absence of a rescue narrative. What's pedagogical is that students can discuss what the camera chooses to look at. Companion to Exit West and Solito. Note: slow and quiet, with scenes of bodies from a rescue.

Based on a real 1990s case in Tamil Nadu: a man from the Irular tribal community is arrested by police on a false theft charge and disappears in custody. His wife, Sengani, goes looking for him, and a lawyer takes the case. A courtroom drama about caste, police violence and what it takes to make an institution answer.

Why it’s here: The film puts caste on screen as a legal system and not a metaphor. What's punk is how it centers a woman nobody would listen to and refuses to let the court be the hero. What's pedagogical is the case file: it shows how a lawyer builds evidence against a state. Pairs with Annihilation of Caste, Ants Among Elephants and Caste. Note: Tamil with subtitles, about 2h45m, and it shows police torture. The release drew a defamation complaint over a calendar image in one scene, and the filmmakers changed it.