Cultural wars have transformed politics in the US into identity politics dividing the electorate and calcifying political differences and party loyalties. For the past decades, abortion divided the country and the voters. Now it’s public libraries that have been transformed into the new battlefields in America’s cultural wars. How can one explain this seemingly sudden focus on books, in school and public libraries? What is behind this rise in censorship? This film follows four distinct stories that illuminate and explain the evolution of this newest battleground in America’s long culture war.
Soleiman Faqiri, who suffered from schizophrenia, was found dead in an Ontario jail. After a courageous seven-year fight for answers, his brother Yusuf finally learns the shocking truth about Soleiman's death through a much anticipated coroner's inquest.
In the mountains you get lost; sometimes on purpose and other times unintentionally. The documentary Oinez deviate towards this tranquil mountaineering via three routes in the Basque Country. In each one it emerges a deep, authentic and funny conversation that reveals a small truth.
A young man, animals, the choice on the border with society. Stefano Cappellaro plows through the mountains following his goats. A nomad of places, he has a center within himself, but he is not antisocial. He found a way to support himself by getting milk from animals, water from rocks, food from the garden, and a little money for flour, rice and newspaper from some manual work. It is made of the same substance as the grass, the moss and the stone that frames the Valle Cervo, in the Biella area, where it lives all year round along the course of the stream of the same name. He doesn't accept this society; he longs for another one made up of authentic relationships. In the meantime, he does his part by giving an example of how it is possible to live with little, smiling.
Amazon, Congo Basin, Borneo. A journey across rainforests. A collective song of Indigenous women’s voices as they share their stories, what the forest means to their very being, their fears in a reality of socio-ecological destruction, and their hopes for constructing something different.
With first-hand testimony and a rich mixture of media, Inventing the Runway reveals how fashion shows became the ultimate statement of a designer’s vision – at times, a walking expression of their identity – reimagined season after season and year after year. It is a celebration of the imagination, discipline and passion that has revolutionised how we experience fashion.
Shutterbug follows a troubled teenager named Thomas as he explores his passion for photography. The film portrays Thomas's journey from a confident, even arrogant, young photographer who believes himself to be a prodigy, to a humbled individual who discovers a deeper purpose in his art. This mockumentary reveals Thomas's struggles with self-doubt and his eventual understanding of what truly motivates his art.
Cinepoem about the current Palestinian tragedy, with Brazilian films from 1922 and 1932 (the indigenous catastrophe), documentaries from 2023/2024, essays by Jean-Luc Godard, Hani Jawharieh and Mustafa Abu Ali, statements by Edgar Morin and Noam Chomsky, and a poem by Mahmud Darwich.
In April 2019, a seemingly tame beluga whale approaches a Norwegian fishing boat seeking help. It is wearing a harness fitted with a camera mount. When the words 'Equipment St Petersburg' are discovered printed on the buckle, speculation breaks out that he has been engaged in some kind of sinister undercover activity. This documentary explores the mystery of the strange whale and asks where he came from, who trained him and why, and what he was doing in a critically important part of the Arctic, close to Russian waters. With exclusive interviews and access to unseen footage, the film explores the secret world of marine mammal training and international espionage, and sheds new light on the true identity of Hvaldimir, the 'Spy Whale'.
A chronicle of a Friday evening at a pasar malam (night market) in Kuala Lumpur, with thoughts from vendors facing the imminent extinction of their livelihoods.
The largest salt desert in the world – the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. But that doesn’t change the finite nature of our existence. A visual experiment in ten acts.
In 2023 Lithuanian film professionals from different cinema backgrounds took part in a survey about self-validation in their career path. Their responses were shown to film art students at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Seeing the lived experiences of the professionals, students begin to reflect on their own feelings.