Seekers

The Marr Family from Edmonton, Alberta travel to Thailand for one last search for their missing son, Jamie. This compelling documentary produced for the CBC Witness strand follows a grueling three week search into the underbelly of Thai society as they desperately try and find Jamie who disappeared 5 years earlier. This was nominated for a Gemini for the Donald Britain Award for best documentary and a Hot Doc nomination for best social political documentary. CBC.

Vārdotājas (Wordsmiths) traces the recent rise of women's stand-up comedy in Latvia, but it is by no means just for laughs. Feelings of discomfort, shame, shock, are just some of the subjects tackled.

"If a person doesn't go to church anymore, then the church should go to them," says Rinalds, a calm, smiling, young man with a good sense of humor. He is a priest from a small village in Latgale, Latvia's easternmost and poorest region, and the documentary Prīsters (The Priest) follows the routines of his daily life, his thoughts of life and religion and why he chose this path for himself.

Aspiring influencer Gabby Petito sets out on a cross-country road trip with her fiancé, but she soon disappears, and the ensuing mystery goes viral. New footage of the couple sheds light on their struggles that led to the nightmarish outcome.

The Rastreadoras de El Fuerte are a group of mothers of disappeared persons in northern Sinaloa who, in the absence of the authorities, twice a week go out with picks and shovels in search of the remains of their children; a testimony of the abandonment of the State, the aggressions of the drug traffickers, the indifference of society and the pain, but also of the strength and courage that keep these women together, and of their empowerment to mobilize society in community organization.

Mitrice Richardson, a lovely 24 year old African-American woman, was released late at night from the Malibu, California Sheriffs jail after having been detained for not paying her bill at an upscale restaurant. She was described as 'acting crazy' and, in fact, was having a mental crisis. She was released into the mountainous region with no cell, no purse, no ID, no car, no way home and vanished. Eleven months later her remains were found in a desolate Malibu canyon. 'Lost Compassion,' shot from ten days after Mitrice went missing, tells the complex, emotional inside story of the search for Mitrice and struggles with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, whose deputies lied about her arrest and likely were involved with her disappearance and murder.

In this film a young man and his curmudgeonly grandfather are going 1,800 km to northern Russia in an old Zhiguli car, hoping to find the grave of their great-grandfather, who was deported. The grandfather Andris is sceptic over the lofty quest, initiated by his grand-son, as it’s not known what awaits them at their destination. Andris thinks they won’t find anything and will come back to Latvia without ever learning what happened to his father. However ever-optimistic Kārlis wants to use the journey not only to find answers about the past but also become closer to his grandfather who raised him. They both lost their parents as children.

Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old Chinese student, comes to the U.S. to study. In her detailed and beautiful diaries, the aspiring young scientist and teacher is full of optimism, hoping to also be married and a mother someday. Within weeks of her arrival, Yingying disappears from the campus. Through exclusive access to Yingying’s family and boyfriend, Finding Yingying closely follows their journey as they search to unravel the mystery of her disappearance and seek justice for their daughter while navigating a strange, foreign country. But most of all, Finding Yingying is the story of who Yingying was: a talented young woman loved by her family and friends.

In the Mexican narco-war, thousands of mothers search for their missing sons and daughters. In Portraits of a Search, the stories of Natividad, Guadalupe and Margarita intertwine to convey the different forms of confronting the search and uncertainty: one turns to the FBI, another obtains the Nation´s president´s personal promise, and the other tries to return to her routines so as to save her grandson. A portrait of Mexico today.

A single mother of two from small town Canada looks for her missing father in Mexico and ends up taking on one of the most corrupt justice systems in the world.

The director traces Slovenian children who were stolen during WW2.

In Missing 411: The UFO Connection, David Paulides continues the story of people who vanish in the wild without a trace. In his third documentary, David reveals the first evidence documenting a link between UFOs and missing people.

Issac, a grieving brother, retells his encounter of an alien phenomenon in the depths of an ominous lake that’s linked to his younger brother’s disappearance .

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The story of Tim Reilly (84) whose son Matthew disappeared in1999. All that remains of him today are his paintings, which his father, Tim, curates.

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Three high schoolers investigate the disappearance of a fellow student, Aubrey. She was last seen entering the abandoned back hallways of their school, Asher Academies. There is a legend that the founder of the school, Asher Neal, died in the back halls and now his ghost haunts that half of the school, but no one believes that. However, as the team continues to investigate Aubrey's disappearance, the presence of a ghost seems more and more real.

A Man Vanishes examines the concept of Johatsu, tackling the phenomenon of people missing in Japan over the years. It picks one such person from the list, someone who had seemed to disappear from the face of the earth due to embezzlement from his company, and the filmmakers begin an investigative documentary into the reasons behind and attempt at tracking him down.

With exclusive access to the lives of 8 women, ranging in age from 10 to 98, explore powerful testimonials of loss and survival and gain insight into the experience of a modern Indigenous American living on a reservation. Gripping historical accounts and startling timely statistics guide viewers down the path that has led to these present day conditions.

Realizing the urban legend of their youth has actually come true, two filmmakers delve into the mystery surrounding five missing children and the real-life boogeyman linked to their disappearances.