Hamze Bytyçi // Germany // 2019 // 06:10 min
Animation, Documentary
“They only take away the criminals," said Zilli Reichmann's father when the National Socialists arrested the first Sinti and Roma people. Because he was fatally mistaken, 95-year-old Sinti woman tells her story: of the murder of her daughter, her parents, sister, their children and many relatives in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, her own struggle for survival and the meaning of life.
[CW: genocide, racism, death]
Flóra Anna Buda // Hungary, France // 2023 // 10:38 min
Animation, Live Action
Living with her mom again, 27-year-old Alice is preoccupied by the fact that she can't express her sexuality fully, and brings the issue up with her friends too. An unusual event awakens a sexual fantasy within her.
Mirza Odabaşı // Germany // 2013 // 33:24 min
Documentary
A journey through time between 1993 and 2013, from the attack in Solingen to the NSU's self-disclosure. With a personal analysis by the director in conversation with people he met on his journey, such as Michel Friedman (author, philosopher), Fatih Çevikkollu (cabaret artist), Cem Özdemir (politician), Mevlüde Genç (survivor of Solingen), Afrob (rapper) and many others.
[CW: racism, racist murders]
Rossella Schillaci // Portugal, Italy // 2022 // 20:37 min
Animation, Documentary, Experimental
A 360 immersive fairy tale, set amongst mothers and children who live in prison. A journey in their everyday life, with animations of their surreal memories of the past and dreams of the future.
Soda Jerk // Australia // 2009 // 06:28 min
Experimental
"After the Rainbow" is the second work in Soda Jerk’s ongoing series of Séance Fictions. Through a re-imagining of the opening sequence of the "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), the fantasy world of cinema and the reality of Judy Garland’s complex life collide.
Charlotte Muller / Théo Degen // Belgium, Switzerland // 2022 // 24:54 min
Live Action
Teenaged Alice is bored to tears camping with her mom on Lake Geneva. When she meets Zack – in the midst of a sunflower field straight out of a fairy tale – a tender crush begins.
Hien Nguyen // Germany // 2022 // 12:59 min
Documentary
A very personal portrait of Yen Nguyen, who sets off from Oslo to return to her hometown of Neustrelitz. Vulnerably she examines memories from her childhood and youth, as well as her self-acceptance, identity and family.
Darragh Amelia / Gertrude Malizana / Jesse Gerard Mpango / Cece Mlay // Tanzania // 2023 // 16:00 min
Documentary
Three characters from the Tanzanian film scene show what really matters in cinema: passion. Frank sells films, Dj Black translates them and Rehema shows them. Between homemade film prints and temporary cinemas, a colorful picture of a lively film landscape emerges.
Anastasiia Solonevych / Damian Kocur // Poland, Ukraine // 2023 // 15:29 min
Live Action
After a year in Berlin, Lera heads back to her hometown Kyiv for Christmas. There, she experiences first-hand the new everyday life during wartime with old friends and family. "As It Was" is a moving bit of cinema.
[CW: war]
Bernhard Wenger // Austria, Germany // 2023 // 18:28 min
Live Action
The picturesque Austrian Alps: a ski-area weather camera captures the majestic mountainscape – and interpersonal conversations on the side. Is there is no refuge from male intrusiveness, even on the remotest of peaks?
[CW: Sexism and sexual violence]
Khozy Rizal // Indonesia // 2023 // 15:00 min
Live Action
With grandma nearby, an uncle mimes at the dinner table: coming inside his wife. An odong-odong at the fair, and the fireworks of coitus. Basri and Salma don't meet their family's expectations, but they still have loads of fun.
[CW: physical violence]
Popo Fan // Germany // 2019 // 17:00 min
Live Action
BEER! BEER! is an anti-romantic comedy set in the early morning after a wild party in Berlin. While Tao, a Chinese, and Sebastian, a white German, get closer and closer, Tao realizes that Sebastian is very superficial and he loses interest. At least he still lets him carry home a mattress he finds on the street.
