Frontiers of Dreams and Fears(2001)

Dreams of the City(ar)

Dib moves with his younger brother and their mother from his home town of Quneitra to Damascus after the death of his father. The children’s grandfather, who was known for his tyranny, reluctantly agrees to shelter the grieving family, and tries to force his daughter to marry again. The magic of the city of Damascus takes over the conscience. Dib, whose main concern has become discovering all the secrets of this city, is driven by his heart full of dreams, but he sees nothing in his life except humiliation and cruelty. The fragrance of childhood dies in Dib's heart, as he grows up in light of the political fluctuations that prevailed in the fifties (the end of the military dictatorship in Syria at that time, the nationalization of the Suez Canal, Nasser’s rise to power in Cairo, and Egyptian-Syrian unity in 1958), so that his rosy childhood dreams were shattered on the rocks of cruelty and violence. The city's dreams turn into a nightmare..

Besieged Bread(ar)

In battle-ridden Syria, a woman trying to smuggle bread into a blockaded area crosses paths with a soldier on the run.

Port of Memory(ar)

In what is left of the city of Jaffa, a man about to lose his house contemplates his fate. Meanwhile two women remain tied to their homes. Cats scrabbling her front door, one finds solace feeding her old mother, until her house is taken over by an Israeli film crew. The other immerses herself in dreams of love whilst making wedding decorations. In a nearby café an old captain sits motionless the whole day through, while another man moves restless like a fish in an aquarium. For these Palestinian characters this is a way of life, holding onto hope through their own rituals.

way(en)

San Francisco filmmaker Konrad Steiner took 12 years to complete a montage cycle set to the late Leslie Scalapino’s most celebrated poem, way—a sprawling book-length odyssey of shardlike urban impressions, fraught with obliquely felt social and sexual tensions. Six stylistically distinctive films for each section of way, using sources ranging from Kodachrome footage of sun-kissed S.F. street scenes to internet clips of the Iraq war to a fragmented Fred Astaire dance number.

Blue Fire(en)

An elite A.I.coder faces a collision between the algorithms of the VR worlds he's creating and the archetypal dimensions of the greater Collective Unconscious. He finds solace in a rural farmhouse he rents from a Professor of Psychology who lives next door with a student he mentors on her dreams. Over two days, the dreams of all three impact their daily discourse in unexpected ways unhinging their lives through a vortex of a greater reality. BLUE FIRE spins the controversial A.I. phenomena beyond the consensus narrative of destroying the world VS. saving the world towards a radical vision of the future.

Box(en)

The execution was scheduled and the last meal consumed. The coolness of the poisons entering the blood system slowed the heart rate and sent him on the way to Judgement. He had paid for his crime with years on Death Row waiting for this moment and now he would pay for them again as the judgment continued..

Nosotros los jodidos(es)

Barbie(en)

Barbie comes home from shopping. She takes her groceries out of the bag and unwraps a little Barbie doll. She fries up the Barbie doll and eats it.

Shaolin Invincibles(zh)

Two sword-wielding sisters seek revenge against the villains who murdered their family. But these are no ordinary villains — they’re wizards with giant, elasticized tongues who use black magic to control... kung fu gorillas!

Jeanne’s Audition(nl)

Jeanne dreams of leaving her life as a farmer behind to become an actress, but her path is troubled because she tirelessly tends to her mother, who’s battling inner demons.

Les Visages d'Alice(fr)

Directed by David Ungaro

NENA – EUROPATOUR ’84(de)

Truth Serum(en)

Guests at a housewarming party are slipped a mysterious drug. When ugly truths start to emerge, chaos reigns and threatens the relationships of old friends.

The Wreck(ro)

Firu Dorileanu, 30 unemployed, lives alone in his deceased parents' apartment. To pass his financial problems, he tries to sell his mother's contrabass. So, with this occasion, he discovers inside the instrument a letter and an old film from his mother's youth. Going behind the protagonists in the film, Firu arrives inside the wreck, there where was born his mother's secret.

