International Films : Documentaries
1) Abracadabra
Dir: Telemach Wiesinger; 2:15 min; Morocco; No dialogue; Experimental
A short magic trick - without net and double bottom !
2) Therapy
Dir: Luc Godonou Dossou; 12 min; English subtitles; 2019; Switzerland; Documentary
We become the reflection of our dominant thoughts. Live your dreams rather than dreaming your life is the choice of these women that take their destiny into their own hands in order to transcend their existence and rise above the monotony of daily life.
3) Anywhere
Dir: Juliette Menthonnex; 31 min; Swiss, German, French and English; Switzerland; Documentary
Mia, a former trapeze artist from Florida finds herself at the head of a small circus with her husband in German-speaking Switzerland. Despite an exhausting nomadic lifestyle, Mia has faith in the circus tradition and patience while passing on this cultural heritage to her daughter Simone.
4) Arthur King - Changing Landscapes
Dir: Brian Canning & Sam Johnson; 19 min; English; USA; Documentary
Los Angeles based art collective Arthur King travels to rural Iowa to gather audio and visual samples from a small family farm in order to reuse them creatively in a large-scale, improvisational visual art and music performance within the same setting.
5) Brian Auger - Life on Tour
Dir: Michael Maschke; 72 min; English and German; Germany; Documentary
The film follows BRIAN AUGER, famous master of the Hammond organ. His first Band with Rod Stewart, then world hits with TRINITY & JULIE DRISCOLL, followed by working with stars like JIMI HENDRIX, PAUL McCARTNEY or ZUCCHERO. Even with 80 he is still on tour - his power and creativity just goes on.
6) Checker Tobi and Our Planet's Secret
Dir: Martin Tischner; 86 min; German & English; Germany; Docu fiction
Checker Tobi’s greatest adventure begins on a pirate ship. That’s where he finds a message in a bottle which contains a riddle. If he’s able to solve the riddle he will reveal our planet’s greatest secret. An exciting treasure hunt that brings Tobi across the globe is about to begin!
7) Cuban Canvas
Dir: Kavery Kaul; 14 min; Spanish with English subtitles; Cuba, United States; Documentary
An intriguing intergenerational story of artists in Havana whose works hang in museums and galleries worldwide. They experiment with form, content, and bold vision. The documentary traces the enduring lines between art and life.
8) Deep Roots
Dir: Luc Godonou Dossou; 15 min; Swtizerland, Thailand, Phillipines, Guadeloupe; Documentary
Inside the cockfighting pits in Thailand, in Philippines and the ones in Guadeloupe, Aod, Edgar and Dolores are preparing their roosters for an upcoming fight in front of a public of bettors and aficionados.
9) Actually She is My Little Brother
Dir: Lena Lobers & Carina Nickel; 39 min; German with Eng subtitles; Germany; Documentary
"Actually she is my little brother" tells the journey of the young film student Lena. Because of her transsexual sister she meets three young people who are already on their way into the right body. The question of how Lena is able to support her eleven-year-old sister is omnipresent.
10) February 27th
Dir: Marie-Therese Jakoubek; 43 min; Hassaniya with Eng subtitles; Algeria, Democratic Arab Republic of Sahara; Documentary
For 42 years, around 2,10,000 Saharawi have been living in camps in the Algerian desert due to the occupation of the Western Sahara by Morocco. The film tells about their life in a temporary existence that evolved into a home against their will and to this day symbolizes their resistance and resilience.
11) Invisible
Dir: Shirin Barghnavard; 27 min; English, Farsi; Iran, Germany; Documentary
The Berlin Wall is a metaphor for the concept of separation in this film. While seeing the remnants of the Berlin Wall today, surrounded by excited tourists, taking photographs, we hear the voices of several artists from different backgrounds who talk about their bitter personal experiences imposed on them due to their nationalities.
