Tracing the thread…
His films consistently expose the failures and cruelties of institutional systems—welfare, education, and social services—through intimate character studies of those caught within them.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder GermanyHe examined institutional power structures, social hierarchies, and the psychological toll of living under oppressive systems with raw emotional intensity and formal experimentation.
Chloé Zhao China/United StatesHer work explores how institutions—economic systems, bureaucracies, and social structures—shape individual lives, particularly among marginalized communities living outside conventional institutional frameworks.