Elijah(2008)

My Dear Americans(en)

A short narrative funded by Film Independent, My Dear Americans is about a Sikh woman’s defiant spirit. A recent immigrant to the U.S, Tejpreet is reluctant to embrace her new American identity. In contrast, her husband celebrates everything that mildly reeks of America. On America’s most patriotic holiday, the fourth of July, they have a threatening racist encounter that crushes the Sikh man’s enthusiastic spirit. Witnessing her husband’s devastation, Tejpreet makes a choice against hate and turns the situation around, if only momentarily.

Across the Line(en)

Out of the approximately 600 players in the National Hockey League, thirty are Black. Mattie Slaughter, a hockey phenom from the rural Black community of North Preston, wants to make it thirty-one. To reach his goal, Mattie needs to keep his nose clean and avoid trouble. Hard to do though, when you go to a school where racism taints every interaction, your older brother is a hustler and you’re crushing on a girl who’s already hooked up.

Trocando de Pele(pt)

37(en)

On a March night in 1964, 37 neighbors in Queens, New York, witness the brutal murder of Kitty Genovese. None of them takes action or calls the police. 37 tells the story of a few of these people and what led up to the night when they unexplainably remained passive observers. The film is a convincing portrayal of a borough in change and a time characterized by racism, the Civil Rights Movement and political shifts. The actual event that inspired the film’s plot has been called a symbol for the moment when America lost its innocence. The director Puk Grasten skillfully weaves into her feature film debut various fates, dreams and family conflicts by leading us through an apartment building that comes to bear a collective failure.

Black Cat Whiskey(en)

In a small rural town hit hard by the Depression, Katie Connors resides in a middle-class home with her bootlegging husband Melvin. When the opportunity arises to bump him off without getting her hands dirty, she takes a chance she may never get again. After his murder at the hands of criminal Richard Hayden, she begins to receive inopportune visits by Melvin's old business partners about a large shipment of moonshine in her possession. Contacting the FBI for help, agent Ron Sheridan is assigned to her case and develops an unrequited love for Katie. But when a full-scale war develops, she learns the FBI may not be much help to her as she thought, and Katie must take matters into her own hands to pay off her husband's debts for good.

Le Grand Détour(ar)

The young Amar, father of two children, lives on expedients and looks in vain for a job in Algiers. He decides to emigrate to France, and finds a job there, but quickly loses it after a roundup and custody for several days. Led by two shady Europeans he met in a café, he embarks with other unemployed people for well-paid work on the plantations of Madagascar. The boat that takes them finally docks in Algiers! This film had disappeared for almost fifty years. Ahmed Bedjaoui mourned it until the Berlin Cinematheque found the only copy of this work in its archives, restored it, subtitled it and screened it at the opening of its festival in 2015. The film was thrilled the large audience present, made up of professionals and knowledgeable film buffs. Due to the modesty of its self-produced means, but also by aesthetic choice, the film oscillates between neo-realist cinema and cinema vérité.

Tadaima(en)

After the closure of US Japanese Internment Camps at the end of World War II, a Japanese American family returns home and must find the strength to rebuild both their house and family amidst the emotional and physical destruction.

The Candidate(af)

This multi-faceted drama, which depicts a group of intellectual Afrikaners struggling with pertinent moral, ethical and racial issues in apartheid South Africa, is widely acknowledged as one of Jans Rautenbach’s finest films.

El mil usos(es)

The tragic adventures of a illiterate man named "Milusos" who leaves his family & hometown to go to the big city and try to better his luck. And finds he's unprepared for what he encounters.

Homelands(fr)

A strong tale of racial integration, two different stories of young men who both are looking for a land to put their roots down.

Drei Kameradinnen(de)

Hani, Kasih and Saya have shared a deep friendship since their youth. Now, after years, the three meet again. But no matter where they are, it becomes clear time and again that everyday racism affects their lives. Nonetheless, their friendship gives them strength. Until one dramatic night shakes everything up.

Amok(de)

After the end of his soccer career, Heimo Körner loses touch with normal life. Only when his stepdaughter Daniela slips into the drug scene he finds a new task: he wants to keep his neighborhood clean with a vigilante group.

Creature Lake(en)

Five friends travel onto sacred tribal land while searching for a good place to party. Their lack of respect for the land and locals awakens an ancient, violent guardian who won't let them leave unpunished.

Knights of Swing(en)

Set in 1947, Knights of Swing is a feature film that chronicles a group of young jazz musicians whose dream is to form a “really swingin’ Big Band”. Unfortunately, things prove much more complicated when the community objects to the diversity of the band. Alliances form, and lines are drawn. What follows is soul searching, uplifting, and through music, our story illuminates forgiveness, healing and unconditional love.

Natives(en)

Anita grew up on the Seneca Indian reservation, and for the first time ever, she's bringing her partner Rachel to meet her parents.

Fruitvale Station(en)

Oakland, California. Young Afro-American Oscar Grant crosses paths with family members, friends, enemies and strangers before facing his fate on the platform at Fruitvale Station, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.

Comrade Anna(ko)

Anna, the child of Swiss-Korean parents, is torn between her culture and identity. When a strange North Korean man magically appears in her wardrobe, she not only learns more about herself, but also develops a precious friendship.

White Dog(fr)

As the country explodes under racial tensions after the assassination of Martin Luther King, writer Romain Gary, humanist and animal lover, and his wife, star Jean Seberg, civil rights activist, welcome an abandoned dog into their home, trained to jump at the mouths of blacks: a White Dog.

Marfa Girl(en)

A disaffected Texas teen spends his 16th birthday getting high, hanging out and having casual sex.

All the Way Home(en)

A white family has just put their house on the market and are soon showing it to an interested black family. The neighbors begin to gossip and soon the white family becomes the target of harassment and threats by bigoted residents in the community, who do not want a black family in the neighborhood.