12) The Little Death
Dir: Annie Gisler; 61 min; French, German, English; Switzerland; Documentary
«The little death» is a documentary about female orgasm. Women from various ages, experiences and sexual preferences talk about their orgasms in all sincerity. Poetical, abstract and metaphorical images take us into the heart of their sensations.
13) Mignon
Dir: Kalalin Olah, Sandor Csukas; 28 min; Hungarian; Hungary; Documentary
Over 80, Marika has an infant soul and a passionate existence: craving for desserts, playing with her stuffed toys and dressing up like a pretty ballerina. With her childlike soul, she lives to dance and dances to overcome her lost childhood. Her enthusiasm hides deep and dark memories.
14) Never Give Up
Dir: Jonathan Schornig; 16 min; German, English; Malta; Documentary
Mekon had been making music as long as he could think. But in 2014, he has to flee Nigeria after his parents were murdered. He starts to work in Libya. But instead of making music, Mekon has to fight for his survival. In summer 2018, he decides to flee to Europe. He is saved from a rubber boat by a German NGO. Living in Malta now, he is singing again.
15) Nicht Hier Um Zu Kritisieren
Dir: Lucas Thiem; 80 min; German & English; Germany; Documentary
Since the German reunion in 1990, the theatre in the small town Neustrelitz is marginalised, receiving less and less money from the public government. The threatening end leaves traces: motivational ones at the participants, in life careers, in the self-image of the town.
16) Olowe and I
Dir: Christina Ruloff; 14 min; Swiss German, Yoruba / English, German; Switzerland; Documentary
His first “Olowe" was a fake, but by then art dealer Jean David had already fallen in love with Yoruba artist Olowe of Ise (1875 - 1938). But how can one distinguish between „real“ and „fake“ art in African art? David takes us onto a journey into an unknown universe full of beautiful contradictions.
17) People of the Wasteland
Dir: Heba Khaled; 21 min; Arabic with English subtitles; Turkey; Documentary
People of the Wasteland is an experimental short-film in a first-person point of view depicting the clashes of Syrian fighters in the front line.
18) Break Free - Two People. Two Years. One Dream (Reis Aus)
Dir: Lena Wendt, Ulrich Stirnat; 120 min; German with English subtitles; Germany and many countries in Africa; Documentary
Ulli and Lena want to leave everything behind them for six months. Their plan: driving from Hamburg to South Africa. But they will never get there. Instead, they are taking their old Land Rover Terés and the 40-year-old roof tent, a present from Ulli's auntie, to a journey of nearly two years crisscrossing West Africa.
19) Starting with Fragments
Dir: Omar Shalash, Robert Dobe; 80 min; Arabic, German with English subtitles; Germany, Syria; Documentary
When Tamer Alawam was killed by a grenade in 2012, he left over 300 hours of film footage of the Syrian Revolution – images, which were meant to show Syria from inside. Overwhelmed by the flood of these images and driven by feelings of grief, responsibility and powerlessness, two young filmmakers and friends of Tamer in far away Germany start their own search for answers.
20) Stekenjokk and the Guardians of the Eggs
Dir: Per Bifrost, Alexander Rynéus; 29 min; Swedish with English subtitles; Sweden; Documentary
Every year during June, police officer Mimmi and nature guard Håkan patrol Sweden's windiest place, the valley of Stekenjokk. Eggs thieves’ ravages the area where rare bird eggs are laid during the breeding season. Thousands of eggs have been stolen over the years and sold between collectors and threatened several species to be extinct, a crime that has now been unfolded.
21) The Man who Looked Beyond the Horizon
Dir: Martijn Blekendaal; 28 min; Dutch with English subtitles; The Netherlands; Documentary
More than 40 years ago, Bas Jan Ader decided to go on an adventure. In a tiny sailing boat, the Dutchman set sail across the ocean. Nine months later the boat was found adrift at sea. There was no sign of Ader.
