Tattooed Under Fire is a grippingly intimate, character-driven portrait of war-bound and returning soldiers as they go under the tattoo needle - sharing their secrets and confessing their fears. Each soldier’s story is an evocative, poignant and highly personal look at the human and cultural cost of war.

In Freedom Park, a squatter settlement in South Africa, a group of HIV-infected former sex-workers create a network called Tapologo. They become home based carers for their community, transforming degradation into solidarity and squalor into hope.

Victoria Donda Perez is one of the first babies born in a clandestine detention centre during the Argentinean military dictatorship of the late 1970’s. Thirty years on Victoria embarks on a journey of self-discovery to find out what happened to her parents.

Every year, indigenous leaders from all over the world come to the United Nations in New York, to participate in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Viktor Kaisiepo, the representative of Western Papua comes to defend the rights of his people, colonised by Indonesia since 1969.

Native Americans in Northern California fight for their fish and the survival of their culture. An energy corporation is messing up their river with a series of hydro-power dams, contributing to one of the worst fish die-offs in U.S. history.

In the summer of 2006, while the football world’s attention was focused on Germany, thousands of players around the globe were training hard and competing to be part of the World Cup… The Homeless World Cup. The film follows seven players in their own tough worlds as they confront the daily challenges of life on the streets, battle drug and alcohol addiction, and fight for the right to be recognised as human beings.

United by a single theme – human rights in Scotland – this film draws together some of the most talented filmmakers and visual artists based in Scotland, to make a film that communicates a variety of artistic visions whilst exploring the real life stories of those for whom the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has intimate meaning.

Eleven people are preparing to pose naked for a book of photos. They were born disabled, like the director himself, due to the disastrous side-effects of Thalidomide. These fascinating characters are working in areas such as politics, the media, sport, astrophysics and acting and have learned to live with their disability to an impressive level of “normality”.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the federal state of Belarus regained its independence. The cautious democratisation process was nipped in the bud when in 1994 Alexander Lukashenko won the presidential elections and went on to reign with an iron fist. Journalists reveal how Lukashenko systematically undermines the ability of the media to record events in Belarus.

For a number of years, Dr. Sharadkumar Dicksheet has been coming to the aid of poor families in India to perform life-changing surgery. Flying on One Engine tells the remarkable story of Dr Dicksheet, a US plastic surgeon who is partially paralysed, battled oesophageal cancer, suffered two heart attacks and a cerebral haemorrhage. He has turned his back on the opportunity to earn a lot of money operating on Americans to conduct marathon surgery sessions in India. www.flyingononeengine.com

Nearly 3 billion people live below the poverty line earning less than 2 US dollars a day. In 2000, all the governments committed to halve poverty by 2015. But what is the situation today? Global warming, famine, financial crisis: the challenges are now global and more urgent than ever. Eight directors give us their free and personal vision about our world. www.8themovie.com