#Female Pleasure

by Barbara Miller
Mons Veneris Films GmbH, Das Kollektiv für audiovisuelle Werke GmbH, INDI FILM GmbH
| 97' | Switzerland, Germany | 2018 | DCP |
#FEMALE PLEASURE embarks on a journey to discover the remaining obstacles that stand in the way of female sexuality in the 21st century.

100UP

by Heddy Honigmann
Dutch Mountain Film, Savage Film, Tenk.tv
| 92’&52’ | The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway | 2020 | 2K |
A doctor from Lima still works in the hospital, in New York a sexologist still sees clients, while elsewhere in the city a student attends lectures at the university. On the other side of the world, a spry Norwegian helps with lambing and a distinguished Dutchman is working fanatically on an online platform for human rights. What do they have in common? They’ve all passed their 100th birthday.

5 BROKEN CAMERAS

Palestinian farm laborer Emad has five video cameras, and each of them tells a different part of the story of his village's resistance to Israeli oppression. Emad lives in Bil'in, just west of the city of Ramallah in the West Bank. Using the first camera, he recorded how the bulldozers came to rip the olive trees out of the ground in 2005. Here, a wall was built directly through his fellow villagers' land to separate the advancing Jewish settlements from the Palestinians.

A Diary of Healing

A MOTHER BRINGS HER SON TO BE SHOT

by Sinead O'Shea
Blinder Films Limited, Spring Films, SOS Productions
| 82’ | Ireland | 2017 | HD |
Filmed over five years, this unflinching darkly humorous documentary examines violence committed by groups opposed to the peace process in Northern Ireland, long after the Troubles came to an end. The title is no exaggeration.

A Parked Life

by Peter Triest
Savage Film, Docmakers
| 70’&52’ | Belgium, The Netherlands | 2021 | HD |
Parked Life is an intimate portrait of one of the estimated one million Eastern European truck drivers on Europe's roads. Petar is one of those truck drivers living like nomads. He sees the cracks in Europe through his windscreen and the cracks in his marriage on his phone.

A STRANGER'S SKIN

by Christophe Hermans
Frakas Productions
51’ | Belgium | 2011

Arnaud is a 20 year old young man. Following the death of his mother three years ago, he has dropped out of his studies and taken refuge in food to fill the void. He now weighs 177 kilos and lives with his father, with whom he quarrels constantly. Arnaud has reached the point where he has decided to undergo a stomach reduction operation....

A Syrian Love Story

by Sean McAllister

| 80’ | UK | 2015 | |
Filmed over 5 years, A Syrian Love Story charts an incredible odyssey to political freedom in the West. For Raghda and Amer, it is a journey of hope, dreams and despair: for the revolution, their homeland and each other.

After the Rain

by Jian Fan
FAN Film Studio, Golden Doc Productions, Black Cat Entertainment Co., Ltd., Tencent News
| 104' | China | 2021 | 2K |
After an earthquake razed a Chinese city to the ground in 2008, more than six thousand parents were encouraged to replace the children they lost and move on with their lives. AFTER THE RAIN follows two of these families for over a decade. Haunted by fear, resentment, and unspeakable grief, the families find hope beyond intergenerational trauma to build towards an uncertain tomorrow.

Agnus Dei: Lamb of God

by Alejandra Sanchez
La Femme Endormie, Imcine & Pepa Films
| 84’ - 52’ | Mexico/France | 2010 | HDV |
Agnus Dei is a courageous, candid documentary on the thorny subject of pedophilia in the Catholic Church. As an 11-year-old altar boy, Jesús, now 26, was abused by a priest. After years of silence, he decides not only to bring criminal charges against his aggressor, but to confront him in the flesh. This is the story of Jesús’s journey, a mandatory hiatus on the road to forgiveness, born of a deep-seated need to come to terms with the past. Jesús is torn between brotherly love and anger toward his sexual predator in this film full of nuances that gives a name and a face to a problem stigmatized by silence.

AT THE PHILOSOPHER'S SCHOOL

by Fernand Melgar
Climage
| 97’ | Switzerland | 2018 | 4K |
The adventure of a small group of children different from the others, who open themselves to life and to the world.

Back to the Taj Mahal Hotel

by Carina Molier
Witfilm
| 70’ & 55’ | The Netherlands | 2017 | HD |
Witnesses of the attack on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai look back and reflect on existential questions about fear, freedom and security. The effect that fear can have on a person is apparent from the way it has changed each witness’s view of life.

Before the Last Curtain Falls

by Thomas Wallner
Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion Köln GmbH & Co.KG , Savage Film
| 86’&52’ | Germany/Belgium | 2014 | HD |
The film dives deeply into the exceptional and heart-warmingstories of a group of transsexuals and drag queens in their sixties and seventies, who summon up their bravery to take the stage once again – perhaps for the last time.

Bitter Love

by Jerzy Sladkowski
Ginestra Film AB, MADE, Ragusa Film
| 86’ | Sweden, Finland, Poland | 2020 | HD |
A lovesick misfit, a mysterious beauty, a retired civil servant, a randy fortuneteller and a doubtful young couple meet in late summer on a Russian river cruise on Volga. What does fate have in store for them? Everyone boards the ship carrying a hope. A hope of a discovery, a reconciliation, a connection.

Burning Out

by Jérôme le Maire
AT Production/AT-DOC, Iota Production (Belgium), Louise Productions (Switzerland), Zadig (France)
| 82’ | Belgium-France | 2016 | HD |
Burning out follows a group of doctors and their team crushed by a profitability injunction of our contemporary world. Could they resist ? If the caregivers are suffering who will treat them ?

