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Director: Demin Chen
Editor: I-Chu Lin
Producer: Hansen Lin
In a remote village in southern China, most adults work in the cities, leaving their children to live with their grandparents.
Gong has a complex family situation among his young peers.He was born into a relatively poor family, with his father as the sole breadwinner. However, when Gong was only three months old, his father lost his right arm in a factory accident and consequently lost his job. His mother suddenly chose to remarry and abandoned the family. When he learned about the reasons for his mother’s departure, Gong was not only emotionally overwhelmed but deeply confused by his family’s passive acceptance of the event, which they claimed to just be part of their fate.
One day, a volunteer teacher came to Gong’s rural primary school to teach the children poetry writing, which opens doors for the children’s awareness and self-expression. Together with his classmates, Gong uses poetry to express the doubts in his heart and the complex emotions often misunderstood by adults.
"ALWAYS" centers on an exceptionally talented child, tracking his profound psychological evolution through poetry as he transitions from childhood to adolescence. The film delves into how left-behind children, growing up without their parents, navigate loneliness and establish connections with the world.
Produced by: Guangxi Chunri Film and Television Culture Co., Ltd
Director: Natalia Pietsch
Director: Grzegorz Piekarski
Editor: Alan Zejer
Producer: Katarzyna Kostecka
Hasankeyf is undergoing a transformation from a rock-carved shepherd town into a modern residential community of single-family houses and attractive tourist resort. Families of the main protagonists, Kurdish shepherd Rengin, and Arabic barber Burak, are forced to change their way of life. The old town is flooded due to the construction of a dam on the Tigris River. In the new town, new rules are to be enforced. To preserve the beauty of new houses, residents who were used to building houses by themselves are not allowed to make any changes. The shepherds were instructed to sell their animals, to prevent them from soiling the streets. They don't have to get up early anymore. They are encouraged to cruise tourist ships.
In Old Hasankeyf, in the face of inevitable changes Rengin was trying her best to pass the high school diploma exam so that she could leave. Burak tried to maintain dignity and calm. His barber shop was not only the last open service point but also one of the longest-standing buildings not yet demolished. Every day, with stoic calmness, Burak swept the dust from the construction work.
In New Hasankeyf tourism is booming, guarded by soldiers with rifles and ships with loud music begin to cruise over the submerged houses. Everyone lives farther apart, but in new luxurious homes they finally have time for rest. Can you force people to be happy? Can you design happiness for them? Rengin returns for the summer break. Will she like her old town?
Produced by: LARMO sp. z o.o.
Director: Edgar Hagen
Editor: Christian Büttiker
Producer: Mathias Hefel
Impact producer: Gudula Meinzolt
An iconic Western political journalist – Ulrich Tilgner – is invited by the director to return to some of his most formative spots in the Middle East. From there he reported more than 40 years for prime-time TV in Germany and Switzerland. It was about Western political interference, instigated wars, invasion, social upheaval – and the vital needs of the population. The film takes off on a search for the patterns and long-term effects of Western interference at locations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Jordan. It faces as well its impact beyond the region in West-Africa (Niger) – and at the external European borders in Serbia and Greece.
The film confronts the eye-witness with a remained behind population, which has to deal with political disruption, destruction of livelihood, unemployment, emergence and impacts of radicalism and authoritarian political structures. It’s a visualization of the causes that turned millions of people into refugees or migrants. Behind the dilemma to stay or to flee profound desire and political strategies appear to overcome suffering and crisis to build up resilient participatory political structures.
Parallel to this encounter of the German protagonist Ulrich Tilgner with reality the film scrutinizes on this path his initial believe system (formed after the liberation of Germany from fascism in 1945), his political hopes (characterized by the student revolt of 1968), his value system (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948) and his role and conflicts in the Western media system.
Produced by: VOLLBILD FILM GMBH
Director: Ventura Durall
Editor: Júlia Rabadan Aymar
Producer: Maria Colomer Canyelles
André Malby was a shaman and healer, who claimed to have supernatural abilities. His home attracted thousands of visitors, including figures like Salvador Dalí and Jean Paul-Sartre. Malby died in 2007, but hundreds of people still assure to have been cured of incurable illnesses. One of them is Anna Alarcon, a Spanish actress, who is convinced that the anorexia she suffered at the age of eight, which almost killed her, was cured telepathically by André Malby. At the age of forty, Anna feels the need to understand the supernatural power that she believes saved her life. She then embarks on a journey in which she meets many of the people who knew Malby, one of them being his son: Mathurin Malby.