Mike Plitt / Falk Schuster // Germany // 2022 // 08:06 min
Animation, Documentary, Experimental
Alex tells of his childhood in the GDR: how he was taken from his mother after she criticised the regime, his attempts to escape from children's homes and subsequent efforts to break him in a reformatory, using violence.
[CW: violence, sexual violence]
Isaac Martinez // Germany // 2023 // 04:03 min
Documentary, Experimental, Commercial Work
The poetic, subjective narrative in "Black Youth" treats the discriminating hurdles that Black men must overcome in becoming adults. Surrounded by oppressive whiteness, as far as the eye can see, yet not without power.
Deniz Eroğlu // Germany // 2019 // 10:03 min
Documentary, Experimental
The title of the film refers to the nationalist slogan "blood and soil," a racist ideal of a national body linked to a territory of settlement. In this work, it takes on a new meaning, referring to the narrator's birthplace and the blood that is spilled in the story.
[CW: racism, physical violence]
Anna Fernandez De Paco // Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, England // 2022 // 15:00 min
Documentary, Live Action
In the mountains overlooking Sarajevo, Boja toils away amid houses destroyed by the war. Her brother gives her orders. Smoking a pipe, the goat herder enjoys the stolen moments her life affords.
Anna Ring // Germany // 2022 // 08:13 min
Animation, Documentary
Anna Ring interviews her mom, who came to Germany from the former USSR in 1991 as a "Jewish quota refugee". She speaks about this rarely explored aspect of migration, bigoted treatment and her wishes for the future.
Douwe Dijkstra // Netherlands // 2022 // 29:00 min
Documentary, Experimental
How can you overcome a violent past? Somali-born Abdi reenacts his life, marked by war and criminality, with the help of his neighbour and filmmaker Douwe. Through playful reconstructions in a special effects studio, they embark on a candid and investigative journey through a painful history.
[CW: war, flight, violence, blood]
Jamie O'Rourke // Ireland // 2023 // 15:00 min
Live Action
This one is intense! A typical morning on a (somewhat creepy) farm. A cow is about to calve. If only the farmer's super bloody accident didn't intervene. And then there's his daughter's worrying behaviour –
[CW: physical and psychological violence, death]
Julie GROUX / Romain SEISSON / Taye CIMON / Sandra LEYDIER / Pierre COËZ / Manuarii MOREL // France // 2022 // 05:08 min
Animation
Somewhere out on the open sea, a flamingo alights on an aircraft carrier – blocking the landing strip and grounding the waiting fighter jets. A soldier shoos it away, but it'll be back – next time with reinforcements.
Henriette Rietz // Germany // 2023 // 04:39 min
Documentary, Experimental
Stock footage of "happy" families conjures canned warmth, while the inner monologues of overworked mothers intone off-screen. Tremendous meme fodder – if it weren't so serious.
[CW: self harm, depression]
Victoria Aleksanyan // Netherlands, Armenia, United States // 2022 // 12:09 min
Animation
Anoush fled Armenia and her violent husband years ago – now, facing deportation, she has to return. A compelling film about the inhumanity of forced repatriation.
[CW: physical and psychological violence]
Thomas Baerten / Wim Geudens // Netherlands, United Kingdom // 2014 // 15:00 min
Live Action
The brothers ‘De Smet’ are helping each other to make their lives as singles as enjoyable as possible. When a new woman moves into a house in their street, their synergy turns out to be a house of cards.
Sean Wainsteim // Canada // 2023 // 14:00 min
Documentary, Live Action
From off-screen, Sean Wainsteim comments on his own film, a tale of the trauma his grandfather and countless others endured during the Holocaust, reflecting on his personal creative process. Extraordinary storytelling.
[CW: Holocaust]
Antonia Lindner // Germany // 2023 // 09:00 min
Live Action
When bureaucracy becomes madness: B. enters the immigration office and runs from room to room, floor to floor, only to start over again from the beginning. Kafkaesque, no? For some the situation is even more desperate.
