Poverty Movies

Highlights the hardships faced by a boy who works selling popsicles at the local train station and forced by economic circumstance to smuggle rice...

The Police Tapes is a 1977 documentary about a New York City police precinct in the South Bronx. The original ran ninety minutes and was produced for...

A young man befriends the last surviving Civil War veteran, intending to rob him of $50,000.

During the last half-century, Cambodia has witnessed genocide, decades of war and the collapse of social order. Now, documentary filmmaker Rithy Panh...

A New York tramp falls in love with the mayor's amnesiac girlfriend after rescuing her from a suicide attempt.

In a desperate attempt to make their voices heard by the government, two men and a woman, living in difficult circumstances in the Tin Shacks, take a...

As a family of siblings and their spouses gathers at their father's deathbed, old jealousies and new angers and liaisons lead to an inevitable climax.

In the midst of a catastrophic steel industry collapse, a remarkable grassroots community effort leads to a national healthcare program that helps...

Gardoni, a down-on-his-luck vaudeville performer, is taken in by a fellow performer, a clown who has a bicycle riding act. Gardoni shows his...

Jose lives with his family in La Soledad, a dilapidated villa located in what used to be one of Caracas' most affluent neighborhoods. After learning...

This MGM Passing Parade series short tells the story of Julian Poydras, whose encounter with a girl at Mardi Gras had a profound effect on his later...

Shot over three years, Pariah Dog paints a kaleidoscopic picture of the city of Kolkata, seen through the prism of four outsiders and the dogs they...

As police and DEA agents battle sophisticated cartels, rural, economically-disadvantaged users and dealers–whose addiction to ICE and lack of...

This 1979 documentary depicts the daily life of gangs in the South Bronx. It deals primarily with two African American and Puerto Rican gangs known...

A woman struggles as she is caught at a supermarket for shoplifting. This award-winning short film is inspired by the cost of living crisis in...

In cities like Paris there are countless people from Eastern Europe who have forsaken their homelands because they can see no future there. Lucia and...

Three kids in a low-income neighborhood find friendship and community in an unlikely place.

Summer 1994: Christian grows up under the violent hand of his father. When his mother dies, his aunt Juli fights to ensure that Christian can attend...