A RIVER CHANGES COURSE

by Kalyanee Mam |
Migrant Films, Documentation Center of Cambodia
| 83’ | Cambodia - USA | 2013
Twice a year in Cambodia, the Tonle Sap River changes course, while the river of life flows in a perpetual cycle of death and rebirth and of creation and destruction. Working in an intimate, verite style, Kalyanee Mam, spent two years in her native homeland following three young Cambodians struggling to overcome the crushing effects of deforestation, overfishing, and overwhelming debt.

A Tunnel

by Vano Arsenishvili, Nino Orjonikidze
Artefact Production, Ventana Film
| 92' | Georgia, Germany | 2019 | 2K |
People are hard at work extending the railroad in a remote Georgian mountain village. When they’re done, the new Silk Road Express will run through here. In his office at the station, an old-time stationmaster prepares for his role in the future, when a lot more trains will be coming through the station.
There are promises of prosperity and progress, but in the dreamy atmosphere of the fairy-tale village, the coming of the express train feels more like a nightmare.

Dharavi, Slum for sale

by Rob Appleby, Lutz Konermann
Hugofilm, Tradewind Pictures GmbH, Germany
| 59’- 79’/35mm | Switzerland | 2010 | HD 16:9 |
Dharavi, India's biggest slum is to be knocked down and its profitable real estate to be turned into billions of Dollars. The film follows the struggle of the underprivileged to defend their homes and livelihoods against mounting globalisation.

EMPIRE OF DUST

by Bram Van Paesschen
Savage Film
| 77’ | Belgium | 2011 | HD Loa Yang and Eddy both work for the Chinese Railway Engineering Company in charge of rebuilding the 300km-long road that connects Kolwezi to the capital of the province Lubumbashi. Loa Yang is head of logistics for the group but when he sees that none of the necessary material arrives, he has no option but to leave the camp with Eddy, a Congolese man who speaks fluent Mandarin, and head out to deal with local Congolese entrepreneurs. The result is an endless, harsh but absurdly funny roller coaster of negotiations and misunderstandings, as Lao Yang learns about the Congolese ways.

European Film Awards Shortlist

HOW TO MEET A MERMAID

by Coco Schrijber
Zeppers Film &TV, House of Real (Denmark), Off World (Belgium)
| 90’ | The Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium | 2016 | HD |
In 'HOW TO MEET A MERMAID', the sea is the thread that binds the lives of Lex, Rebecca, and Miguel together. Will they find the paradise they so anxiously seek underneath the water?

In the Name of the Animals

by Sabine Kueckelmann
Sabine Kueckelmann
| 104’ - 52’ | Germany | 2015 | HD |
“The film powerfully explores how people say they “love” animals (cats and dogs) but see others just as a food source or byproduct. This film explores the deplorable and inhumane treatment this creates as a result. It makes us take a hard look at ourselves and how we so easily close our eyes to their suffering, unwilling to confront the endless pain and cruelty at our own hands.” (Jury Accolade Award)

Last Harvest

by Hui Wang
Redbean Productions
| 78’ - 52' | Canada | 2015 | |
Last Harvest follows the remarkable journey of Mr. and Mrs. Xu, an elderly Chinese farming couple, on a forced relocation by the government’s mammoth South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Lyrical and intimate, the film brings us into the life of two compelling peasants facing major disruption late in life. It continues the story where other documentaries left off – after the people have been relocated and have to re-build their lives, and offers a direct experience of the collision between traditional culture and modernization, through which we see the imminent extinction of Old China as New China emerge.

Let there be Light

by Mila Aung-Thwin
EyeSteelFilm
| 80’&52’ | Canada | 2017 | 4K |
The world’s most complex science experiment is humanity’s greatest hope for the future of clean energy.

LoveMEATender

by Manu Coeman
AT Production/AT-DOC, Planète Vie
| 52' - 63' | Belgium | 2011 | HD |
This documentary is a fierce indictment of the industrialized meat industry. The objective is to demonstrate the consequences of our excessive meat consumption: for the animals, for the earth, but also for our own bodies.

My Thai Bride

by David Tucker
Showreal Films Pty Ltd
| 55’ | Australia | 2011 | |
In Wales, Ted doesn't exist. This 46-year-old single man feels lonely in a society where only young people count. In Thailand he marries Tip. His new wife starts running the finances before long he leaves penniless.

POWERLESS

by Fahad Mustafa & Deepti Kakkar Globalistan Films
| India | 80' - 52' | India | 2013 | HD
Shariq, a 22-year-old electrician living in Kanpur, is renowned for his prowess in stealing electricity. In the face of day-long power-cuts, he runs illegal connections from one neighborhood to another so that homes, factories and business are not left in the dark. Meanwhile, the city administration is renewing its efforts to clamp down on power-theft, which costs them millions of rupees in losses each year.

Smog Town

by Meng Han
DuGood Productions, SonaFilm, MF Production
| 89’&52’ | China, South Korea, Netherlands | 2019 | HD |
Langfang is one of the most air-polluted cities in China. There, the interests of the local environmental protection bureau, which is under political pressure, clash with those of industry. A case study on China’s fight against pollution.

South to North

by Antoine Boutet
Les Films du Présent, Sister Productions
| 109' | France | 2014 | DCP, dvd blu ray, video, hd, quicktime |
The Nan Shui Bei Diao (South Water North Move), designed to move water from the south to the north of China, is the biggest water transfer project the world has ever seen. Charting the path of this national construction project, the film maps the turbulent cartography of a territory where cement defeats the plains, rivers are deviated from their natural course, deserts become forests and where gradually people are becoming vocal, demanding justice and the right to speak out. While matter decomposes and individuals are becoming alarmed, a science-fiction landscape, against nature, is reconstituted.

TOXIC PLAYGROUND

by Willliam Johansson & Lars Edman
Laïka Film
| Sweden | 70’ - 58’ | 2009 | Children in Arica in the North of Chile are falling badly ill because of toxic waste dumped by a Swedish company in the 80’s. The young filmmaker Lars find Rolf, head of environment at the company who was responsible for the waste going to Chile and who decides to deal with his wrongdoings in the past. He agrees to go back to Chile to take the consequenses.

WAITING FOR GIRAFFES

by Marco de Stefanis
Volya Films - Cassette for timescapes | 84’ - 55’ | Netherlands - Belgium | 2016 | HD
Who is more restrained in Qalqilya, its citizens or the zoo animals? The village is for the most part surrounded by Israel’s wall. A lot of the zoo animals were killed during the intifadas, and most recently a giraffe couple.