Calendar Girls

by Maria Loohufvud, Love Martinsen
Pink Dolphin AB
| 83’&58’ | Sweden | 2022 | 4K |
They are the magical reindeers at parties and churches, pink fluffy unicorns at air force reunions, and zombies at retirement homes. They are the Calendar Girls – Florida’s most dedicated dance team for women over 60. Being a Calendar Girl requires commitment and passion but it gives something priceless back – 30 soul sisters who always have your back. Being a Calendar Girl means dancing out the door leaving your problems at home. But it also means that you will change, and that your relationships will be tested. Calendar Girls is an intimate and life-affirming coming-of-mature-age film filled to the brim with playfulness and dance. The film shakes up the outdated image of “the old lady” and is a call for everyone to dance their heart out while you can.

CALVET

by Dominic Allan
Firewalk Films
| 86’ - 52’ | UK | 2011 | HD
Never believe you've played your last hand..

French painter Jean Marc Calvet recounts his incredible life story as a former Cannes bodyguard who abandoned his family, robbed a Miami mobster, hid out in Central America and at the age of 38 overcame addictions through an extraordinary metamorphosis in which he began to paint.

Children of the Mist

by Diem Ha Le
Varan Vietnam Co., Ltd
| 90’ | Vietnam | 2021 | HD |
Di is a 12-year-old girl living in a village lost in the mist of Northwest Vietnamese mountains. She belongs to the Hmong ethnic minority where women get married very young, enduring the controversial tradition of ‘bride-kidnapping’. When Di enters puberty, her personality changes drastically. The carefree little girl has turns into an impetuous, hypersensitive teenager constantly arguing with her mother who is trying to keep her away from reckless relationships that she is not mature enough to handle. On the Lunar New Year’s Eve, when Di’s parents come back home after celebrating, the house is silent: Di has disappeared.

China Heavyweight

by Yung Chang
EyeSteelFilm
| 89' | Canada, China | 2012 | HD |
Award-winning filmmaker Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze) returns to China for another riveting documentary on that country’s ever-changing economic landscape—this time through the lens of sports. In China Heavyweight, Chang follows the charismatic Qi Moxiang, a former boxing star and state coach who recruits young fighting talent from the impoverished farms and villages across Sichuan province. A select few boys (and girls) are sent to national training centers, with the hope of discovering China’s next Olympic heroes. But will these potential boxing champions leave it all behind to be the next Mike Tyson? Their rigorous training, teenage trials and family tribulations are expertly intertwined with Coach Qi’s own desire to get back in the ring for one more shot at victory. Cinematically rich and intimately observed, China Heavyweight is all at once thrilling sports drama, astute social commentary and a beautifully crafted portrait of an athlete.

China's van Goghs

by Haibo YU, Kiki Tiangi YU
Century Image Media Ltd, TrueWorks
| 84' - 52' | China | 2015 | HD |
Vincent van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime, but Zhao Xiaoyong has sold over 90,000 copies of van Gogh’s paintings in the past 20 years. Living in China, the world’s fastest developing country, Zhao has been through great transitions. First from a peasant to a rural migrant worker. Then he learnt how to copy iconic Western paintings. Now Zhao is in the midst of a new transition – from copy maker to original artist. China’s van Gogh not only presents how this painter pursues his dream, but also tells the human story of challenge and struggle during his journey.

Cinema, Mon Amour

by Alexandru Belc
Libra Film Productions, Pink Productions
| 70' - 52' | Romania/Czech Republic | 2015 | |
Having lived through “the golden age” of cinema, Viktor Purice fights to preserve the Dacia Panoramic Cinema in Piatra Neamt - one of the last remaining cinemas in Romania today and bring back the good old glory days, yet struggles to keep up with the new harsh reality. In a theater that lacks heating and is slowly falling apart, with no support from the State who owns the place, it’s almost a Don Quixote fight.

Coach Zoran and His African Tigers

by Sam Benstead
Century Films
| 75’&60’ | UK | 2013 | HD |
South Sudan became an independent state in July 2011, after almost 50 years of civil war. This film follows veteran Serbian coach Zoran Djordjevic as he sets about building the first national football team in this new country, one of the most undeveloped in the world. When South Sudan loses the oil money that makes up a staggering 98% of government revenue, financial meltdown beckons. Under intense pressure, the football team compete in their first ever major international tournament, overcoming malaria, death and poverty. Amidst the chaos a fascinating portrait emerges of the birth of a nation.

Cody - the dog days are over

by Martin Skalsky
Buzzinho Codestar GmbH , Playground Media Productions AG
| 85’&52’ | Switzerland | 2019 | 4K |

Are we capable to give animals rights? What would it mean if we’d decided to do so? Would it have an effect on the most crucial topics of our time: environmental responsibility, climate change, etc.? /td>

Oscar contender Communion / Komunia - a film by Anna Zamecka now playing in U.S theaters

SHORTLISTED for the 91st Academy Awards in the Documentary Feature Category
BEST FILM -Polish Independent Cinema Award 2018
BEST DOCUMENTARY - European Film Awards 2017

COMMUNION

by Anna Zamecka
Otter Films - Wajda Studio | 72’ | Poland | 2016 | HD
When adults are ineffectual, children have to grow up quickly. Ola is 14 and she takes care of her dysfunctional father, autistic brother and a mother who lives separately; but most of all she tries to reunite the family.