Leandro Goddinho / Paulo Menezes // Germany, Brazil // 2023 // 17:00 min
Live Action
While thousands take to the streets against high rents in Berlin, the young Brazilian Edu is kicked out of his apartment. Between a lack of health insurance, racism and homophobia, he tries desperately to hold his life together.
[CW: blood]
Lucija Mrzljak / Morten Tšinakov // Croatia, Estonia // 2022 // 15:58 min
Animation
A burial takes place in the rain. People cry. A woman has too much wine, fries up some goldfish – and then the whole flat catches fire. A dark, quirky animated film about a headstrong woman thrown for a loop by a death.
[CW: Death]
Jan Koester / Lisa Violetta Gaß // Germany // 2022 // 07:30 min
Animation, Documentary, Experimental
"My mother started drinking when I was eight." This is a story of lost trust, toxic relationships and the seeming impossibility of interpersonal connection to others.
[CW: psychological violence, abuse in the family]
Hoda Taheri // Germany // 2023 // 19:00 min
Live Action
Desperate in their attempts to gain asylum in Germany, an Iranian couple sets off down a drastic path: maybe they will be able to stay if the wife has a child with a white German man. Is the price they pay for this too high?
Benjamin Kramme // Germany // 2023 // 12:24 min
Live Action
What to do when your daughter has bad pneumonia? Stay true to the nationalist ideology of your community and keep singing songs – or take little Sieglinde to the hospital? Freyja makes a far-reaching decision.
[CW: physical and psychological violence, blood]
Jeremy Oury // France // 2023 // 05:00 min
Animation, Experimental
"Exo-Cortex 2.0" is an invitation to feel free, guided by a voice that plunges us into a dreamlike and hypnotic introspection. This immersive work proposes a dreamlike journey to the spectators through a poetic and enchanting composition of space.
Vivien Hárshegyi // Hungary // 2022 // 13:32 min
Animation
For fear of getting hurt, a girl rebuffs the love of her youth. Inside, she gazes into the future: What will first love be like? Between rejection and butterflies in her stomach, her emotions are going haywire.
Jorge Cadena // Colombia, Switzerland // 2022 // 15:20 min
Live Action
A portrait of queer activists in Northern Colombia: in extravagant performative actions, they call out the disastrous exploitation practiced by the country's largest coalmine. The outfits rate a solid 10/10.
[CW: queerphobia, physical violence]
Adriaan Lokman // Netherlands, France // 2019 // 15:30 min
Animation, Experimental
Floating like leaves in the air, we experience the most important element that surrounds us. Brushstrokes of air in all its subtle, gentle and powerful manifestations paint our fragile existence in the most unpredictable, stormy way.
Zénó Mira // Hungary // 2023 // 07:48 min
Animation
An aristocratic garden party, a baroque castle in an idyllic setting, fine dining, an exuberant atmosphere. But steel cages are arrayed here too, containing animals brought for a specific purpose: so-called fox tossing.
[CW: violence against animals]
Sejad Ademaj // Germany // 2022 // 13:05 min
Live Action
Jasmina wants to go on the class trip but her immigration status won't allow it. The doorbell rings: her boyfriend, she thinks, but it's the cops instead, declaring she and her family have to leave Germany in 15 minutes.
[CW: police violence, suicide]
Ovsanna Shekoyan // Armenia // 2021 // 15:12 min
Live Action
A child collapses during gym class, then subsequently loses consciousness. Everything has to go quickly: to the hospital as fast as possible. As the ambulance races, there's no time for a breather. What happened?
[CW: death]
Lan Zhou / Chiayu Liu / Denise Cirone / Andrey Kolesov / Zhen Tian / Sebastian Doringer // France // 2022 // 06:22 min
Animation
A respected chef takes his son along to the fish market and shows him his craft, but the boy doesn't seem interested. The child acts increasingly weirder, as their relationship plunges the father into a crisis of faith.
