Movies: Bureaucracy

A satirical take on the mundane absurdities of life in modern-day Iran, these nine vignettes illuminate the lighter side of enduring under authoritarian rule. Whether choosing a name for a newborn, graduating from grade school, getting a driver’s lic...

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors....

Ahmed heads to Tahrir compound to extract papers to move his son to another school. There he clashes with the administrative obstacles. He suddenly finds himself involved in carrying a weapon and taking hostages at the government building and becomes...

In Paris, Lulu, a passionate policeman, works with the faith of a rookie, despite the sclerotic bureaucracy and the incompetence or negligence of some of his colleagues. In his new position as a narcotics inspector, he tries to keep his sanity as he ...

Joseph K. awakes one morning, to find two strange men in his room, telling him he has been arrested. Joseph is not told what he is charged with, and despite being "arrested," is allowed to remain free and go to work. But despite the strange nature of...

A full-time carer plots a daring heist from the Houses of Parliament, in a bid to thwart devastating welfare reforms known as Independence Credit....

WELFARE shows the nature and complexity of the welfare system in sequences illustrating the staggering diversity of problems that constitute welfare: housing, unemployment, divorce, medical and psychiatric problems, abandoned and abused children, and...

Deep within Buenos Aires's labyrinthine subway system, a train mysteriously disappears along with its 30 passengers. The subway officials are greatly troubled and call in topographer Daniel Pratt to help them find it. Unfortunately, the tunnels are s...

Three episodes. Faith: a woman is attacked. Hope: a fakir is crucified. Charity: a woman faces bureaucracy....

In England, an eccentric police inspector, an earnest test pilot and a spunky female reporter team up to solve the mystery of a series of test aircraft which have disappeared without a trace while over the ocean on their maiden flights; unaware, as t...

Pensioner Roli comes to Fareed's assistance when the Syrian refugee is faced with the burial of his Muslim wife. Together they stumble into a bewildering forest of Swiss bureaucracy to which Roli finds beautifully simple answer....

Reverse Cowgirl. Rusty Trombone. The Wheelbarrow. Go inside the government office responsible for creating sexual positions as one woman pitches the position she hopes will take the world by storm....

An American couple's battle through bureaucracy to adopt a Romanian child....

An adopted boy's parents are killed, and to keep him from returning to the state's custody, he and his grandfather run away....

A copying error by a military scribe turns the Russian words "the lieutenants, however" into what looks like "lieutenant Kizhe". The Tsar reads the error, and wants to meet this (non-existent) lieutenant. The courtiers, eager to avoid the wrath of th...

Mivtza Savta ("Operation Grandma") is a satirical Israeli comedy about three very different brothers trying to get around many obstacles to bury their grandmother on her kibbutz. The story takes place in Israel, in the fictional kibbutz "Asisim"....

A young couple decides to build their dream house, but run into numerous complications in the process. Everything from useless carpenters to building control gets in their way. Norwegian comedian Rolv Wesenlund plays 7 different roles in this movie....

A young man attempts to fight the system in an entertaining account of bureaucracy amok and the tyranny of red tape. Restored by the Academy Film Archive and the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industrias Cinematográficos in 2019....

This romantic drama follows two policemen whose job is to investigate the lives of foreigners who have applied for Swiss citizenship. Among the applicants they must screen are a French psychiatrist and his wife, and a ballet dancer. The married coupl...

Urban girl falls for rugged forest ranger....