Mathurin completely disagrees with all his father's beliefs. In fact, to distance himself from his father, he ran away from home at the age of fifteen and studied conventional medicine in the United States, where he has worked for the past twenty years as head of emergency medicine in one of the country’s leading hospitals. Their tense meeting fails to change their own beliefs, but both acknowledge their journeys have just commenced. Anna delves into proving Malby's alleged abilities through clinical cases and scientific experiments, engaging with healers and esotericists who worked with Malby. Meanwhile, Mathurin begins a personal journey to try to understand why his father created his own character and why magical thinking continues to exist despite science’s skepticism.
A double journey that unites science, mysticism, esotericism and illusionism.
Produced by: Nanouk Films, Harald House, Massala Production
Sales: Taskovski Films
Director: Filip Remunda
Editor: Blanka Kulová
Producer: Tereza Horská
Production manager: Helena Starcová
Passionate creative documentary exploring the struggle to form healthier and more meaningful family relationships between an aging photographer of nudes and his daughter Blanka. The family of “TASCHEN photographer” Vlastimil Kula is living proof that modern society needs to address the transgenerational transmission of trauma. Modern psychology might classify Vlastimil’s father as a disconnected man, he was unable to instill in Vlastimil a sense of security and confidence. As a result, Vlastimil often failed as a father, husband, and partner.
His daughter, professional film editor, Blanka might as well have continued the transmission of trauma to her children. But she decided to take a different path. She has been successfully undergoing therapy for years. In addition, she decided to make a film about her relationship with father, becoming the narrator and guide on her own therapeutic and film journey. Now, Blanka is returning with a professional film crew and is ready to confront her father about his absence during her childhood, adolescence, and adult life. Both protagonists thus enter a special meditative state similar to family therapy. In their meetings, both return to their childhoods and examine life from surprising perspectives.
The narration follows Blanka as she visits her father over the years 2020 - 2024. She goes through dramatical ups and downs realising it’s always better to address deep problems rather than to push them aside, causing emotional injury to yourself or to transfer the trauma to the next generation.
Produced by: Hypermarket Film
Director, producer: Weronika Mliczewska
Editor: Marcin Sucharski
Producer: Hanna Drewek
Sang is one of 300.000 unwanted, discriminated children left after the Vietnam war. When his life-long dream of finding his father comes true, Sang's only mission is to race against time and meet his ailing dad to break a cycle of war traumas passed on for generations. After a path filled with challenges, he can finally leave to the USA but without his wife, daughter and most beloved grandson. Meeting his dad is indeed a healing experience for both, but not an easy one. The stamp of the war has left both families deeply affected and even though 50 years have passed after the last American soldier left Vietnam, the inner peace is yet to come.
Produced by: Ya Man Studio Sp. z o.o.
Director: Roy Cohen
Editor: Alex Bakri
Editor: Sagi Bornstein
Producer: Serge Gordey
As the Middle East is filled with bloodshed and destruction, Roy, an Israeli man, is compelled to deal with the long-forgotten violent death of his Palestinian childhood friend Aseel, whom he met at a peace camp in Maine.
The film unfolds as a conversation between old letters by Aseel, who was killed by Israeli police in the beginning of the 2000 Intifada, and Roy, who tells Aseel what has become of Israel and Palestine, which they dreamed to fix when they grow up.
Produced by: Temps Noir
Director: Ketevan Vashagashvili
Editor: Bernadett Tuza-Ritter
Producer: Nino Chichua
Producer: Anna Khazaradze
Set in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, we meet Zhana, a single mother to an almost teenage daughter, Elene. Growing up in orphanages and on the streets, Zhana lacks education and a stable job. Occasional homelessness is simply the norm for her. Against this backdrop, when she gets the chance to make an easy buck by becoming a surrogate mother, she jumps at the opportunity, and surrogate motherhood becomes her source of income and full-time job.