Joshua Neubert // Germany // 2022 // 19:45 min
Live Action
Oliwia tries to help refugees in the highly militarised area between Poland and Belarus by placing food at the edge of the forest. When injured Hamid appears, she finds herself confronted with an inhumane system.
[CW: physical violence]
Tamara Shogaolo // Netherlands, Egypt // 2017 // 12:00 min
Animation, Documentary
After a traumatic encounter, a young, gay Egyptian joins the LGBT rights movement. When his safety is jeopardized, he must choose whether to stay in the country he loves or seek asylum elsewhere as a refugee. HALF A LIFE is a timely story of activism and hope, set in the increasingly dangerous, oppressive, and unstable social climate of Egypt today.
Soda Jerk // Australia // 2022 // 68:58 min
Experimental
Hello Dankness satirizes the psychotropic spectacle of American politics from 2016 to 2021 in hundreds of film samples. The film follows a neighborhood through these years in the guise of a suburban stoner musical. Consensus reality dissolves into conspiracies and other contagions. Hotdogs debate the culture wars, dumpsters preach QAnon, zombies gather for revolution and real-life events are recast as Broadway smash hits from Cats, Les Miserables, Annie and The Phantom of the Opera. There is singing and dancing, moments of menace and melancholy, shitposting and deep sincerity.
Lenth: 69 min
Babetida Sadjo // Belgium, Guinea-Bissau // 2022 // 18:10 min
Live Action
A young woman learns that her father, who raped both her and her sister, has received a shockingly mild sentence for his crimes. She goes to him, seeking confrontation. An impressive, intense film that rouses anger.
[CW: physical, psychological, and sexual violence, death]
Lukas Kacinauskas // Lithuania // 2021 // 21:00 min
Live Action
Max goes on a date with another guy Tadas whom he met online. Max feels uncomfortable and timid so Tadas decides to act on his own initiative. He tries to get to know Max as they embark on a night ride around the city but Max is evasive to talk about himself. Max feels torn between his emotions and Tadas’ pressure. Eventually he breaks down and reveals his true identity.
Gabriel Bihina Arrahnio // Germany // 2022 // 22:51 min
Live Action
Summery and light, a tragic love story begins between two young men from Ghana. Sam has lived a while in Germany with his mom, Kwesi and his mom are waiting for residency permits. Together they can escape for a moment.
Mona Okulla Obua // Germany // 2022 // 16:55 min
Experimental, Live Action
This Afro-surrealist tale of two Black German women whose paths meet through hair-braiding fuses storytelling and cineastic poetry. In the intimacy of the situation, themes like identity and spirituality find expression.
Thùy Trang Nguyễn // Germany // 2021 // 34:09 min
Live Action
JACKFRUIT tells the story of Mít, a gender-fluid person who is part of the Vietnamese diaspora and queer Berlin. Before Mít has the courage to move out, Grandma Roan is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. When Roan starts to forget things, memories of her distant homeland Vietnam fade as well... Mít sets out to find the connection between their two identities they thought were incompatible.
Boris Gavrilović // Germany // 2023 // 18:35 min
Live Action
Vacationing Martina just wants to join German tourists and be inconspicuous. She’s annoyed when confident, non-conformist Dunja reminds her of her Yugoslav roots. At first painful, this turns out to be quite liberating.
Marta Magnuska // Latvia, Poland // 2022 // 07:00 min
Animation
A couple, drawn in charcoal, hangs in the living room, as a gecko looks on. She does yoga, he plays with his phone. Things get even tinier in the tiny room, then really big and vaguely cosmic, before one of them leaves.
Collectif Faire-part // Belgium, Congo, Germany // 2022 // 14:30 min
Documentary, Experimental
Filmmakers Paul Shemisi and Nizar Saleh recall a trip to Germany, where they were meant to present their new film, before a layover in Angola devolved into a truly hellish ordeal.
[CW: unjust incarceration]
Carlos Velandia // Colombia // 2022 // 07:20 min
Animation, Experimental
Women in cinema history: in bed, in the shower or at the vanity, staged and montaged by male directors. A collage of the male gaze.