NOMINATED FOR AN EMMY AWARD 2016

Darwin. no services ahead

by Nick Brandestini
Nick Brandestini
| 88’ - 59' | Switzerland | 2011 | 16:9 HD |
With a population of 35, Darwin exists without a government, church or children. Its only neighbor is a military base, and for its water supply the town depends on an aging gravity-fed waterline that descends from the mountains where top-secret weapons testing takes place. Darwin has a makeshift look and feel, yet a number of its residents have comfortable homes amid vast desert vistas. A droll and dusty portrait of a place where privacy is prized and boundaries respected.

Descent

by Nays Baghai
Running Cloud Productions
| 67’ & 52’ | Australia | 2020 | 4K |

Dutch ice freediver Kiki Bosch swims in the world’s coldest waters without a wetsuit as therapy for a trauma she experienced, and to inspire others.

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.

Don Juan

by Jerzy Sladkowski
Ginestra Film AB, MADE Oy
| 92’ | Sweden/Finland | 2015 | HD |
A four-sided love triangle, spiced with autism, neuroses and life crises in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod. The 22-year-old autistic young man Oleg is seeking approval and love. He is surrounded by many who wants to help him, but no-one succeeds. Suddenly help comes from an unexpected direction.

Dr. Feelgood

by Eve Marson
Bungalow Pictures
| 83 | USA | 2016 | |
The story of Dr. William Hurwitz a preeminent pain specialist sentenced to 25 years in prison for drug trafficking provides a window into the ethical dilemma of opioid prescriptions. Painkillers give doctors tremendous power to relieve pain, but this power begets trouble when the same drugs lead to addiction, abuse and death..

Entrepreneur

by Virpi Suutari
Oktober Oy
| 74' | Finland | 2018 | HD |
Entrepreneur is a mildly comic take on the spirit and zeal of entrepreneurship, and follows two companies with two opposing approaches to working life in Finland.

Expedition Yemen - 126 degrees in the Shade

by Mikael Strandberg
Explorer Mikael Strandberg, Film I Skåne
| 58’ | Sweden | 2014 | HD |
Together with Tanya, a camel and a Bedus, I have walked through Yemen and the hottest desert on earth. We didn´t meet any terrorists, religious extremists and nobody got killed. What we found in our search of the real Arabia, was a country very different from the one portrayed in the global media.

Geri’s Wish

by Tonislav Hristov
Making Movies Oy, Soul Fool
| 81’ | Finland, Bulgaria | 2024 | |
Geri, 18, is a Bulgarian girl living in an orphanage in the city of Vratza. She’s a senior at a local high school. She’s dreaming of entering university. The final exams are approaching, and this has even bigger meaning for her than to many others, because after the graduation she is obliged to move out from the orphanage.

Gods of Molenbeek

by Reetta Huhtanen
Zone2 Pictures Oy, Hanne Phlypo/ Clin d'oeil Films, Germany: Iris Pakulla/ Tondowski Films
| 73’&52’ | Finland, Belgium, Germany | 2019 | 4K |
The Molenbeek district of Brussels. A believed jihadi capital to some but home sweet home to the 6 year-old boys Aatos and Amine. This is where they listen to spiders, discover black holes and quarrel over who gets to command the flying carpet that is to take them to the lands of their ancestors. They live in the same building, yet come from different worlds.

Golden Land

by Inka Achté
napafilms
| 70’ & 52’ | Finland | 2021 | |
When Finnish-Somali Mustafe discovers that his family's land is full of copper and gold, he decides to leave his secure family life in the north and move to Somaliland. But starting up a mining company in the Horn of Africa turns out to be more difficult than Mustafe imagined and while he gets lost in clan feuds and bureaucracy to get his riches out of the ground, his children struggle to find their place in their new home, where everything is so different from what they grew up with in Finland.

Hawar, Our Banished Children

by Pascale Bourgaux
IOTA Production, Louise Productions
| 73’ - 58’ | Belgium, Switzerland | 2023 | |
In 2014, the Islamic State took control of Northern Iraq. On the way to Mosul, the jihadist troops crossed the Sinjar, home to the Yazidi community. They separated families, killing the men and kidnapping the women and girls, with the intention of “offering” them to jihad fighters on the slave market.

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?

I AM A WOMAN NOW

by Monique Busman
| De Familie | 86’ - 52' | The Netherlands | 2011 | HD
Starting in 1956, people who wanted to have a sex change operation could go to gynecologist Georges Burou in Casablanca - without having to undergo any psychological assessment. Filmmaker Michiel van Erp asks some of these pioneers, all old women now, if the choice that they made back then has changed their lives as they had hoped. How did the outside world react to this first generation of transsexuals?

I Am Kuba

by Ase Svenheim Drivenes
Sant & Usant, AMP Polska, Poland
| 58’ | Norway / Poland / Germany | 2014 | HD |
When the familybusiness goes bankrupt Kuba (12) and Mikołaj's (8) parents are forced to leave Poland to find work abroad. "I am Kuba" is a coming-of-age film about Kuba who must take care of his little brother while his parents are away. As times goes by, Kuba becomes a teenager and rejects the big responsibilty on his young shoulders. His family is forced to make a life changing decision. Kuba's story is also the story about modern Europe. It is estimated that only in Poland more than 100,000 children are left by their parents who are forced to work abroad. «I am Kuba» is an intimate film about children growing up as 'euro-orphans'.

Immortals

by Maja Tschumi
Filmgerberei GmbH, Rola Productions
| 94’ | Switzerland, Iraq | 2024 | 2K |
IMMORTALS is an insight into the hopes and broken dreams of a new generation that has known nothing but war since the US-led occupation.

