Poor Things

In a Zambian village, an eight-year-old girl is accused of witchcraft after a small incident and sent to a government-run witch camp, where the women are tied to spools of white ribbon so they can't fly away. She is made a tourist attraction and a courtroom tool. A deadpan satire from a Zambian-Welsh director about how belief becomes an industry.

Why it’s here: It's what a society does to someone who is made a spectacle. What's punk is the dry comedy of bureaucracy and tourism turning a child into an exhibit. What's pedagogical is the question it leaves: who benefits from the story? Pairs with Things Fall Apart, The Famished Road and Satanic Verses (suggested 10-22). Note: dark comedy, with a child at the center and no easy rescue; Nyoni drew on real witch camps in Ghana. English, Bemba and Nyanja with subtitles.

Sam, a Syrian refugee in Lebanon, wants to get to Paris to find the woman he loves. A famous artist offers him a deal: let him tattoo a visa onto Sam's back, and Sam becomes an artwork that can cross borders that people cannot. A dark comedy about art, money and who gets to move, from a Tunisian director.

Why it’s here: It's a film about what a body is worth when a border is the price of freedom. What's punk is the cruel joke at its center: a painting can travel where a person cannot. What's pedagogical is the question it leaves about who profits when someone's suffering gets framed. Pairs with Exit West, The Sympathizer and Fire at Sea (suggested 10-29). Note: R-rated; some sexual content and a scene of violence; mostly Arabic and French with subtitles.