Selected for Best of Fests
A side of Africa we rarely see: spirited law students argue cases in simulated court hearings, to win the title of best mooter in the African Human Rights Moot Court Competition. We meet a new generation committed to the future of the continent.
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The teenage girls who live in a shelter in Bogotá have already been through a lot in their young lives. They talk about it through the perspective of a fictional friend: Alis. Their soulful narrative reveals an amazing strength to embrace a brighter future.
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Two Muslim brothers living in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, try their best to run a sanctuary for birds of prey. In a film that swings between hope and despair, the two central figures remain determined to never give up.
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When the young queer actor he cast to star in a vampire film dies of an overdose, filmmaker Theo Montoya dives deeper into the no-future generation of Medellín, in this “trans film” about all the people who don’t belong to anything or anyone.
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A captivating animated documentary about the remarkable and tragic life of Aurora Mardiganian. As a teenager she escaped the Armenian genocide, and later was made famous in a Hollywood film about her life.
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Riots at the 1990 soccer match between Hajduk Split and Partizan Belgrade presaged the Yugoslavian Civil War. Thirty years on, army teams from the six now-independent nations are competing in a soccer tournament. Are the tensions a thing of the past?
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Dazzling self-portrait of a New York filmmaker who explores her Latin and African-American heritage in this revealing glimpse into her turbulent youth and family history.
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The Black Mambas combat poaching in Kruger National Park. It’s a dream job that empowers women, or so it seems. A multilayered observational portrait about post-colonialism and the shady side of tourism and nature conservation.
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Running for president in Uganda can be deadly dangerous, even if you are a democratically elected member of parliament. Charismatic ghetto pop star Bobi Wine decides to chance it anyway, but meets daunting opposition.
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This essay documentary built around Nina Menkes’s lecture “Sex and Power: The Visual Language of Oppression” draws on a selection of classic and cult film images to deconstruct the ubiquitous objectification of women in film.
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Do those who live near the Argentinian army base Campo de Mayo still remember its dark past? Writer Félix Bruzzone’s mother was murdered there during the dictatorship. Now he travels this emotionally charged landscape and meets the local people.
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An affectionate portrait of this Cape Verdean singer with a deep, melancholic voice, using archived footage, live recordings, and interviews to capture the life of a woman who never betrayed her humble origins and always held on to her independence.
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Through unseen 35mm material, Ciné-guerrillas plunges us into the media battle that played out during the Algerian war of independence. Forming a documentary diptych with Non-Aligned, it shows cinema becoming a political weapon against colonialism.
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Singer, performer and artist Niño de Elche is renowned for his groundbreaking vision of flamenco. Playfully provoking his audience, he invites them to consider a question: What can flamenco be?
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Following in the footsteps of Andreas Vesalius, who five centuries ago was the first to map human anatomy, this sensorial film explores the bodies of men and women during operations on various parts of the body. Intimate, at a microscopic level.
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A dynamic impression of life under Chinese pressure in Hong Kong, with flashes of repression and protest among the barrage of scenes from the big city. The unsettling soundtrack accentuates the nightmarish atmosphere.
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The legendary Chelsea Hotel in New York is being turned into a boutique hotel, and its permanent residents have been living in the mess for the last nine years. Dreaming Walls captures the last visible remnants of the hotel’s dark and glorious past.
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Framed by the solar eclipses of 1961 and 1999, this essayistic documentary examines how a Serbian family—and taking a wider perspective, an entire country—relates to a turbulent history.
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In 1989, Christine Choy interviewed three Chinese men who had fled to the US after the Tiananmen Square student protest was violently crushed. Thirty years later, their optimism has turned to disillusionment.
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Israel has banned harvesting za’atar and akoub, two plants essential to Palestinian cuisine. Officially, it’s to preserve nature, but Palestinian wild pickers see it differently. A subtle but powerful film on how politics can reach into the kitchen.
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Igor Ivanko discovers piles of old negatives belonging to his grandfather Leonid Burlaka, and delves into the life of this retired Soviet cameraman. Ivanko gets the pictures developed, only to discover they are damaged—just like Burlaka's memory.
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A poetic 16mm portrait of Sable Island and its sole human inhabitant Zoe Lucas, who is studying and conserving its flora and fauna. The inspiring bond that develops between Lucas and the filmmaker leads to some remarkable experiments.
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A sun-soaked portrait of Gigi, a police officer investigating a worrying series of suicides in a charming small Italian town. Fortunately, there’s enough time left for flirting, chatting with colleagues or daydreaming in his overgrown jungle garden.
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Theater maker Roza Sarkisian is united with five young Ukrainians to create a performance in which Shakespeare’s Hamlet and their reality come together. The depiction of this intense process is complemented by impressive portraits of the protagonists.
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The love between like-minded millennials Marusya and Kimi turns to agony as Kimi gradually disappears into serious drug addiction. A portrait of a generation gripped by despair and hopelessness.
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When young Israelis turn 18, they have to join the army. Narrated diary excerpts of young people who died while in service illustrate their shattered dreams and desires in an increasingly militaristic society.
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With originality and subtlety, director Francisco Javier Rodriguez portrays the inner life of a 33-year-old psychiatric patient. The boundaries between reality and imagination fall away.