In God We Trust

by Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek
BMES LLC
| 82’ | USA | 2013 | HD |
Eleanor Squillari went to work every day believing she was working for a great company, a great man. For twenty-five years she sat 15 feet from Bernard L. Madoff as his personal secretary. She never imagined that he was perpetrating the largest financial crime in history. On December 11th, 2008, her life as she knew it was destroyed…until she decided to do something about it. She became obsessed with unearthing the truth. Through this film we experience this journey with Eleanor, as she examines how she unwittingly participated in the massive Ponzi scheme, which operated right under her nose. Years of Eleanor's files and personal memories begin to unwind the crimes as she aids the FBI investigation, and struggles to determine which of her formerly trusted co-workers were involved. As she probes deeper into the deceit, Eleanor finds that Bernie's Ponzi scheme was only the beginning, a small fraction of the criminal activity that took place everyday for decades, right under her nose.

In God’s Hand (In der Hand Gottes)

by Peter Woditsch
Sophimages, Artisan Filme, Germany, Hamburg
| 67’ - 56’ | Belgium | 2014 | HD |
One day they followed their vocation. As priests, they preached love relentlessly, sacrificing body and soul. But slowly, doubts started to grow. In order to keep their faith alive, they decided to leave the church, without looking back. The story of three former priests, a Belgian, an Austrian and a German; Three intimate confessions confronted with the personal view of the film director.

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)

ININNAWA:AN ISLAND CALLING

by Arfan Sabran
Two Islands Digital (PT Dua Pulau Digital)
| 73’- 52’ | Indonesia | 2022 | 2K |
"Ininnawa: An Island Calling" explores the difficulties the world’s largest archipelago faces in providing health care. An out of sight, out of mind approach has failed her people. It is a story of obligation and sacrifice, told through a family dedicating their lives to this pursuit in the remote islands of the Flores Sea.

IRON CROWS

by Bong-Nam Park
Frontline News Service
| South Korea | 90' - 59' | 2009 | HD |
PHP is the best conditioned ship breaking site in Chittagong, a home to the world renowned ship breaking industry. However, the workers risk their lives while wrestling with thousands tons of iron pieces at the yards full of asbestos and toxic gases. There is always a chance for explosion while burning the waste oils trapped in stacks of iron. The workers could easily get crushed and killed while cutting or moving iron plates.

Johatsu – Into Thin Air

by Andreas Hartmann, Arata Mori
Ossa Film Andreas Hartmann, Mori Film
| 85’ - 52’ | Germany, Japan | 2024 | |
In Japan, people vanish without a trace with the support of so-called 'night moving' companies, which help people to disappear from their current life, leaving behind everything to start a new life somewhere else.

European Film Awards Shortlist

La Chana

by Lucija Stojevic
Noon Films S.L., Bless Bless Productions
| 82’ & 55’ | Spain | 2016 | HD |
An intimate portrait of Gypsy flamenco dancer La Chana as she returns to the stage after a 23-year break and uncovers the secret why she disappeared at the peak of her career.

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.

LAST TRAIN HOME

by Lixin Fan
EyeSteelfilm
| Canada | 87’ - 52’ | 35mm | 2009 | HD |

Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival is the most important holiday in the lunar calendar. It remains the last stronghold of Chinese traditions that are withering rapidly with the invasion of new values. Each year, hundreds of millions of migrant workers return to their homes from the city to the rural countryside, throwing the transportation system into utter chaos. For many migrants, the cheapest and fastest route home is by train. People camp at railway station for tickets, climb through windows, stand for days and nights, wear diapers to avoid using the lavatory, and struggle to stay in sanity to survive the ride. They are determined to return home at any cost for the solemn purpose of getting back to see their families.

Life of Ivanna

by Renato Borrayo Serrano
Ethnofund Film Company LLC, Ten Thousand Images AS, Illume OY Company
| 77’ | Russia, Norway, Finland, Estonia | 2021 | Full HD |
Ivanna is a young Nenets woman and mother of five children who lives in the Russian Arctic. She decides to take her life in her own hands, emancipating from an abusive relationship and abandoning the traditional nomadic way of life in the tundra.

Life Sentences

by Nurit Kedar, Yaron Shani
Nurit Kedar
| 92’ & 52’ | Israel | 2013 | HD |
An Arab man marries a Jewish woman and they live in quiet harmony within the Arab-Jewish community with their son and daughter. The family unit is broken when they discover that their Arab father is behind dozens of terror attacks.

Little People Big Dreams

by Mak CK
MCN International Pte. Ltd, Wonderland Pictures
| 89’ | Singapore | 2014 | HD |
Travel to the most unlikely kingdom on earth. This is china’s dwarves empire, where little people stand tall. Or do they? This feature documentary chronicles their journey in the pursuit of of happiness and explores the shades of modern-day morality.

Lone Twin

by Anna Van der Wee
Wild Heart Productions
| 71' - 57' | Belgium/Canada | | HD 16:9 |
Twins fascinate us. Romulus and Remus. Castor and Pollux. We cannot get enough of them. But what happens when one of them dies? Based on the filmmakers’ personal story, Lone Twin takes us on a journey to four continents, meeting twins between 18 and 80, deep into their intriguing world.

Make People Better

by Cody Sheehy
Rhumbline Media, LLC, Random Good Films
| 83’ & 52' | USA | 2022 | |
In 2018, the Chinese scientist Dr. He Jiankui crossed a Rubicon in human evolution by altering the genetic structure of embryos to produce the world’s first genome-edited babies.

