War in the Central African Republic(2014)

Sìrìrì(fr)

Since 2013, the Central African Republic has been embroiled in a conflict between Christian and Muslim armed groups. While diamonds and gold are traded in global indifference, a cardinal and an imam fight together for interreligious coexistence.

Dictator: One Crazy Job(fr)

They’ve become the human face of inhuman barbarity. Leaders like Hitler, Idi Amin Dada, Stalin, Kim Jong Il, Saddam Hussein, Nicolae Ceausescu, Bokassa, Muammar Kadhafi, Khomeini, Mussolini and Franco governed their countries completely cut off from reality. These paranoid leaders were driven to abuse their power by the pathology of power itself. Dictators are driven by a relentless, thought-out determination to impose themselves as infallible, all-knowing and all-powerful beings. But they are also men ruled by their caprices, uncontrollable impulses, and reckless fits of frenzy, which paradoxically render them as human as anyone else. The abuses they committed were clearly atrocious, yet some of them were as outlandish as the characters portrayed in the film The Dictator. They sunk to depths worthy of Kafka: so incredibly absurd, they are outrageously funny.

Pygmies: The Children of the Jungle(en)

The adventurer, Ivan Bulík, traveled all through Africa. However, one of his dreams still eluded him: He desired to capture the life and customs of the smallest people on Earth, to find the undisturbed civilization of Pygmies.

Arlette. Courage is a muscle(sg)

A pain management specialist in a Berlin hospital laments how difficult it is to see if black skin has turned blue. The patient, 15­year­ old Arlette, doesn’t understand German. Her knee was injured in the war, and unknown wealthy Germans have helped pay for her trip to have surgery in Europe. The camera follows Arlette on her journey, from her worried family in Central African Republic to the desolate rooms of the hospital and the rehabilitation centre. The girl’s gaze is captivating but impenetrable, and the easily bored teenager surrounded by adult strangers is only cheered up by an interpreter who knows her mother tongue. The story takes a gloomier turn when it transpires that rebel forces have taken up arms in Arlette’s home country.

The War Against Women(es)

Sexual violence against women is a very effective weapon in modern warfare: instills fear and spreads the seed of the victorious side, an outrageous method that is useful to exterminate the defeated side by other means. This use of women, both their bodies and their minds, as a battleground, was crucial for international criminal tribunals to begin to judge rape as a crime against humanity.

Echoes from a Sombre Empire(de)

Documentary examining Bokassa's rule in the Central African Republic using the testimony of witnesses and visits to key sites.

Bokassa Ier, empereur de Françafrique(fr)

Caterpillars(fr)

Elvis Sabin’s assured debut follows Albert and André, two Central African Aka Pygmies, as they attempt to establish a new education system in their forest community. The last in their village still attending school, they are determined to pass their knowledge on, holding classes for other Aka children every afternoon. But their project requires funding and they are counting on the year’s caterpillar (known as “Makongo”) harvest to provide much needed income. Evocatively capturing the visual and sonic textures of the forest, Makongo is a layered ethnographic study of two men working to build a sustainable future for their community.

Notre ami l'empereur Bokassa Ier(fr)

Song from the Forest(en)

25 years ago, Louis Sarno, an American, heard a song on the radio and followed its melody into the Central Africa Jungle and stayed. He than recorded over 1000 hours of original BaAka music. Now he is part of the BaAka community and raises his pygmy son, Samedi. Fulfilling an old promise, Louis takes Samedi to America. On this journey Louis realizes he is not part of this globalized world anymore but globalization has also arrived in the rainforest. The BaAka depend on Louis for their survival. Father and son return to the melodies of the jungle but the question remains: How much longer will the songs of the forest be heard?

The Silence of the Forest(fr)

A film about the difficulty for even the most well-intentioned person to know and respect another culture. In this case, the problem is so acute that there is even heated debate over what to call that 'other.' The subtitles in the film use the familiar word 'pygmies,' a relatively pejorative European term; the Bantu or villagers' expression for the same group, Babingas, carries similar negative connotations. These highly specialized, tropical rainforest hunter-gatherers should perhaps be called by their own ethnonym, Aka, MoAka (sing.) and BaAka (pl.)

Le "Brennus"(fr)

Le “Magenta”(fr)

Postplatz(fr)

Alice Waters and Her Delicious Revolution(en)

Every great cook secretly believes in the power of food. Alice Waters just believes this more than anybody else. She is certain that we are what we eat, and she has made it her mission in life to make sure that people eat beautifully. Waters is creating a food revolution, even if she has to do it one meal at a time.

Humming Fields(en)

Colleen is the alias of French artist Cécile Schott, who after a long period of silence, in 2013 returned to activity with The Weighing of the Heart (Second Language), a surprising work that represented another ambitious step forward in a career in constant evolution. The video for Humming Fields, one of the album's tracks, was a new collaboration between the French artist and Japanese filmmaker Takashi Makino.

Rummaging for Pasts(en)

Rummaging for Pasts is an experimental juxtaposition of two cinematic documents: the video diary of an international archaeological excavation and a collection of assorted eight millimeter found footage of Indian weddings.

Volcom - True to This(en)

When Volcom was founded in 1991, it was the first company to combine skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding under one brand from its inception. This way of life influenced the anti-establishment style and attitude that defined a generation. The cultural phenomenon was best captured when Volcom released "Alive We Ride" in 1993: a film documenting the raw excitement and spontaneous creativity inherent to the lifestyle. Twenty-one years later, with the release of "True To This", Volcom again captures the energy and artistry of board-riding in its purest forms. Shot all around the world and showcasing iconic athletes, "True To This" is a tribute to the movement that inspired a generation and the people and places that embody that spirit today.

I'm a Porn Star(en)

I'm a Porn Star follows the lives of guys in the neighborhood who are likely a lot more famous than you - at least on the Internet. There are an estimated 370 million pornographic websites on-line. Porn is now a thirteen BILLION dollar business. So who's doing all this moonlighting? Turns out -- probably some people you know.

Where I Got My Balls From(en)

In the fall of 2011, Comedian Joey Coco Diaz went to his network of friends on Facebook and Twitter for donations to help produce a Documentary of where Diaz had come from and the result was this.....Where I got My Balls From! A short film showing Diaz in his hometown of North Bergen, New Jersey and the people that made it home for him after the death of his mother at a young age. Its not an Academy award winner but its got a lot of heart because its real and you feel it. Director Lee Syatt shows you what makes this unique comedian tick!