Gunpowder(ru)

At the end of September 1941, Soviet artillery troops in besieged Leningrad realize that pretty soon they will fire their last shot, and after that the defense of the city will be doomed. The film is based on a true event: a small group of fearless soldiers transported a large supply of gunpowder through enemy lines to Leningrad.

The Doldrums or How to Cure Sadness(es)

The tiricia is an illness of the soul when the heart is saddened. A story of three generations afflicted with being tiricientas: Ita, Justa and Alicia – grandmother, mother and daughter – who have at different times suffered, tolerated and allowed abuse, dragging on the disease. Alicia decides to break the cycle, eradicating it for future generations.

The Mad Prince: Playing XO(ru)

Sierra Stranger(en)

A prospector becomes a small town outcast after he rescues a man about to be lynched.

Bowie: The Man Who Changed the World(en)

Experience an inside look at David Bowie's incredible influence on music, art and culture via interviews with some of the people who knew him best.

Prater(de)

Vienna’s Prater is an amusement park and a desire machine. No mechanical invention, no novel idea or sensational innovation could escape incorporation into the Prater. The diverse story-telling in Ulrike Ottinger’s film “Prater” transforms this place of sensations into a modern cinema of attractions. The Prater’s history from the beginning to the present is told by its protagonists and those who have documented it, including contemporary cinematic images of the Prater, interviews with carnies, commentary by Austrians and visitors from abroad, film quotes, and photographic and written documentary materials. The meaning of the Prater, its status as a place of technological innovation, and its role as a cultural medium are reflected in texts by Elfriede Jelinek, Josef von Sternberg, Erich Kästner and Elias Canetti, as well as in music devoted to this amusement venue throughout the course of its history.

My Own Breathing(ko)

"My Own Breathing" is the final documentary of the trilogy, The Murmuring about comfort women during the World War II directed by BYUN Young-joo. This is the completion of her seven years work. BYUN's first and second documentaries spoke of grandmothers' everyday life through the origin of their torment, while My Own Breathing goes back to their past from their everyday life. Deleting any device of narration or music, the camera lets grandmothers talk about themselves. Finally, the film revives their deep voices trampled by harsh history.

Visions of Europe(en)

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

First Daughter and the Black Snake(en)

The “Prophecy of the 7th Fire” says a “black snake” will bring destruction to the earth. For Winona LaDuke, the “black snake” is oil trains and pipelines. When she learns that Canadian-owned Enbridge plans to route a new pipeline through her tribe’s 1855 Treaty land, she and her community spring into action to save the sacred wild rice lakes and preserve their traditional indigenous way of life. Launching an annual spiritual horse ride along the proposed pipeline route, speaking at community meetings and regulatory hearings. Winona testifies that the pipeline route follows one of historical and present-day trauma. The tribe participates in the pipeline permitting process, asserting their treaty rights to protect their natural resources. LaDuke joins with her tribe and others to demand that the pipelines’ impact on tribal people’s resources be considered in the permitting process.

I Am Evidence(en)

The modern criminal justice system is hindered by the fact that countless rape kits remain untested in police evidence storage facilities across the United States. Only eight states currently have laws requiring mandatory testing of rape kits.

Towards Tenderness(fr)

An intimate exploration of the masculine territory of the high-rise projects at the edges of Paris. By following a group of young men, we wander through a world where female bodies are nothing more than ghostly and virtual silhouettes. The characters lead us inside everyday places where we hunt down the staging of their virility. Off-screen, narrated personal tales openly reveal the unexpected side to the characters' histories and personalities.

I Want to See(fr)

July 2006. Another war breaks out in Lebanon. The directors decide to follow a movie star, Catherine Deneuve and a friend, actor and artist Rabih Mroue;, on the roads of South Lebanon. Together, they will drive through the regions devastated by the conflict. It is the beginning of an unpredictable, unexpected adventure...

Who's Afraid of the Bogeyman(de)

Portrait of a private coal company in East Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district in 1988/89. The feisty woman boss runs the business with humour and understanding. Her seven male employees respect her. To the outside world, they are all tough guys, but as they describe their jobs and personal situations, above and beyond the hard manual labour, their vulnerability starts to come to light.