Manufacturing Romance

by Chai Hongfang, Fan Jian
Cloud Thinker
| 93’ - 52’ | China | 2015 | HD |
Manufacturing Romance tells the love and marriage stories about two couples of young Chinese migrant workers, gives an intimate look at the emotional and marital dilemma faced by them. By tracking them through all the efforts they have made to get out of the dilemma, the film shows how different the new generation of migrant workers are from their parents in understanding the concept of marriage. When the global trend of urbanization forces them to choose between loves they have been pursuing and parents who live in their hometown and wait for them going back to take care of, what should they do?

Monica & David

by Alexandra Codina
CineMia LLC
| 68’ | USA | 2009 | HD |
Monica & David explores the marriage of two adults with Down syndrome and the family who strives to support their needs. Monica and David embody child-like spirits with adult desires; they are aware of their need for assistance, but also capable beyond traditional expectations. Behind the couple’s blissful love are two mothers who struggled against an intolerant world, and with this wedding, realize a dream.

My Barefoot Friend

by Seong-Gyou Lee
Sigong Tech Co., Ltd, SigongTech
| 52’ - 81’ | South Korea | 2010 | HD |
In Calcutta, 20 thousand feet are running tangled up, all barefoot. They are rickshaw pullers. Among them is Shallim, an ordinary man whose old and tired rickshaw has been the only means of hope. He’s run endless miles with it to save up money to buy an auto rickshaw, that will realize his dream: a house for his family. However, despair comes to the weakest first. Shallim’s wife is found to be seriously ill. His son catches a swine flu. Hospital charges are mounting and Shalim’s dream is on the verge of collapsing.

My Country, My Country

by Laura Poitras
Praxis Films, Aliza Kaplan
| 90’ | USA | 2006 | 16:9 |
Academy Award Nominee - Independent Spirit Award Nominee
An extraordinarily intimate portrait of Iraqis living under U.S. occupation. Her principal focus is Dr. Riyadh, an Iraqi medical doctor, father of six and Sunni political candidate. An outspoken critic of the occupation, he is equally passionate about the need to establish democracy in Iraq, arguing that Sunni participation in the January 2005 elections is essential.

My Love, Don't Cross That River

by Jin Moyoung
Argus Film
| 86’ | South Korea | 2014 | HD |
Mr. Byongman Jo is 98 years old, but still strong enough to carry lots of firewood. He always took care of his wife like a princess. The wife, Mrs. Gyeyeul Kang is 89 years old. She still cooks three meals a day for her husband and had never fed him a cold meal. They wear Korean traditional cloths all the time, go for a picnic with neighbours, and enjoy dance parties. They are still young. Recently, he is getting weak day by day, and sick. She starts to prepare the death of her husband for the next life with him.

My Stolen Planet

by Farahnaz Sharifi
JYOTI Film GmbH, Pak Film, Farzad Pak
| 82’ | Iran, Germany | 2024 | |
Farah, an Iranian woman is forced to migrate to her private planet to be free. She buys other people's memories in form of super 8mm films and records and archives her own, to create an alternative history of Iran.

Nice Ladies

by Marija Ponomarova
Labyrint Film, Tabor Production
| 90’&52’ | The Netherlands, Ukraine | 2024 | 2K |
A team of aging Ukrainian cheerleaders hold on to their friendship as each navigates the trauma of war in her own way.

Nocturne

by Gwanjo Jeong
Media Namu
| 95’ | South Korea | 2019 | HD |
An autistic older brother, a mother preoccupied with him, and an isolated little brother. This story is about one family’s conflicts and reconciliations in the face of life’s fateful isolation.

Numb

by Phil Lawrence
Little Dog Big Bite Films Inc., Frozen Feet Films & Channel Z Films
| 78’ | USA | 2010 | BDIG 16:9 |
What happens when you stop taking antidepressants? A successful suburban dad who is tired of feeling “numb” decides to quit taking antidepressants and documents the drastic effects on his physical and psychological well-being. His wife and kids wonder what happened to man they once knew. “Numb” also reveals startling new information the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t want you to know.

Old Marine Boy

by Moyoung Jin
My Love Films, Illume Oy
| 85’ & 52’ | South Korea, Finland | 2017 | HD |
One dark night 10 years ago, Myongho crossed the border with his family with nothing from North Korea. In South, he becomes a deep-sea diver at the border village between South and North Korea. He wears 60 kg diving suit, only relying on a single oxygen line from the boat, and fishes 30 meters down underwater. If the line goes wrong, he could die in any minute. Myongho once crossed the most dangerous borderline, now he constantly crosses the line between life and death. This film is the portrait of a courageous man who fights for the life of his family.

Only the Devil Lives Without Hope

by Magnus Gertten
Auto Images AB, Upnorth Film
| 95’&58’ | Sweden, Norway | 2020 | |
Her Muslim brother is imprisoned on false charges of terrorism, but in an unforeseen twist, Dilya's fight for his freedom takes on an entirely new and greater significance.

OSCAR NOMINEE OPEN HEART

OPEN HEART

by Kief Davidson
Urban Landscapes | 40’ - 52' | USA | 2012 | HD
An HBO Documentary Film In Co-Production with ARTE
Eight Rwandan children leave their families behind to embark on a life or death journey seeking high-risk heart surgery in Sudan. Their hearts ravaged by a treatable disease from childhood strep throat, the kids have only months to live. Open Heart reveals the intertwined endeavors of Dr. Emmanuel, Rwanda's lone government cardiologist as he fights to save the lives of his young patients and Italian Dr. Gino Strada, the Salam Center’s head surgeon, who must also fight to save his hospital, Africa's only link to life-saving free cardiac surgery for the millions who need it.

