memories/fortress(2020)

Passing Time(fr)

Lou Colpé has been filming her grandparents since she was 15. In the process of this intense relationship, she notices some disconcerting signs in her grandmother: Alzheimer’s is slowing her down. A new film begins, a tougher one: the story of a couple that must face a tremendous challenge. Struggling against the tide of oblivion, the task of filmmaking becomes the ultimate act of resistance. Trying to retain the last images of her grandparents, an intimate conversation begins and echoes through the songs that play on the radio, conjuring lost stories and memories.

A Letter Without Words(en)

Lisa Lewenz retraces the steps of her Jewish grandmother who dared to film life in Berlin during the rise of Nazi Germany.

Slow Steady Threads(en)

A short documentary about local and sustainable fashion in Denmark.

The Winterkeeper(en)

As the impact of the climate crisis intensifies each year, both Steven Fuller and Yellowstone face an unprecedented threat to their future — one that could forever change one of North America's last great wildernesses.

Two Sisters(fr)

Violeta and Vyollca Dukay live in the south of Kosovo, close to the border with Albania. Faced with a very high unemployment in their country since the end of the war, they became deminers. They’ve been going to the minefields every day for six years now. The unique and very strong relationship that exists between the two sisters helps them to overcome their fear and to keep hoping in spite of the precariousness of their situation and the risks they run each day to earn their living.

Nan(zh)

A portrait that follows Nan, my uncle and the last two years he and his parents live together. In long, tightly framed shots, a picture emerges of three intimately interwoven lives: the gentle and touching bickering between Nan and his mother, the evenings in front of the television when time seems to stand still, and the minutes ticking by as Grandpa silently peels an apple. In the film, disability is not only seen as symptoms on individual bodies, but as social, physical, and temporal relationships. It is a meditation on time, disabilities, and the economies of care in contemporary China.

Tevye's Daughters(en)

The actors who played Tevye's daughters reflect on their experiences filming Fiddler on the Roof.

Little Blue Box(en)

Some 1960s hackers known as phone phreaks found a way to avoid long-distance charges. Two of those phreaks just happened to be students named Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.

The King Without a Crown(en)

This short explores the possibility that Louis XVII, son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, escaped death during the French Revolution and was raised by Indians in America.

2 or 3 Things I Know About Him(de)

What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)

Black Girl in Bloom(en)

St. Louis florist Darien Burress launches her small business while preparing to compete at Art in Bloom, the St. Louis Art Museum's annual festival celebrating floral design and the fine arts.

Exiled(es)

She accused the leader of the Sandinista revolution of sexual abuse. Now he is president of Nicaragua and she lives in exile.

The Elephant Will Never Forget(en)

A fond farewell to London's trams - whose peculiarly endearing qualities were discovered only at the threat of their disappearance.

Sirin(ru)

In ancient Russian mythology Sirin is a bird with the head of a woman, a Slavic image of the Greek sirens. The ensemble of ancient Russian sacred music "Sirin" was created to revive ancient Orthodox singing traditions. It is an outstanding musical project performing folk sacred songs. The film tells about the unique work of musicians collecting half-forgotten melodies in the most remote corners of Russia.

OnBoard(en)

OnBoard is a brilliant chronicle of the rise of Black women on America's boards and the evolution of board diversity from Patricia Roberts Harris in 1971 to the present day, as seen through the eyes of a group of fearless women organized during the Summer of 2020 to create change. Merline Saintil, a former Tech COO and Robin Washington, a former CFO, were well-known in the boardrooms of America. During an ordinary phone call between the two women, something extraordinary happened– the movement to create an organization to expand the opportunity and exposure of Black women who can impact America's boards. Black Women on Boards, the now global organization of 200+ members, was conceived at that moment.

Back To Africa(en)

Ian James Made(en)

Ian James has been creating leather goods for nearly a decade, but only recently realized his dream of opening his own shop. When James got laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, he took the plunge and opened his namesake boutique in San Francisco. James calls the shop—which includes both custom pieces and items that can be bought off the shelf—a “safe space for black people,” where culturally relatable creativity blooms in a gentrifying neighborhood.

The Two Eighty Project(en)

Chris Renfro doesn’t just grow and harvest grapes on a hillside high above San Francisco’s Highway 280 to make delicious local wine. He is dedicated to building a sustainable food community that nourishes every member of the local economy and ecosystem. With the 280 Project’s mission to reclaim space, realize opportunity and revitalize community, Renfro brings both passion and vision to the notion that land ownership is a powerful path to self-determination.

Live this Loudly: Afatasi(en)

Afatasi The Artist is a San Francisco based mixed-media conceptual artist and futurist. Her artwork—which includes textiles and fine art tapestry, small paintings and murals, metal work and clothing design—is a continuous exploration of the intersectionality of race, culture, gender, class, and geopolitics. “I like to create these things because there were so many who weren’t allowed to live this loudly,” Afatasi says, "and I know how much better the world would be if they had.”

The Man Who Went Beyond Manga: Fujio Akatsuka(ja)

The late Fujio Akatsuka is revered by many Japanese artists and scholars for his developments to early comedy manga, but his contributions aren't just limited to the world of print media. Featuring commentary from family, friends, colleagues, and celebrity fans, Fujio Akatsuka's story is told with archival footage and animation, showcasing the life of the man who went beyond manga.