[CW: for epilepsy]
Cyrus Neshvad // Luxembourg // 2022 // 17:38 min
Live Action
A 16-year-old arrives in Luxemburg – alone – for an arranged marriage. She shows great bravery, refusing to exit the airport's security zone. For, beyond its boundaries, her forced "fiancée" awaits.
[CW: psychological violence]
Mandana Ferdos // France // 2023 // 16:06 min
Documentary
In memories, we stroll through Paris, through Iran, over beaches, through the night. A highly personal journey treating female servitude in one's homeland, isolation during the pandemic, and the disappearance of cinema.
[CW: suicide, self harm, femicide and misogyny]
Florian Dilloo / Sacha Calame / Sacha Calame // France, Reunion // 2021 // 07:06 min
Animation
The orchids in a young woman's garden trigger memories of a traumatic experience she suffered when a barkeeper slipped roofies into her drink in order to rape her.
[CW: knockout drops, sexual violence]
Ellinor Hallin / Ellen Fiske // Sweden // 2022 // 19:59 min
Documentary
When children in Sweden call BRIS, it means they're experiencing an emergency – whether it is a dead pet or violent parents. Sara, Niclas and Louisa help them the best they can.
[CW: Physical and sexual violence toward children]
Andrés Mossos // Colombia // 2022 // 15:09 min
Live Action
How do you go about fulfilling your dreams when the future seems hopeless? Pollo gets a gun and wants to pose with it – who can blame him? Should he have known that it's supposed to bring bad luck?
[CW: physical violence, death]
JI-SIAN WANG // Taiwan // 2022 // 06:10 min
Animation, Experimental
This film is about life and death, pain and suffering cows from being stunned by electric shock before slaughter. Mass eating Of meat of these animals is breaking the law of the universe and becoming a weird black hole-like of reincarnation.
Andrés Bartos Amory / Lucija Stojevic // Spain, England // 2023 // 04:59 min
Animation
On a fishing boat loaded with people fleeing for their lives, a Rohingya remembers a song from his childhood. In his memories, he searches for the reasons for his flight and for the place of his future.
Timmi Kwaku Davis // Germany // 2023 // 18:22 min
Live Action
Manuel grew up in socially disadvantaged circumstances with his single mother. On his biological father's 51st birthday, Manuel breaks into his penthouse apartment. He is to atone for the harm he has done to him and his mother. A heated argument breaks out, but eventually a door opens up: Blackness and masculinity play as much a role as overcoming intergenerational trauma.
[CW: Physical Violence]
Mohammad Valizadegan // Czech Republic, Germany // 2023 // 20:33 min
Live Action
Saba has a passion: she wants to dance. However, dancing is forbidden in the strictly religious country where she lives. Her conflict becomes a portrait of daily oppression.
Lucas Malbrun // France // 2023 // 18:00 min
Animation
Leipzig 1989, shortly before the collapse of the Eastern Bloc: Margarethe rebels against the East German regime and ends up in a psychiatric clinic. Though revolution is in the air, the secret police are more present than ever.
[CW: psychological violence]
Asarela Orchidia Dewi // Germany // 2022 // 18:55 min
Live Action
Triggered by an old family photo, Azka begins to retrace their childhood in Indonesia. As they revisit long-forgotten memories, Azka discovers unresolved pains they never knew existed. Parents were at times awkward, at times ignorant in accepting Azka's trans*/non-binary gender. This experience marks the beginning of a journey that leads to profound self-acceptance.
[CW: Misgendering]
David Robinson-Smith // Australia // 2022 // 12:25 min
Live Action
Two characters cross paths, one has to endure abuse in the process. How responsible is the other? How do they deal with guilt? How to get off the hamster wheel, or process trauma? And how is it all connected in the end?
[CW: physical violence, suicide]
Jack Turits // Hungary, United States // 2023 // 09:36 min
Live Action
Three government officials let two refugees decide who gets a shot at citizenship, via duel. Both are given a weapon and told to commence shooting on the count of three. Whoever survives gets to sing the national anthem.