Our Time Machine

by S. Leo Chiang, Yang Sun
Walking Iris Media
| 81’ | USA, China | 2019 | True HD |
Conceptual artist and puppeteer Ma Liang begins work on an ambitious performance piece about time and memory. For collaboration, he turns to his father, a former director of the Shanghai Chinese Opera, who is beginning to lose his own memories.

Place of Love

by Liuba Zemtsova
Liuba Zemtsova Production | 55’ | Belarus | 2019

The “Place of Love” unites under its roof 4 dramatic stories of very distinctive characters.Every day they visit a social centre for people with light mental disabilities and turn this place into a "Place of Love".

Planet of Snail

by Seung-Jun Yi
Minch&Films
| 52’ - 90’ | South Korea - Japan | 2011 | HDV 16:9 Widescreen |
Young-Chan lost his vision and hearing from a serious fever when very young. He often describes himself as a ‘snail’ since he has to rely only on his tactile senses, just as slowly as a snail, to communicate with others. Being unable to speak other’s language, he once believed he had been singled out from the world. But his life changes it dramatically when he meets and marries Soon-Ho, who is also disabled. The once lonely snail goes sleighing, swimming and writes essays, poems and even a script for a play, translating every experience into his unique words.

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.

Reach for the Sky

by Steven Dhoedt, Choi Wooyoung
VisualAntics, Boda Media Group
| 90’ & 52’ | Belgium/South Korea | 2015 | HD |
Every year, on the 2nd Thursday of November, the entire country of South-Korea is put to the test. That day, more than half a million senior high school students take part in the National University Exam, better known as Suneung. ‘Reach for the Sky’ tells the story of several South-Korean high school students, their families and teachers, as they prepare for the annual National Exam. The exam will not only determine where the high school seniors will attend university but ultimately also their status in the Korean hierarchical society.

Shock Room

by Kathryn Millard
Charlie Productions
| 70’ | Australia | 2015 | HD |
In the early 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram, in seeking to understand the Holocaust, ran a series of controversial experiments on obedience. An authority orders you to inflict painful shocks on another person. Most of us will obey, claimed Milgram. But will we? And were Milgram’s experiments as much art as science? In dramatising previously un-filmed versions of the world’s most famous psychology experiment, Shock Room turns a light on the dark side of human behavior and forces us to ask ourselves: what would I do?

- ONE WORLD 2016 - AUDIENCE AWARD
- SUNDANCE WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY GRAND JURY PRIZE
- SUNDANCE WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY AUDIENCE AWARD
- IDFA AUDIENCE AWARD
- IDFA 2015 DOC U AWARD FOR THE YOUTH JURY'S FAVOURITE FILM

Sonita

by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
TAG/TRAUM Filmproduktion, Intermezzo Films Switzerland + Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami Iran
| 91’ - 52’ | Germany, Switzerland, Iran | 2015 | HD |
Sonita's family moved to Iran when she was eight, fleeing the war in Afghanistan. Whithout a legal ID, Sonita couldn't go to school, an NGO taught her how to read and write. Listening to hip hop even though she didn't understand his lyrics, Sonita realized she could tell her own story— and started writing songs of her own. In Iran, it is illegal for a woman to sing without special permission from the government. But with the help of a few rebellious producers, she started recording.

SWEET DREAMS

2014: 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide

by Lisa Fruchtman & Rob Fruchtman
| Liro Films | 89’ - 52’ | USA | 2012 | HD Ingoma Nshya is Rwanda’s first and only all women’s drumming troupe. Made up of women from both sides of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the troupe offers a place of support, healing and reconciliation. When the group decides to partner with two young American entrepreneurs to open Rwanda’s first ever ice cream shop, these remarkable women embark on a journey of independence, peace and possibility. Sweet Dreams interweaves intimate, sometimes heart-wrenching stories, with joyous and powerful music to present a moving portrait of a country in transition.

The Earth Is Blue as an Orange

by Iryna Tsilyk
Albatros Communicos Film Production, Moonmakers
| 73' | Ukraine | 2020 | |

Single mother Anna and her four children live in the front-line war zone of Donbas, Ukraine. While the outside world is made up of bombings and chaos, the family is managing to keep their home as a safe haven, full of life and full of light. Every member of the family has a passion for cinema, motivating them to shoot a film inspired by their own life during a time of war.

To rent or buy for home use only follow this link: VIMEO ON DEMAND

THE FLAG

by Joseph Paris
Drôle de Trame
| 90’ - 52’ | France | 2023 | |
"The Flag" is a documentary essay that documents the intensification of an identity-based discourse that has become dominant in France and the decline in civil liberties. Confronting current events with archival footage, "The Flag" is a committed film, written in the first person, which enlightens and alerts.

European Film Awards Shortlist

The Good Postman

by Tonislav Hristov
Making Movies Oy
| 80' | Finland | 2016 | HD |
A small Bulgarian village just by the Turkish border has found itself in the middle of a European crisis, as at nights asylum seekers sneak passing the border. The forgotten village has become the most important secret loophole of Europe.
Ivan, the local postman, has a vision. He decides to run for mayor and turn the dying village alive by welcoming refugees. His opponents want to close their eyes, close down the border and reintroduce communism. As the campaign goes on, Ivan soon learns that while good intentions are not enough, even the smallest deeds matter.

The Happy Worker or How Work was sabotaged

by John Webster
Yellow Film and TV, Aldeles Film Production
| 79'&57' | Finland, Norway | 2022 | |
THE HAPPY WORKER takes us behind the shiny corporate facades to reveal the systemic problems that plague the workplace: from a culture of silence, fake change and incompetent managers, to how we educate our children.
The film is laced with humour and irony, but without losing sight of the very real consequences the toxic workplace has for the health and happiness of the people who work there.