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A better life seems so close here, among the skyscrapers of Addis Ababa. But the people living in the Katanga district know how difficult it is to get ahead—and that only strengthens their resilience, and their love-thy-neighbor take on life.
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What are artists to do in wartime? Instead of producing religious statues, the Ukrainian sculptors in this short film make anti-tank obstacles. The need for these is more urgent at the moment.
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A portrait of the New York music scene around the dawn of the 21st century. Stories told by the front men and one front woman paint a picture of a generation of bands such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Strokes, Moldy Peaches and LCD Soundsystem.
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Two women, a Buddhist and a Muslim, work together at a maternity clinic in Myanmar. The oppression of Rohingya Muslims in the country means it’s dangerous to treat Muslim women—but neither of these obstetricians take any notice of that.
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Brazilian singer Miúcha worked with bossa nova legends including her brother Chico Buarque and husband João Gilberto. Her life’s story, told through a rich resource of unreleased archive material, offers a female perspective on this musical movement.
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Iranian filmmaker Vida Dena follows an immigrant Syrian family in Brussels in this, her debut film. She brings their memories and experiences to life by animating the cutout drawings they make together.
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Naked Gardens takes you to everyday life in Sunsport Gardens, Florida. Naked is the norm in this community and people accept each other as they are. However, there are also problems, like what do you do about residents who want to wear clothes?
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An unembellished analysis of the political trial of Anya, a Russian teenager arrested with nine others in 2018, for allegedly forming an extremist group planning to overthrow the government.
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Contemporary, feminist take on Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor’s words and deeds in the period from 1987 to 1993. O’Connor’s unique voice and appearance made her a sensation. But she was brutally punished for her political statements.
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A revealing film about the growing market for synthetic diamonds produced in factories. When the difference between man-made and mined gems disappears, revaluation will be inevitable. What is it we’re being sold?
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A tragicomic portrait of a struggling pawnshop in a working class neighborhood in Poland. It’s difficult to run a business where people find it so difficult to keep their heads above water. But the charismatic store owners aren’t about to give up.
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While Hayat captains a boat sailing over the Arctic Ocean, her younger sister Leila gives birth to a baby daughter. Perhaps this new life has the power to break the cycle of neglect and absence in their family.
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Mexican nude model and gay porn actor Lalo Santos is his own boss, successful online, and the star of a porn film about Zapata. The work is hard, the future uncertain, and melancholy lurks in the moments between cruising and cumshots.
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An observational documentary filmed in a Bulgarian provincial hospital, where a close-knit community has been hit by Covid-19. The hard-working medical team tackles the unpredictable disease in both a practical and empathetic way.
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From the late 1960s, the US authorities’ response to social protest movements has increasingly tilted towards repression. This essay film shows the development through disconcerting archive material.
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Atrocities were carried out on both sides of the Senegal–Mauritania border in 1989. Senegalese filmmaker Alassane Diago gives victims and witnesses the opportunity to speak movingly about their experiences, as a first step towards reconciliation.
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Ananta Thitanat documents the dismantling of Scala, Thailand’s last standalone movie theater. From there, a bigger story emerges about working conditions, political upheaval and the filmmaker’s personal history.
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A subtle coming-of-age film about changing roles in a Polish family. When 35-year-old Aga starts caring for her teenage brother following their mother’s death, can she tell him—and the deeply conservative world outside—that she is a lesbian?
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After the death of krautrock legend Christian Burchard, his band Embryo continues, led by his daughter Marja. Is it possible to build musical autonomy on top of such a rich heritage?
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A woman talks about how she sometimes sinks into a downward spiral of fear and emotion. With the addition of pulsating 80s sounds and gorgeous explosions of animated color, the story becomes as hypnotic as it is empathetic.
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Breathtaking landscapes alternate with scenes of somber small-town life on a train trip across Peru. This contemplative journey takes us along a railroad route of almost 300 kilometers.
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A poetic essay in which a contemplative voice-over accompanies 8mm home videos from bygone days in Iran. Lists of number-based facts evoke a sense of life’s intangible nature.
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Writer Annie Ernaux looks back at her and her family’s home movies, shot with a Super 8 camera in the 1970s and 1980s. What do the films have to say about who they were then, and about the times in which they were living?
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The mother of filmmaker Humaira Bilkis became a devout Muslim after a pilgrimage to Mecca. Free-spirited Humaira is her polar opposite, but in this film she goes in search of what binds them.
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A nimble portrait following the lives of students Aaron, Benjamin, Nestor, and Rafiki in the Central African Republic. In this poverty-stricken country, the friends focus their hopes on the future. An award winner at IndieLisboa and Cinéma du Réel.
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A journey through the world of Werner Herzog, comprising interviews with actors and directors, Herzog’s family and the legendary filmmaker himself. Unique behind-the-scenes access and anecdotes paint a picture of a radical dreamer and visionary.
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An observational portrait of three aging brothers living together, isolated in a Spanish village that many decades ago was emptied by government order. But now new political and economic decisions are threatening their way of life again.
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After serving in Afghanistan, the young British soldier Harry Turner struggles with PTSD. This drives him deep into the South American rainforest, where he takes on the care of an orphaned ocelot—which above all becomes an exercise in letting go.
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As filmmaker Shuli Huang returns to his Chinese hometown in search for himself, a long due conversation with his mother plunges the two of them into a quest for acceptance and love in this Cannes award-winning film.
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