[CW: racism, death]
Isabella Margara // Greece // 2022 // 17:02 min
Live Action
Trouble in a seafood restaurant: the catch has been poor, and everyone is praying for a miracle. When the whole team puts together a performance of a fisherman's yarn, fate smiles and a dolphin finds its way into their net!
Aylin Gökmen // Switzerland // 2023 // 18:30 min
Documentary
Vakıf, a Kurdish man who grew up in a nomadic tribe in the mountains of southeast Turkey, recalls moments from his youth that have shaped his life – memories that include his mother, first love, and mistreatment by the police.
[CW: torture]
Spartak Yordanov // Bulgaria // 2022 // 07:07 min
Animation, Experimental
Coincidence, all just pure coincidence. This grim animation treats personality loss. To what extent are we caught on the hamster wheel, or is it a form of collective consciousness instead? Food for thought.
Pauline Picard // France // 2023 // 05:32 min
Live Action
A creepy earworm is haunting Edith, in the form of a rabbit-eared man wearing a pink shirt. Whether she's in the shower or at her desk, at the bus stop, in the cinema or in bed with a lover – he just won't leave her alone.
[CW: Suicide]
Morgane Frund // Switzerland // 2022 // 19:06 min
Documentary
Editing footage for a project, a female director discovers that bears were not the only protagonists the amateur cameraman has recorded. A discussion about the power of the male gaze ensues.
[CW: sexism, sexualized violence, and voyeurism]
Jenni Pystynen / Perttu Inkilä // Finland // 2023 // 12:00 min
Documentary, Experimental
A firefly has a scant few weeks to mate during its lifetime. Better be quick then – if only it weren't for humans and their infernal light pollution! Insane close-up shots from the insect kingdom.
Daniel Soares // Portugal, Switzerland // 2022 // 14:00 min
Experimental, Live Action
The idyllic Swiss setting contrasts sharply with the stressful routine of a Portuguese cleaning woman: her boss, a property renter, is a jerk, the guests too, and her daughter is moody. And she's just expected to deal…
Ewan Macbeth // Netherlands // 2022 // 13:00 min
Documentary, Experimental
An unseen narrator recounts his experience of wrongful imprisonment in an unnamed country, and his sudden release. Based on a nightmarish letter sent to Amnesty International, and a surreal interview with its writer on freedom and coincidence.
[CW: incarceration, torture]
Isaac Wenzek / Trinidad Plass Caussade / Titouan Tillier // France // 2023 // 03:30 min
Animation
Seriously, who came up with the brilliant idea for "human resources"? At least it's smart to give 21st-century workers titles that reflect their real treatment under capitalism. This French film takes the term literally.
Cana Bilir-Meier // Germany // 2013 // 07:20 min
Documentary, Experimental
In her essayistic documentary, Cana Bilir-Meier assembles fragments of poems, television reports and sound recordings into a cinematic memory of her aunt Semra Ertan: She came to Germany in 1972 as a migrant worker, worked as a technical draftswoman and interpreter, and wrote over 350 poems. She died in Hamburg in 1982 at the age of 25, burning herself to death in protest against racism in Germany.
[CW: racism, suicide]
Samad Alizadeh // Iran // 2023 // 10:00 min
Live Action
Iranian protagonist Helia has turned 13 – for her parents, that means she is not allowed to ride a bike anymore. When her father plans to sell her cycle to the neighbour boy, the girl rebels against rigid gender roles.
Jessica Laurén // Sweden // 2023 // 09:00 min
Animation
Storms that rage for days, flooded cellars, forest fires on holiday: Even in this darkly humorous animation, climate change has long been a reality, but the only one who seems to be paying any attention is a young girl.
Sarnt Utamachote // Germany // 2021 // 21:44 min
Documentary
What does it mean to listen while being vulnerable? Following the concept "music as a gift", four Berlin-based migrant queer musicians surprised their close friends or relatives with a special song, which then triggered a moment of deep appreciation between them. This film documents that process of them opening up and letting go.
