When filmmaker Yehui Zhao begins to film her grandmother, she embarks on an excavation of her family’s past and their long-lost ancestral village in the vast mountain range of Loess Plateau. She sets out to search for the story of her great-grandfather and, in the process, discovers the land that generations before her cultivated alongside the cave dwellings that they called home. Here she pays tribute to her family’s heritage, bearing witness to its relationship with the land, labor, and resilience. A shapeshifting and playful feature debut, the film is infused with performance, poetry, and animation as Zhao constructs a living archive of oral history and community theater. Summoning the past into the present, May the Soil Be Everywhere chronicles China’s history of war, famine, and rapid urbanization through the lens of four generations in one family.
In Sarajevo, three teenage boys train with their coach on a luge track left over from the 1984 Winter Games, now bullet-riddled, covered in graffiti, and swarmed by tourists. Three decades after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mirza, Zlatan, and Hamza are the next generation of athletes in a country facing an uncertain future. The tensions of the past still loom large in these young Muslims’ lives, and their Olympic dreams are stunted by a lack of state support despite the efforts of their dedicated coach. Director Ryan Sidhoo takes a longitudinal approach in his directorial debut, intimately capturing the boys’ journey as they reckon with growing up under the shadow of the past. A deeply affecting coming-of-age underdog story, The Track is an ode to the power of hope, friendship, and chasing your dreams against all odds.
Over Patrick Lydon's final year, he reflects on a life that took him from rock journalism in the US to driving the radically inclusive Camphill Movement in Ireland, sharing life with people of diverse needs and abilities. Patrick's lens on the world raises searching questions about ideas of disability and inclusion and shines a special light on the otherness in our society.
Between 1922 and 1996 10,000+ girls and women were imprisoned in Ireland – unmarried mothers, daughters of unmarried mothers, those who were considered “promiscuous” or a burden on their families or the State, those who had been sexually abused, or had grown up in Catholic or State ‘care’. These Magdalene women and the children of the Mother & Baby Homes might still be shrouded in secrecy and shame, if not for the work of Justice For Magdalenes. This tiny group of women lawyers, academics and volunteers have together waged an extraordinary battle on behalf of the survivors of Irish institutions. This documentary tells their story.
In 2016, Taiwan's film and television industry was in a recession. This made life even more difficult for the lowest-level performers, the extras. The story begins with Kehan Zhang, a man who loves acting and works as a full-time extra. He had been working as an extra for three years and paid NTD 500 in cash every time. His daily routine includes searching for various audition opportunities, submitting resumes, and only receiving audition notices every now and then. To fulfill the dream of becoming a leading actor, he decided to venture into the film and television industry in China and started his Don Quixote journey with pals. The documentary also films other actors and actresses - the girl from the south and Brother Long, and how they experienced gender and age limitations in the industry. Besides the stereotypes in the industry, they also faced challenges balancing work and family.
Oscar Kaeli films the happenings of Crystal Mall in Connecticut. The film briefly explores the gradual decline of the mall, and how 'dead malls' trigger such nostalgia in so many people.
The deep sea is the last unknown territory on Earth. Here, biologists struggle to study the enigmatic wildlife that looks like something from another planet. But time is running out as deepsea mining threatens the fragile ecosystems.
The film is an observation of the migrant experience; from crossing the Mediterranean Sea out of Libya to settling in Paris-based squats. In a view free from prejudice, we quickly see how the experiences of migrants vary in extremes during the different stages in their journey to a better life.
A time capsule of New York City between August 13-15, 1965, framed by the Beatles’ arrival in the city and their first concert at Shea Stadium. The film consists exclusively of archive material from the period (ABC, CBS, NBC), 8mm home movies and images of the concert, which was recorded with fourteen 35mm cameras. Four teenagers are sent on a trip through time and inserted in the archive material by means of animation.
In Second Wind's first premium documentary project, we sat down with Billy Basso to tell the story of the development of his critically acclaimed game, Animal Well.
March 2022. The Somalia battalion, as part of the main forces, was sent to storm fortified Mariupol in order to ensure the possibility of an offensive by the Russian Armed Forces. On the outskirts of the city, no one yet knows the scale of the disaster that will unfold in the coming weeks and what trials soldiers and civilians will have to go through.