“Where is the human soul? Is it in the heart? In the brain? Or maybe elsewhere?”, wonders an old doctor who has spent his life working at a psychiatric hospital in the Siberian countryside. The place, which was inaccessible for film crews, can be shown thanks to its residents, some of whom spent several decades at the hospital. This discreet and, at the same time, insightful observation of the patients’ daily lives transforms into meditation on the human nature, which is not entirely penetrable.
“Where is the human soul? Is it in the heart? In the brain? Or maybe elsewhere?”, wonders an old doctor who has spent his life working at a psychiatric hospital in the Siberian countryside. The place, which was inaccessible for film crews, can be shown thanks to its residents, some of whom spent several decades at the hospital. This discreet and, at the same time, insightful observation of the patients’ daily lives transforms into meditation on the human nature, which is not entirely penetrable.
2016-05-31
0
This film, directed by Dominique GAUTIER, takes the viewer on a worldwide excursion into the history and structure of the Esperanto language, introducing its present-day speakers. The words of these users of the language are reflective of a variety of activities and viewpoints, and in the film they are interwoven so as to reveal bit by bit how the utopia of its initiator, Ludwig ZAMENHOF, is concretised every day.
The Richardson Olmsted Campus, a former psychiatric center and National Historic Landmark, is seeing new life as it undergoes restoration and adaptation to a modern use.
An unusual friendship in an agitated political context.
Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the history of the Crownsville State Mental Hospital in Crownsville, MD.
16 year-old Juan Carlos was homeless on the streets of Mexico City for years before landing at IPODERAC, a social enterprise that houses runaway boys and supports them through the production and sale of artisanal cheese. It is here, among goats, cheese and 71 new brothers that Juan Carlos transforms from a victim to a leader, shattering everyone's expectations of him and proving the power of forgiveness.
Polish documentary directed by Tomasz Sekielski about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Poland.
Ida, the grandniece of Simona Kossak, travels to the Bialowieza Forest at the Polish-Belarussian border. Sorting through the photos left by Lech Wilczek, Ida uncovers the life he had with Simona, captured in the photographs, footage and memories. A moving and powerful documentary about the life of Simona Kossak, a biologist, ecologist and activist known for her efforts to preserve the remnants of natural ecosystems in Poland and for living among the animals in the Białowieża Forest for over 30 years.
It's December 16, 1972, 50 years ago. The first social cooperative in the world is born in Trieste. It was formed by 28 people: two sociologists, two psychologists, five nurses, a healthcare assistant, two doctors and sixteen private individuals who all have the same residential address: via San Cilino 16, Trieste. They are interned in a psychiatric hospital and therefore have no civil and political rights: they cannot vote, marry or make a will. Imagine founding a cooperative. Thus the Court of Trieste rejected the request to establish the cooperative. It would have been a long march through the institutions.
The lives of four Syrian families, resettled in Baltimore and under a deadline to become self-sufficient in eight months.
Danusia and her daughter Basia live far away from the modern world, in tune with the rhythm and laws of nature, among animals and the spirits of the dead. The peace and sense of security offered by their enclave come at a price - the women increasingly long for contact with other people. Bucolic is an affectionate observation of people who live in a different way. It evokes a curiosity about their world and a desire to take a closer look.
Composed from the conversations that the director holds with people passing by in the street under his Warsaw apartment, each story in 'The Balcony Movie' is unique and deals with the way we try to cope with life as individuals. All together, they create a self-portrait of contemporary human life, and the passers-by present a composite picture of today's world.
A monk who got away with everything. Although much of his behavior aroused public outrage, or at least controversy, he never suffered any real consequences for it.
Warsaw is becoming a meeting place for people from different corners of the world, of different ages, with different life stories. What they have in common is a feeling of being lost and a dire need to run away from their solitude. The film shows an image of a contemporary city from couchsurfers’ perspective.
The youngest protagonist of the documentary is Wartburg, an automobile over 50 years of age. The car is still on the road, driven by Bogdan, a 70-year-old who is taking his mother to visit the German factory where she was forced to work during WWII. In this road movie which takes place between Majdanpek and Germany, the trip becomes a journey into the past, retracing memories from the war and revealing a unique relationship between an old son and his elderly mother.
Pole, who are you? This film collage that combines archival and contemporary materials, documentary and staged pictures, press reports, social announcements, sale offers and speech excerpts is an attempt to answer this question. Referring to the Polish tradition of a creative documentary in the style of Wojciech Wiszniewski, the film presents various manifestations of Polishness: patriotic and religious rituals, everyday traditions as well as characteristic landscapes or intimate memories from childhood.
2021 was a turning point for Belarus and 6 Belarusian students - as well as for the city of Łódź, Poland, in which they found themselves. Across the rails of change and transformation, documenting a time that has not been before and will not repeat again. Heroes of the film have very different fates and experiences, but they are all connected by the place they found themselves in - the post-industrial and post-apocalyptic city, which becomes a part of their story and a hero of its own. Students, transport, quaters, youth, revolution, local apocalypse, changes and turns - they all mix in a documentary kaleidoscope 'Across the Rails'.