Antonio Donato // Italy, England // 2023 // 19:56 min
Live Action
Sardinia in pastels, rigid camera angles and the occasional zoom: a certain aesthetic influence on Antonio Donato's creative process is unmistakeable. But the idol could learn a thing or two about depth from the admirer.
Âni Võ // Germany // 2022 // 29:33 min
Live Action
In her mother's nail salon, 11-year-old Linh begins a tender friendship with young Vietnamese employee Mai, who will soon need her help to hide from human traffickers that are exploiting her. Linh shows solidarity with Mai and rebels against her mother, who knows what’s going on but cannot revolt against it due to her own entanglement in the system.
[CW: Physical Violence]
Jens Rosemann // Germany // 2021 // 03:33 min
Animation
Today is the day: Sven is going to jump off the high dive at the outdoor pool. Although… maybe tomorrow would be better? Or next week? Does look pretty high. Better go get some French fries first.
Victor Lindgren // Sweden // 2013 // 14:30 min
Live Action
Mikaela has undergone a gender-affirmation procedure. One night at a bar she meets a guy who goes home with her. In "Undress Me" sexual objectification becomes a 'playing doctors' situation, each person wanting the other to take the first step towards sex. A film about our notions of masculinity and femininity, and how we come into existence through the way others see us.
Gustavo Vokos // Brazil, Peru // 2022 // 18:25 min
Live Action
Deep in the Peruvian Andes, thousands of individuals come together to solve their problems in violent one-on-one show-downs. This is meant to restore social equilibrium. What twists of fate have brought a father here?
[CW: animal cruelty, physical violence, homophobia]
Elizabeth Sargent // United States // 2023 // 15:45 min
Live Action
During a video call, Emily sees her mentally challenged sister Anna alone with her dead mother and is unable to grasp the situation. She comes back home from New York – and must relearn to engage with Anna's perspective.
Kantarama Gahigiri // Rwanda, Switzerland // 2023 // 09:51 min
Live Action
Cobalt, cassiterite or silicon? Mining minerals has become essential in many areas – as they become indispensable in our smartphones or laptops. An artful production about the dark sides of globalization.
Soda Jerk // Australia // 2018 // 54:00 min
Experimental
Part political satire, eco-horror and road movie, Terror Nullius is a 54-minute political revenge fable. It hitches a ride into the dark heart of Australia, to apocalyptic desert camps and where bicentenary celebrations of the colony are ravaged by carnivorous sheep. Working against official nationalist mythologies, the feature film remix has been called "one of the best Australian films of the decade" by The Guardian, a "dizzying, ambitiously satirical work".
Lea Vidakovic // Croatia, France, Serbia // 2023 // 14:35 min
Animation
What could a quiet afternoon in an aristocratic villa have looked like just prior to the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire? In this take, a brother pays a visit with extended family, disturbing domestic tranquillity.
Chihying Musquiqui // Germany, Taiwan, Togo // 2021 // 22:00 min
Documentary, Promotional Work
Togolese photographers are testing devices that can compensate for insufficient exposure when shooting dark skin tones. A newly developed face camera algorithm is very popular on the African continent. And in addition: the production of a kung fu movie with a computer-generated voice of Bruce Lee.
[CW: discrimination, racism]
Nienke Deutz // Belgium, France, Netherlands // 2023 // 14:54 min
Animation
Irma, whose desire to have a kid has gone unfulfilled, would love to finally relax at this 5-star hotel. Alas, she's surrounded by pregnant women. Is her plan for regeneration ruined? A sensitive animation with depth.
Simone Smith // Scotland // 2023 // 17:00 min
Experimental, Live Action
This one is trippy: stuck in a car with the dysfunctional family on the way to a wedding – bloody hell! Mother, father, daughter, son – in a quirky psycho-horror trip chock full of mutual bashing.