Zhana’s biggest motivation is her daughter, Elene, whose future is all she cares about. They no longer live on the streets, yet they are far from living a stable life. What seems like a large amount of money to Zhana at the beginning is never enough to cover all the requirements of life. Then Zhana needs to start the process of pregnancy again and finally finds herself trapped in this situation.
Elene assesses the critical situation far better than her mom. Elene tries to convince Zhana that she has to give up surrogacy, but Zhana is too stubborn to obey. ‘This will be the last one’ - with these words, Zhana risks her health for the fourth pregnancy, which turns out to really be her last one. While delivering the baby, Zhana loses her uterus.
After eight years, Zhana finds herself almost in the same situation as before, however, the ties that bind mother and daughter have become stronger and in spite of the social circumstances being the same, the two women face the future with hope.
Produced by: 1991 Productions
Director: Tomáš Elšík
Editor: Mariana Kozáková
Producer: Jitka Kotrlová
Klára is a K9 officer, who specializes in bird crime. Her dogs are means to protect endangered species of the birds of prey. Pavel strives to reclaim woods and maintain wetlands. With his humble approach, he strives to preserve the diversity of our flora. Two extraordinary people unusually sensitive towards the world around them. Is their work pointless? A documentary reminiscent of Last and First Men lets the viewer appreciate a visually striking side of nature, so often overlooked, observing the endless work of those who managed to find their way back to their sensitivity.
Produced by: Frame Films
Director: David Čálek
Editor: Ema Adamove
Producer: Jan Macola
After many years of research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics (LSD, Psilocybin, ketamine...), an international team of scientists led by Tomas Páleníček, MD, is heading to the Amazon rainforest to compare the results from modern laboratories with the historical experience of the Amazonian Huni-Kui Indians. The aim of this prestigious and world-followed research is to follow up on the violently interrupted researches of scientists from the 60s (Groff, Hausner...) and to prove the potential of psychedelic substances in the treatment of mental illnesses, especially depression. Such findings would contribute to the development of much awaited alternatives to the now widely used antidepressants. Beyond the efforts of the scientific team to develop a new treatment method, the film follows the efforts of depressed patients to move closer to a full-fledged life. Tibor and Lucie, who have struggled for many years with depression and unsuccessful antidepressant medication, decide to enter clinical trials of a new psychedelic treatment. Their example shows how fundamentally the new method can change people's lives.
Produced by: Mimesis Film s.r.o.
Director: Patricia Drati
Editor: Aurora Sulli
Producer: Sidsel Siersted
Producer: Maria Helga Stürup
Set in Slovakia, and the far countryside of Mallorca, Becoming Ema is a personal story of a young woman’s dreams and struggles. In pursuit of her dream, Ema and her husband Tomas, spend all of their savings on an idyllic plot of land on Mallorca and leave behind their prestigious jobs and educations. A decision that Ema’s father cannot accept. He always wanted her to “become somebody” and she decides to become a mother. The two of them no longer speak. Ema and Tomas embark on an exhaustive journey to build a settlement on their plot, but slowly time is running out. Ema strongly believes she has chosen the best way of life for her family. A slow minimalistic life close to nature. But as time passes, shadows of doubt creep in and unresolved generational trauma begins to surface. Becoming Ema shows the beauty of authentic living, but also examines the consequences of a young woman’s choice. Is it important to “become someone” and be financially secure, just as her parents want her to? Through meetings with her psychologist, Ema learns that the acknowledgement she’s been seeking from her parents might never come and she must find it inside herself.
Produced by: Good Company Pictures
Director and editor: Pauliina Punkki
Producer: Veronika Janatková
Producer: Essi Haukkamaa
Director Punkki's multiple decades-long journey captures the essence of a woman's struggle for autonomy in a world that constantly seeks to define her by her body. Pauliina Talus (52) loved sports of any kind but at sixteen she found bodybuilding. It took her from Finland to the Mecca of Bodybuilding Venice Beach, California and gave her power, a career, and a title of a professional bodybuilder. But it almost took her life. She was force to return to Finland and disappeared from the map in 2017. On October 2023 she contacts director Punkki again. It is time to finish this story.
Produced by: Pandistan s.r.o.
