For many communities, video rental shops hold a dear significance: a place where anyone and everyone could rent a film. As they become a dying species, Rotterdam artist Gyz La Rivière shares the stories of the remaining few in The Netherlands and the Benelux.
This documentary highlights the triumphs and challenges of individuals who have found strength, purpose, and camaraderie within their running community. The heartfelt message resonates far beyond the world of running, making it a must-see for audiences of all kinds.
Images from 2000s music videos are transferred onto the film strip, torn and abstracted until the visuals convulse and shift—a tactile, poetic exploration of materiality, memory, and medium.
Temo is an unemployed actor who drives around 100km a day on a scooter, performing the duty of a delivery man. Based on the novel Courier’s Tales by Temo Rekhviashvili, who plays himself in the film, Anka Gujabidze crafts a poignant but humorous black and white photo adventure, in which a daily ride through the opulently dilapidated Georgian capital Tbilisi morphs into a nightmarish vision of poverty, corruption and estrangement.
Eva Giolo’s latest work takes us to Val Gardena, where people still speak Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language. Giolo subverts the usual representation of mountain communities to deliver a portrait of a precious cultural heritage in constant evolution. Here, the inhabitants preserve and nurture their culture for future generations with awareness of the world and creativity. Shot on 16mm film sensitive to the grandeur and fragility of nature, Memory Is an Animal, It Barks with Many Mouths is an exquisite essay on the vital importance of linguistic diversity. Made in Ladin language.
The debut documentary by Bulgarian-born German resident and renowned photographer Pepa Hristova is set in the Strandzha mountains, the natural border between Bulgaria and Turkey. In that sparsely populated land and in one of the last primeval European forests is a crossroads between ancient rituals, nationalism, migration and anarchy, as the bleak past blends with modern-day threats in a terra incognita for the West.
Unexpectedly, Marion Guillard captures the perfect shot: A flock of birds pirouette in the evening sky, the camera follows their graceful movements as if hypnotized, symbiotically. The road to this moment was long. Guillard shares her journey to the USA with us, which is not only marked by feelings of alienation from her family – the postcard motifs spread before her eyes also leave her cold. In a voiceover, she talks about her relationship to herself and her body, about an ideal of femininity she does not conform to, and disturbing encounters with men.
The largest casino in Europe but is it just a big mess? Daniel Hoesl presents Un gran casino as an angry musing on a building, an Italian village and all that is done in the name of the unfettered creation of wealth.
In Switzerland, the Scout Movement is not a nostalgic fantasy but a vibrant social reality. This bubbly documentary captures the communal cycle of activities during a 14-day camp for youth. No reality TV-style contrived scenes here, this is a moving, joyful glimpse into life-changing experiences.
In 1921, an untitled text reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe's writings was discovered in Boston. It was made by unknown creators, perhaps a techno-spiritualist cult of enthusiasts, for an automaton, that would attempt to model Poe's mind.
For this woman, it's never too late to start again. Hanna Pálsdóttir is an 83 year old Icelandic woman who turned her life around after retiring from her life as a banker and enrolling in art school to become a painter. This documentary follows Hanna throughout the creative process of preparing for her latest exhibition as she recalls her life as an activist and branch manager before painting appeared in her life.
The Slave in Your Backyard exposes the hidden reality of human trafficking in everyday communities. Featuring survivor Heather Pagán and former trafficker Bruce, this documentary sheds light on the fight to end trafficking.
An intimate portrait of Edandress's life as a performer and erotic content creator in Chile, the documentary explores the metaphor of dilation as he redefines pleasure—breaking free from a restrictive, guilt-ridden society and embracing absolute freedom through self-exploration. Tracing his journey from childhood in Melipilla to his entry into the erotic industry, the film examines how body, pleasure, and social media intersect to provide financial independence while also addressing the fundamental issue of consent as a guiding principle.
In the mountains of Colombia's Coffee Triangle, a family faces the shadow of armed conflict. Years later, a son reconstructs the inherited fear, amidst echoes of the past and invisible scars. A sensory journey into memory, where the unspoken still resonates.
A mesmerizing journey in search of the supposedly ‘Extinct in the Wild’ giant turtle, the Lao Mura, takes an unexpected turn when the local anecdotal evidence starts challenging the norms of Western science. To unlock the secrets of these rare and mysterious freshwater creatures in the quest for conservation, 3 young Indian explorers must now delve deeper into ancient Assamese customs to navigate an intricate relationship between two realms often at loggerheads — science and religion.
In her daily hustle, rushing in all directions, Ieva maintains a positive spirit and lets her bubbly personality be a beacon of light and hope for those around her, even in tough situations. Alongside her work in the church congregation, running the soup kitchen, and supporting those in need, Ieva is accompanied in all her endeavors by her granddaughter, Anete. Where can the source of Ieva's inexhaustible energy be found, and what are the boundaries of her unconditional kindness?