22) The Olden Heralds
Dir: Luis Alejandro Yero; 23 min; Spanish with English subtitles; Cuba; Documentary
Tatá and Esperanza witness the elections of the first Cuban president in more than half a century without the Castro surname. At almost 90 years old, they silently observe the end of one of their many lived cycles.
23) The Last of His Kind
Dir: Jánik von Wilmsdorff; 11 min; German with English subtitles; Germany; Documentary
This is the story of Paul, a broken man. A man who has lost everything. A man whose home is now like a ghost town, attracting rubberneckers every day, from all over the world.
24) The Quiet Rebel
Dir: Carole Cassier; 48 min; English, French and Spanish with with English subtitles; France; Documentary
The Quiet Rebel tells the controversial story of radical feminist artist Casey Jenkins: her rise to internet fame, and shame after a performance where she knitted with wool that she inserted in her vagina.
25) The Safe Birth (Die Sichere Geburt)
Dir: Carola Hauck; 132 min; German, English, French with English subtitles; Germany; Documentary
The safe Birth is a documentary about the impact of routine medical interventions on the mother-child unit and how physiological birth can be safe, healthy and easy.
26) The Village and the Wildfire (Leben Mit Dem Feuer)
Dir: Katrin Reichwald; 88 min; German, English, Portuguese with English subtitles; Germany, Portugal; Documentary
Sao Joao, a small Portuguese village was hit by a devastating forest fire in 2017, killing 66 people. The German filmmaker was unexpectedly affected by this disaster and, with her family, had to flee the village to escape danger.
27) World Taxi
Dir: Philipp Majer; 82 min; English, German, Spanish, French, Wolof, Albanian, Thai with English subtitles; Germany; Documentary
This film features five charismatic taxi drivers and their passengers from five different cities: Bangkok, Pristina, Dakar, El Paso and Berlin. For 24 hours, we follow them through their city, their daily routine, their private life and are listening to their thoughts.
28 Around the Bed of a Dying Collaborator
Dir: Tal Michael, David Ofek; 50 min; Arabic, Hebrew with English subtitles; Israel; Documentary
"We are guilty, we’ve brought shame on ourselves", this is how Unes summarises decades of collaboration with Israeli security forces and helping Jews to buy land from Palestinians.
29) Kaatu
Dir: Rodrigo Sena; 25 min; Brazil; documentary
A native Indian community is trying survive the onslaught of 'development'.
30) The Yellow House
Dir: Ana Luísa Lopes; 7 min; Portuguese with English subtitles; Portugal; Documentary
31) The Unknown Racer
Dir: Danya Razuvaev; 8 min; Russian with English subtitles; Russia; Documentary
Short movie about the amateur racer, who is going to be the first racer from russia who took part in one of the toughest race in the world.
32) Ivan Paketny
Dir: Evgeniy Nakhabtsev; 4 min; Russian with English subtitles; Russia; Documentary
Ivan Packetny. This is not a real surname, no one remembers the real one for a long time, even Ivan himself. The fact is that for him the main purpose of all existence is his collection. But he collects neither stamps nor coins. Ivan collects packages.
33) Samvel
Dir: Evgeniy Bakirov; 6 min; Russian with English subtitles; Armenia; Documentary
A short documentary film about Samvel Galstyan - a taxi driver from Erevan. The film puts his profession in the background focusing on Samvel's hobby - he's been an artist since his childhood.
34) Where There Are No Roads
Dir : Leonid Balanev; 10 min; Russian with English subtitles; Russia; Documentary
As a child, an inventor Alexey Garagashyan drew a detailed map of his village, but he immediately became interested in what was beyond its borders. So his main passion appeared - to overcome the bad roads. Every time he met impassable routes, he just created new modifications of transport.
35) Polack Waltz
Dir: Volha Dashuk; 30 min; Russian with English subtitles; Belarus; Documentary
Vasil Granouski is 58 years old. He lives in the country and he is the head of a local choir with very old singers.