[CW: Drugs, Strobe Lights]
Volker Schlecht // Germany // 2023 // 15:35 min
Animation, Documentary
This work features gripping voice-over narration by biologist Karen Lips, who spent years in Costa Rica, among other places, where she witnessed the disappearance of entire frog species. One dark side of globalisation.
Cosima Frei // Germany, Switzerland // 2023 // 17:34 min
Live Action
What to do after a separation, before moving to a new city? Mena strolls around her Berlin hood one last time. Phone shop clerks and florists become conversation partners, offering relationship tips and worldly wisdom.
Nasos Gatzoulis // Denmark, Greece, United States // 2022 // 10:00 min
Documentary
What is it like to grow up with a manipulative, gaslighting, brutal father? Magnus Alexander, a life coach from Copenhagen, speaks openly about the effects of toxic masculinity.
[CW: psychological violence]
Nora Mandray // France, United States // 2015 // 08:48 min
Documentary
The female/trans/queer bicycle repair collective "Fender Bender" creates Detroit's first bike-sharing program. Their empowering community grows steadily, two wheels at a time.
[CW: racism, intersectional discrimination]
Melanie Jilg // Germany // 2023 // 15:18 min
Animation, Experimental
Fear paralyses, fear unsettles, fear wrenches, fear intimidates, fear isolates, since no one notices it. And still, fear can move, it can give way and transform itself. Or, as we know too well, it can remain.
[CW: Suizidgedanken]
Can Tanyol // Germany // 2023 // 18:35 min
Live Action
9-year-old Kenan is to be circumcised according to Muslim tradition. During the circumcision ceremony in Berlin-Kreuzberg, which his father Ibrahim organizes more for his own father than for Kenan, both are confronted with the question: What does it actually mean to be a man? Kenan's grandfather urges him to shoot a gun in the air. While Ibrahim argues with his father, Kenan runs away.
[CW: gun]
Petra Stipetić / Maren Wiese // Germany // 2023 // 12:30 min
Animation, Documentary
Red beets as the key to immortality? Centuries later the discoverer of this secret has morphed into a giant moustachioed heart and immortality is spreading like a virus: death is now not only avoidable, it's impossible.
Moritz Siebert // Germany, Ghana // 2023 // 17:41 min
Documentary
How are past events portrayed? Two buildings on two continents, built almost in the same year by the same family, a palace in Berlin and a fortress in Ghana. This film sheds light on two sides of colonial historiography.
[CW: torture, slavery]
Thi Dang An Tran // Germany // 2022 // 12:40 min
Animation, Documentary
Duy Em and her father Ba talk about an incident in which he was racially discriminated against. Duy Em asks why he didn't fight back and refuses to accept his resigned attitude. When Ba tells the story of his journey to Germany as a boat people, it becomes clear that his experiences over the last 40 years have had a huge impact on his perception of injustice.
Mahnas Sarwari // Germany // 2019 // 26:47 min
Live Action
Elaha wants to move out. During the day the young Afghan-German woman argues with her mother about her untidy room, at night she works in a club. Elaha is very quick-witted when it comes to dealing with people who annoy her, especially when she is constantly and everywhere confronted with her heritage Eventually she realizes that growing up involves responsibility, too.
Sebastian Valencia Muñoz // Colombia // 2022 // 18:00 min
Live Action
It's 1990 and gang-affiliated William takes his young son Jacobo out for a drive and they enjoy a lovely sunny day together. On the way home the day takes a dark turn and Jacobo’s life is changed forever.
[CW: physical violence, death]
Arkadii Nepytaliuk // Ukraine // 2022 // 20:00 min
Live Action
Summer of '91 in the USSR. Time seems to pass more slowly at a summer camp. Young girls dream of golden leggings, while history is written in Moscow. Alas, the wind of change is blowing strong – towards the camp too.
Mel Sangyi Zhao // China, United States // 2022 // 17:20 min
Live Action
When cosmetic institute staff intrusively suggest that 50-year-old ex-dancer Bing consider vaginal rejuvenation surgery, she pushes back. Sharing a smoke with a teenage stranger, she grasps what truly keeps one young.