The Magic Life of V

by Tonislav Hristov
Making Movies Oy, Kirstine Barfod Film, Soul Food Ltd
| 82’ | Finland, Denmark, Bulgaria | 2019 | HD |
While trying to become more independent and to help her mentally disabled brother through live-role-playing, a young woman haunted by her childhood traumas learns how to face her own past.

The Mountains

by Christian Einshoj
Made in Copenhagen
| 89’ | Denmark | 2023 | 2K, 4K |

The New Gospel

by Milo Rau
Fruitmarket Arts & Media GmbH, Langfilm / Bernard Lang AG
| 107' | Germany / Switzerland | 2020 | 4K |

An authentically political, theatrical and cinematic New Gospel for the 21st century. What would Jesus preach in the 21st century? Who would his disciples be?

The Night

by Steffan Strandberg
Indie Film as, Walking the Dog, Fasad Produktion
| 63' & 58' | Norway | 2017 | HD |
When Steffan's mother died, he felt nothing. No sadness, no sense of relief. How did it come to this?

The Oath

by Laura Poitras
Praxis Films
| 96’44” | USA | 2010 | HD 16:9 |
An extraordinary inside view of militant Islamism. A quietly disturbing, often complex portrait of an Al Qaeda insider and a Guantanamo Bay detainee, The Oath offers a chilling preview of emerging Middle East battleground Yemen and poignantly questions American policies over the past decade in the Middle East. The Oath tells the story of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay Prison and the first man to face the controversial military tribunals.

The Optimists

by Gunhild Westhagen Magnor
Skofteland Film AS, Mantaray Film
| 90’ & 52’ & 3x39' | Norway | 2013 | HD |
The volleyball ladies THE OPTIMISTS (66-98) haven’t played a proper match in 30 years. Until now. Fearing age? Queen of the team Goro (98) might change your ideas. Many of us fear age. Youth is our modern world's ideal. These ballplaying ladies might change our ideas, and possibly make us realize that those who do get to experience old age are actually the lucky ones.

The Pawn

by Jean-Cosme Delaloye
TIPI'MAGES Productions
| 78’ - 52’ | Switzerland | 2015 | HD |
Karin Gramajo’s life drastically changed when her teenage cousin Kelly was brutally kidnapped and murdered. Despite death threats, the single mother then decided to study to become a lawyer to make sure her cousin’s death wouldn’t remain unpunished, thus also helping other victims fight for justice. Astrid Elias was kidnapped and raped at the age of 14. She fled to the U.S. where she is facing deportation. LA PRENDA is a feature length documentary film about two women fighting to end the climate of impunity in Guatemala, one of the world’s most violent countries.

The Price of Sex

by Mimi Chakarova
Violeu Productions
| 73’-52' | USA | 2011 | HDCam Widescre |
Mimi Chakarova has spent seven years investigating and documenting the sex trafficking of women from Eastern Europe. "If I had stayed in the country where I was born (Bulgaria), I probably would have been one of them," Chakarova said in an interview discussing her motivations for pursuing the dangerous, sad and enraging project. "These girls risk everything because they want a better life."

The Road to Fame

by Hao Wu
Tripod Media LLC
| 80’ - 56' | China | 2013 | HD |
The film gives a rare, intimate look at the coming-of-age of some of China's most promising yet confused youth. It chronicles the staging of the musical 'Fame' by the graduating class of China's top drama academy, in China's first official collaboration with Broadway. It follows five students of divergent personalities and family backgrounds as they compete for roles, struggle with the expectations of teachers and parents, and prepare to graduate into China's reality of huge wealth gap and rampant corruption. Often confused by the conflicting cultural values shaping China today, the students must confront their anxieties about an uncertain future and negotiate their own paths to fame.

The Shelter

by Fernand Melgar
Climage
| 101’ & 52' | Suisse | 2014 | 16/9 | DCP |
Every night dozens of people are forced to sleep on the streets of my town. As the population of the excluded grows each day, silence and ignorance of their condition continues to reign. In our current climate of xenophobia I would like my film to help lift the veil on their existence and plight.

IDFA’14: Nominated for Best Mid-Length documentary

The Storm Makers

by Guillaume Suon
Tipasa Production, Bophana Production (Rithy Panh)
| 66’ - 62’ | France / Cambodge | 2014 | HD |
At the age of 16, Aya, a young Cambodian peasant, was sold into slavery by a “Storm Maker” - a human trafficker – who promised her a job as a maid in Malaysia. Now back in village, she is just as poor as when she left. Dishonoured and traumatised, what is left of her humanity? The unveiling of Aya’s fate, intertwined with the testimonies of human traffickers, offers an unsettling view of contemporary Cambodian society. By revealing the cruel exploitation of the rural population, the film raises an unsettling question: what is the price of a young peasant‘s life in Cambodia?

The Unforgiven

by Lars Feldballe-Petersen
Kinocompany Ltd., Film & TV Compagniet
| 75' | Finland, Denmark | 2017 | |

The Vanishing Spring Light

by Xun Yu
EyeSteelFilm
| 112’ | China/Canada | 2011 | |
A grandmother has a pleasant chat sitting in an alley as she often does, but she suffers a stroke and loses what little freedom she had. Facing the death of grandmother, the children’s conflict is frankly revealed.

