Documentary Movies

AB

Arita and Balencha, two young girls and close friends are like sisters to each other. Most of their friends have moved to Buenos Aires, but even if your boyfriend is trying to tug you along, it takes courage (and money in your pocket) to say farewell to each other and the place you have grown up in. But time passes and change happens, no matter if you want it or not - and maybe even Arita and Belencha will one day grow apart. But until then their days are spent talking, dreaming and finding a new home for a cardboard box full of puppies among friends and neighbours.

Paikar

An Iranian expat journeys back to his homeland, where he must face his domineering father and grapple with complex emotions about family ties, cultural identity, and his place in the world.

Elton John: Never Too Late

Sir Elton John looks back on his life and the astonishing early days of his 50-year career in this emotionally charged, full-circle journey. As he prepares for his final concert in North America at Dodger Stadium, Elton takes us back in time and recounts his struggles with adversity, abuse, and addiction, and how he overcame them to become the icon he is today.

Alfonso Sánchez

Famous Spanish film critic Alfonso Sánchez talks about his personal life, his work and Anouk Aimée. A sentimental tribute to one of the most relevant figures on the Spanish film scene.

Daddys Poppy

Dolls, cunts and daddy issues – a personal portrait about being a woman.

Canoa Veloz

Foli

Coffee: Between Reality and Imagination

A cinematic collaboration between young Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, who together created a series of short films. Coffee takes part in our cultural identity, it is shared by all individuals in terms of our daily routine and pastes different people together, no matter who they are. Includes two documentaries and two fiction films made by Palestinian filmmakers, and four fiction films made by Israeli filmmakers. Each of the films gives a personal and courageous point of view on the reality in which we live in.

The Lubitsch Touch

An interview with film Critic Bernard Eisenschitz discussing the progression of Ernst Lubitsch's career, from the director's beginning in German silents through CLUNY BROWN, the last film he saw to completion.

Gun Runners

For years, Julius Arile and Robert Matanda thrive among the bands of warriors that terrorize the North Kenyan countryside. So when both warriors suddenly disappear from the bush, many assume they are dead or have been arrested. Instead, they trade in their rifles for sneakers—in the hopes of making it big as professional marathon runners. Years of fleeing from the police have prepared the men for running marathon distances, but do they have what it takes to overcome the corruption, mistrust and jealousy that threaten to derail their careers?

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk - From Revolutionary to Statesman.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. His surname, Atatürk (meaning "Father of the Turks"), was granted to him in 1934 and forbidden to any other person by the Turkish parliament.

Currently Spinning

A look into the world of a record shop

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.

On the Edge - Health System in Crisis

Things are busy at the Paris hospital where young psychiatrist Jamal and his colleagues work. The place is run down, the staff are exhausted, budgets are constantly being slashed. You know the story, but you’ve rarely seen it conveyed as engagingly as in ‘On the Edge’, which employs a handheld camera and meaningful, artistic interventions to observe the daily routine at the psychiatric ward. The deeply sympathetic Jamal is an everyday hero with an exemplary, humanistic disposition, for whom the most important prerequisites for mental health – and for a healthy society in general – are good relationships with other people. He puts his philosophy into practice by listening patiently, giving good advice and organising theatre exercises based on Molière. Realism and idealism, however, are in balance for the young doctor, at least as long as the institutional framework holds up.

Tresmalho

Februarium!!

A group of twenty-somethings, coping with the sudden loss of a close friend, do the only thing that makes sense to them in their time of grief: they put on a play.

Prophecy

Three young friends of Moroccan origin travel on a lost island, sing, dance, and take us into the shelter of an uninhabited lighthouse. They discover this unknown land like the explorers in a tale of adventures. Following them around in this strange place, Julieta Juncadella carries us away, like a wave, in the movement of a fantasy film. – Elena López Riera

Mērija's Journey

At the end of the Second World War, when the German army retreated from Latvia, it also took along 700 boxes of materials from Latvian museums. If not for a young woman named Mērija Grīnberga, the exhibition halls of many museums in Latvia would be empty today. Grīnberga was the only volunteer who in 1944 went along with the train carrying the treasures of Latvian art in order to return with them back to Riga. The German occupying forces tried to take them away; the Soviet occupation forces brought them back; Mērija completed her duty. As gratitude for her journey, Mērija was sacked from her job at the museum and incessantly viewed with suspicion.

Amal

Amal arrives in the United Arab Emirates full of dreams and with the guarantee of a year of contract in a project for TV. After the first year, she finds herself unable to carry out her plans minimally.

Borderland Blues

„The Frontier“ or „La Frontera“ is the undulating landscape of the Sonora Desert in Arizona, which once was a symbol of freedom on the horizon of the American West – and also a region plagued by recurrent territorial struggles. Currently, a high steel fence stretches over several miles strictly separating the USA and Mexico into two territories. Every year, the remains of hundreds of migrants are retrieved from the area. The tense situation in Arizona’s borderland has split the locals into two groups: one demanding a more technically advanced border control system, the other requesting more humanitarian help. Accompanying various locals, NGO workers and self-proclaimed border guards from the region, filmmaker Gudrun Gruber raises the question of whether the latest border control technology will finally bring peace to the area, or rather merely increase the number of deaths.