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THEME EXPLORATION

institutional life

12 films · 3 directors

Tracing the thread…

FILMS THAT EXPLORE THIS
The Gin Game
The Gin Game
1981 · Mike Nichols
Boyhood
Boyhood
2014 · Richard Linklater
You Have to Come and See It
You Have to Come and See It
2022 · Jonás Trueba
Cold War 1994
Cold War 1994
2026 · Leung Lok-Man
Roma
Roma
1972 · Federico Fellini
The Whole Town’s Talking
The Whole Town’s Talking
1935 · John Ford
Russian Lullabies
Russian Lullabies
1993 · Nobuhiko Obayashi
Tokyo-ga
Tokyo-ga
1985 · Wim Wenders
The Jericho Mile
The Jericho Mile
1979 · Michael Mann
Young Man with Ideas
Young Man with Ideas
1952 · Mitchell Leisen
Aquí está Heraclio Bernal/Here Comes Heraclio Bernal
Aquí está Heraclio Bernal/Here Comes Heraclio Bernal
1957 · Roberto Gavaldón
The Gleaners and I
The Gleaners and I
2000 · Agnès Varda
DIRECTORS WHO EXPLORE THIS
Ken Loach → United Kingdom

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 → Germany

He 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 States

Her work explores how institutions—economic systems, bureaucracies, and social structures—shape individual lives, particularly among marginalized communities living outside conventional institutional frameworks.

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