Rojek

After the impressive Gulistan, Land of Roses (VdR 2016), the Kurdish filmmaker Zaynê Akyol returns with these conversations with imprisoned members of the Islamic State, alternating their words with aerial views of the countryside. An unexpected look at a far-reaching current political issue and a film whose subject matter and rhythm create an impressive cinematic object.

Appunti per un romanzo sull'immondezza

In the spring of 1970, between the African Orestiade and The Decameron, Pasolini shot a film for which he wrote a commentary in verses but never finished editing. The film was born as a typical Pasolini intervention: filming the strike of the garbage collectors in Rome, who at the time worked in dramatic health conditions, and filming the humility of their daily work, amidst the waste and scraps of society, in the squares and in the streets. Pasolini also filmed the faces of garbage collectors engaged in claims discussions and the result was an extraordinary anthropological picture of an unknown humanity.

Breaking Social

The social contract: the rules we follow - and some don’t. Breaking Social uncovers the pattern of corruption and kleptocracy erasing the social tissue, followed by social uprisings. In Chile a new turn is taken, with young women in the lead.

USA: The Conquest of the East

The documentary focuses on the youth movements that overthrew governments in countries such as Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia, Kyrgyzstan and other former socialist countries of Eastern Europe, and shows how, in places where political parties were discredited, student movements financed by U.S. organizations such as the NED, USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy, the International Republican Institute, the International Democratic Institute, Freedom House, and others received the support that helped overthrow their governments, have received the aid that has allowed them to overthrow their governments.

Wanda Gosciminska – A Textile Worker

The life of a female weaver is thrown onto the socio-political canvas of pre-war and post-war communist Poland through the use of expressive allegorical and symbolic imagery in this imaginative take on the documentary form.

Samurai Headhunters

A documentary on the dark and brutal side of the Samurai warrior clans featuring the life of peasant Masa who is pressganged into the ruthless world of the Samurai.

Memoirs of a Geisha

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

Maria Luiza

Maria Luiza da Silva is the first transgender in the history of the Brazilian Armed Forces. After 22 years of work in the military, she retired due to disability. The film explores the complex barriers she faced and her path of affirmation as a trans, military and Catholic woman.

Belle Vie

A much loved Parisian-style bistro located in Los Angeles between a thriving McDonalds and KFC, Belle Vie is owned and operated by the charming and hopeful Vincent Samarco, who struggles to adapt, survive and keep the bistro alive in the midst of a pandemic that has ravaged small businesses everywhere.

Emicida: AmarElo - It's All for Yesterday

Between scenes from his concert in São Paulo's oft-inaccessible Theatro Municipal, rapper and activist Emicida celebrates the rich legacy of Black Brazilian culture.

Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin

When Bruce Chatwin was dying of AIDS, his friend Werner Herzog made a final visit. As a parting gift, Chatwin gave him his rucksack. Thirty years later, Herzog sets out on his own journey, inspired by Chatwin’s passion for the nomadic life, uncovering stories of lost tribes, wanderers and dreamers.

Tekoşer. Il Partigiano Orso

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

Follows the behind-the-scenes work of Studio Ghibli, focusing on the notable figures Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki.

The Dark Side of Green Energies

Faced with climate change, many countries have embarked on the energy transition. Since the COP21 in 2015, which set demanding targets for reducing greenhouse gases, green energies have been on the rise. The electric car has thus become the mascot of this revolution. But manufacturers remain discreet about the carbon footprint of their cars marked "zero emission". Because not only do they consume electricity that is not always clean, but they also consume rare metals such as cobalt or lithium, the extraction of which causes havoc on the other side of the world. In China, for example, champion of rare metals, in Heilongjiang province, a carpet of toxic dust covers agricultural regions.

A Taste of Whale

In the Faroe Islands, hundreds of pilot whales are slaughtered each year in a hunt known as the “Grind.” This gruesome tradition has drawn outrage from activists, most notably the international conservation group Sea Shepherd, who routinely sail to the islands to try to block whaling boats. Yet the Faroese are equally determined to maintain their tradition, defending the practice as more sustainable and less cruel than getting meat from slaughterhouses. Director Vincent Kelner spends time with both Faroese hunters and Sea Shepherd crusaders, building to a nuanced look at a disturbing event with much larger implications for the way humans relate to other creatures.

The Beginning of Life 2: Outside

Genuine connections between children and nature can revolutionize our future. But is this discovery still possible in the world's major urban centers? The new chapter of "The Beginning of Life" reveals the transformative power of this concept.