The Woodmans

by C Scott Willis
C Scott Films LCC
| 82’ - 60' | USA | 2010 | HD |
The Woodmans are a family of well-known artists bonded in their belief of art-making as the highest form of expression, but for their daughter Francesca -- one of the late 20th century’s most recognized and influential photographer -- fame came only after a tragedy that would forever scar the family. The Woodmans traces the story of a family broken and then healed by their art.

Thy Father’s Chair

by Alex Lora, Antonio Tibaldi
GraffitiDoc, No Permits Produktions (USA)
| 74’ - 52’ | Italy | 2015 | HD |
Abraham and Shraga are Orthodox Jewish twins who live a secluded existence in their inherited Brooklyn home. Since the death of their parents, they have stopped throwing away anything, hosting stray cats and accumulating all sorts of stuff. Now, their upstairs tenant threatens to stop paying them rent unless the twins proceed to a radical cleaning. Abraham and Shraga have no choice but to open their doors to a professional company. A traumatic invasion of privacy ensues, forcing them to confront their memories in order to try to find a new beginning…

Tokyo Idols

by Kyoko Miyake
Brakeless Limited, EyeSteelFilm
| 88' & 52' | UK/Canada | 2017 | HD |
Girl bands and their pop music permeate every moment of Japanese life. Following an aspiring pop singer and her fans, Tokyo Idols explores a cultural phenomenon driven by an obsession with young female sexuality, and the growing disconnect between men and women in hyper-modern societies.

Twilight of a Life

by Sylvain Biegeleisen
Zen Production Ltd, Take Five
| 70’ - 52’ | Belgium / Israel | 2015 | HD |
How a son and a mother aged 94 deals with aging in an optimistic way full of humor, sensitivity and hope. When the doctor announced me that my mother, aged 94 had just a few weeks to live, I left my home and came back to Belgium to say her goodbye. But my mother decided that the time to pass away has not yet come. We shared together weeks and months of uncertainty and mystery. I found myself filming hours of incredible conversations, humoristic situations, poetic moments. "Au Crepuscule d'une Vie" is an Ode to Life !

European Awards Nomination Shortlist

Ultra

by Balazs Simonyi
Speak Easy Project
| 81’&52’ | Hungary, Greece | 2017 | HD |
A unique insight into the pasts, hearts and minds of four everyday athletes embraced by the running director. Their dream and burden is to finish an extreme running race to test their limits, heal their souls and release their demons.

Until Cancer Do Us Part

by Jan-Olof Svarvar
Pampas Production
| 86’ - 52' | Finland | 2016 | HD |
A man in his prime learns that he suffers from the most aggressive form of brain cancer, also known as "the terminator". The mortality rate is 100%. The doctors gave him a year to live. He has a large family and his youngest daughter was only 4 years old. This documentary closely follow him, his wife and the children, trough the hard road filled with despair and love - from diagnosis to death. But most of all this is a story about the power of love.

Vintersaga

by Carl Olsson
Ginestra Film AB, Final Cut For Real, Film I Väst
| 81’ | Sweden | 2023 | |
Vintersaga is a truly cinematic, Hopperesque look into everyday lives. In 24 meticulously framed situations it vigorously observes both the trivial and the grand, mostly human stories, with a rich blend of souls juggling doubts, memories, and dreams. Ultimately the bitter cold winds shape a nation towards a bittersweet melancholy.

VOICES OF THE SEA

by Kim Hopkins
Labor of Love Films Ltd
| 90’ & 52’ | UK | 2018 | HD |
Revealing stark realities for the poorest of rural Cubans with unique access and empathy, this is the story of a 30-something mother of four longing for a better life. The tension between wife and aging husband - one desperate to leave, the other content to stay - builds into a high stakes family drama after her brother and the couple’s neighbors escape.

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.

Wake up on Mars

by Dea Gjinovci
Mélisande Films , Alva Film, Amok Films
| 74’ | France, Switzerland | 2020 | 4K |
A 10-year-old Roma boy living in Sweden attempts to come to terms with the mysterious Resignation Syndrome that has put his two sisters in a coma. The tight-knit family is trying to rebuild a normal life far from their native Kosovo where they were victims of persecution. While their entire future hangs in the balance of a pending asylum request, the little boy dreams of building a spaceship to leave it all behind.

We did it on a Song

by David André
Brotherfilms
| 82’ | France | 2014 | HD |
This film tells the stormy tale of a group of friends from Boulogne-sur-Mer, a French town hit by the financial crisis. A year between dreams and disillusion, imagined by teenagers from a working or middle class background, with songs that regularly add poetry, laughter, and emotion to reality.

WHEN THE WAR COMES

by Jan Gebert
PINK, HulaHop
| 78’ | Czech Republic | 2018 | |
Hundreds of teenagers join the Slovak Recruits paramilitary group to get ready for the final clash of civilizations and to fight whoever invades their country.

WICH WAY HOME

by Rebecca Cammisa
Reason Pictures - Mr Mudd - White Buffalo Films - Cactus Three
An HBO Documentary Films
| USA | 2009 | 82' | Color | HD |
As the United States continues to build a wall between itself and Mexico, Which Way Home shows the personal side of immigration through the eyes of children who face harrowing dangers with enormous courage and resourcefulness as they endeavor to make it to the United States.

Who I Am Not

by Tünde Skovran
Double 4 Studios, Filmoption International
| 105’ & 52’ & 13x10’ | Romania, Canada | 2023 | |
Who I Am Not gives voice to the long ignored and mostly silent two percent of the world's population:the intersex community. And it is an intimate lookat the struggle of living in a male-female world, when you are born in-between. A personal exploration of truth, faith, and belonging.

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