Microcosmos(fr)

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

Butch Jamie(en)

The film follows the story of Jamie, a struggling butch lesbian actress who gets cast as a man in a film. The main plot is a romantic comedy between Jamie's male alter-ego, "Male Jamie," and Jill, a heterosexual woman on set. The film's subplots include Jamie's bisexual roommate Lola and her cat actor Howard, Lola's abrasive butch German girlfriend Andi, and Jamie's gay Asian friend David.

The Corporation(en)

Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.

Pocahontas: Beyond the Myth(en)

The story of Pocahontas has been passed down through the centuries. Her relationship with John Smith has been characterized as a romance that united two cultures and created lasting peace. However, the life of this American Indian princess was anything but a fairytale. Join us as we look beyond the fiction and reveal the real story of Pocahontas, a tale of kidnapping, conflict, starvation, ocean journeys, and the future of an entire civilization.

6999 Doors(fr)

Located on the île de la Cité, in the middle of the Seine, the Paris Law Court looks like an impenetrable fortress. Like Kafka’s castle, it guards its secrets well. It is the place of power. The filmmaker, who worked there for several years as a crime reporter, is extremely familiar with its labyrinthine spaces, its practices, its ceremonies. She comes back to it now, while the Courthouse, such as she knows it, is about to disappear: its relocation is planned in 2017. So, she explores it, camera in hand, on the traces of her experience.

The Decent One(de)

Through previously undiscovered private letters, photos and diaries that were found in the Himmler family house in 1945, the "The Decent One" exposes a unique and at times uncomfortable access to the life and mind of the merciless "Architect of the Final Solution" Heinrich Himmler.

The Whale and the Raven(en)

Director Mirjam Leuze’s The Whale and The Raven illuminates the many issues that have drawn whale researchers, the Gitga’at First Nation, and the Government of British Columbia into a complex conflict. As the people in the Great Bear Rainforest struggle to protect their territory against the pressure and promise of the gas industry, caught in between are the countless beings that call this place home.

One Last Hug(en)

"One Last Hug" chronicles a three day summer camp for children learning to cope with the death of a loved one. With the guidance of trained professionals, grieving children as young as seven years old learn that their feelings are normal, and that by talking about them they can begin to heal. A testament to the healing power of shared sorrow, One Last Hug shows the often-unseen and particular experience of children's grief.

Art and Craft(en)

For several decades, gifted and incredibly prolific forger Mark Landis compulsively created impeccable copies of works by a variety of major artists, donating them to institutions across the country and landing pieces on many of their walls. ART AND CRAFT brings us into the cluttered and insular life of an unforgettable character just as he finds his foil in an equally obsessive art registrar.

Meet the Patels(en)

Finding love is never easy. For Ravi Patel, a first generation Indian-American, the odds are slim. His ideal bride is beautiful, smart, funny, family-oriented, kind and—in keeping with tradition—Indian (though hopefully raised in the US). Oh, and her last name should be Patel because in India, Patels usually marry other Patels. And so at 30, Ravi decides to break up with his American girlfriend (the one who by all accounts is perfect for him except for her red hair and American name) and embark on a worldwide search for another Patel longing to be loved. He enlists the help of his matchmaker mother, attends a convention of Patels living in the US and travels to wedding season in India. Witty, honest and heartfelt, this comedy explores the questions with which we all struggle: What is love? What is happiness? And how in the world do we go about finding them?

Iverson(en)

Iverson is the ultimate legacy of NBA legend Allen Iverson, who rose from a childhood of crushing poverty in Hampton, Virginia, to become an 11-time NBA All-Star and universally recognized icon of his sport. Off the court, his audacious rejection of conservative NBA convention and unapologetic embrace of hip hop culture sent shockwaves throughout the league and influenced an entire generation. Told largely in Iverson's own words, the film charts the career highs and lows of one of the most distinctive and accomplished figures the sport of basketball has ever seen.