Director: Jan Strejcovský
Editor: Michal Böhm
Producer: Jakub Wagner
Art has recently been permeating into the public awareness predominantly by viewer attractive auction records. Price tag, maximum, eccentricity become the common denominators of attention-worthy pieces. But what is it really that the collector is buying? The idea? Prestige, brand, stock, bet, investment, genius, God? The value of art is becoming more and more speculative. It is defined by an entire list of factors from prestige of the individual gallerists and curators, through PR of art historian and financial advisors to the willingness of some artists to be made into a brand with a strong, touching background story. This mixture can make any insignificant marginalia, previously completely unworthy of our attention, into a desired piece worth of million dollars virtually overnight. Mosaic of bizarre stories tracks the machinery of art collectors, businessmen and artists within the art market’s pyramid. The film captures artists feeding the market with their work. It maps their relationship with gallerists, who sell art whatever the price. It outlines the efforts of the nouveaux riche to rise above money- obsessed world by purchasing art. The film observes stories of individual art pieces, which the participants are trying to valorize using various means. Despite the critical charge of the movie, each story between creator and gallerist or collector paints yet another part of the picture with new situations, powerful creative gestures and unexpected connections. The ambivalence between free artistic expression and the power of money is omnipresent.
Produced by: GPO Platform s.r.o.
Director: Ondřej Vavrečka
Editor: Sebastián Kučkovský
Producer: Vít Janeček
The playful film 1+1+1 shot on classical 16mm medium deals with the idea of progress. Progress is an issue that is becoming more and more pressing in these times of crisis developing to crisis developing to crisis – maybe progress of crisis? With a leap in the technologisation of life, but also growing inequalities and various tensions. We love progress, improvements, advances, growth. Is there a space for another loves? The film integrates situational acting with joyful elements of musical with meetings mostly writers and intellectuals in their natural environment. The story progresses through a road movie (sometimes a walk movie) and plays out a philosophical theme in a frivolous way. The film is interspersed with songs in which one sings about what cannot be said.
Produced by: D1film Ltd.
Director: Zuzana Piussi
Editor: Sebastián Kučkovský
Producer: Vít Janeček
Among the law enforcement and judicial methods with very high relevance in the evidentiary proceedings of many ex-communist states, the so-called “scent trail” is included. Its main protagonist is a dog, which convicts the perpetrator. This method originated in the former GDR and was initially secretly employed by the German police against political dissent. Over the years, it became domesticated as one of the accepted strong evidentiary methods, and its acceptance extended to the law enforcement and judicial practices of democratic states in many Eastern Bloc countries. In the Czech Republic, the result of a “scent trail” alone is sufficient as evidence to convict a perpetrator, even for the most serious crimes. Within the scientific community, there is a growing, fact-supported resistance against the uncritical use of this method, while possibly hundreds of innocent individuals spend their sentences in prisons.
Produced by: D1film Ltd.
Director: Denis Dobrovoda
Editor: Tereza Kozáková
Producer: Silvia Panáková
In 1942, Alfred Wetzler was among the first Slovak Jews to be deported to Auschwitz. In 1944, he was the first Jewish prisoner to ever escape the extermination camp. After his return to Slovakia he co-authored what came to be known as the Auschwitz Protocols - the first document to break the story of Nazi extermination camps to the world. Its contents were published in the New York Times and broadcast on the BBC. Wetzler hoped that letting the world know the truth about Auschwitz would lead to the bombing of the camp and the survival of 800 thousand Hungarian Jews who were to be deported. The report did help to temporarily halt Hungarian deportations, but Auschwitz was never bombed. After the war he dedicated himself to building a communist utopia in the newly socialist Czechoslovakia. But instead of being hailed a hero, after the Stalinist communist party turned against its Jewish members, putting on show trials with Wetzler’s colleagues, he started to fear that he might be deported to a work camp yet again. He was fired from his job and the party. During a brief thaw in the 1960’s he published his famous novel What Dante Did Not See. He served as a prosecution witness during the highly publicized Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, helping to convict ex-SS men that lived in West Germany with impunity. Despite his valiant efforts in his fight against injustice, and having a vitally important role in the history of the Holocaust, Wetzler continued to live in obscurity, fearing for his life, and the lives of his family. Sadly, he died as a virtually unknown man in 1988.
Produced by: ARINAFILM s.r.o.
