Essential Exhibition(2022)

After the Silence(en)

Loops representing the return of everyday life after the silence of first pandemic lockdown. Shot in the summer of 2020 in Hamburg, Germany.

The Final Reel(en)

An affectionate and entertaining look at our nation's obsession with cinema from the early days of silent cinema, through the golden age of the picture palace, to the modern multiplexes and beyond. A celebration of Norfolk-area cinemas past and present that introduces some colourful characters who kept audiences coming back for more, this film also asks: Is this the final reel in the story of cinema or just another chapter in its continuing development?

Sieged: The Press vs. Denialism(pt)

Behind the scenes of news coverage during the pandemic. Follow the work of the professional press in a fight against denialism.

Alaska's Silent Summer(en)

In 2019, 1.2 million people stepped off a cruise ship into the small, south-east Alaskan town of Ketchikan. The next year, in 2020, zero did. After decades of diligent work building a sleepy fishing, mining, and logging town into one of the most sought after cruise destinations in the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed Ketchikan into an empty shell—lined with restaurants, shops, and attractions for the visitors who no longer come. Now, the town must find a way to survive without its key economy until the day arrives when cruise visitors once again pour into its docks.

PRESENCE(en)

Presence narrates the journey of Thati, a woman determined to overcome her anxiety attacks through surfing. She finds refuge in the waves, where the surfboard becomes her ally and personal therapy.

My Left Breast(en)

Gerry Rogers, a filmmaker in Newfoundland, documents her personal battle with breast cancer. With her partner Peggy and lots of support from family and friends, she makes her way to recovery.

Stille Sommer(de)

Escape from everyday life in freedom and community and live utopias - for many organizers and artists, the secret of the music festivals that make culturally weak Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania a place of pilgrimage for tens of thousands of people every summer. But instead of freedom, community and utopia, there was one thing above all in the festival summers of 2020 and 2021: silence.

The Italian Doctor(it)

A young Italian doctor thrust into a COVID-19 ICU ward grapples with isolation and uncertainty with no end in sight.

Despropósito(pt)

To the sound of Politicar (Tom Zé) we follow human beings altered by their environment, becoming something new. Through this aesthetic, the short seeks to explore man's stance in relation to his environment and the idiosyncrasies, hypocrisies and positions that come with this interaction.

Elogio a la Sonrisa(es)

Have You Eaten?(en)

Living in downtown Toronto to attend school, Lina Li returns to the comfort of home in Thornhill and her mother's cooking. In this candid short, filmmaker Lina Li and her mother engage in an intimate conversation about immigration to Canada, misunderstandings, barriers to communicating, love and the taste of home.

The Teachers: Pink, Nature Trail, Ridge between Rice Paddies, Plum(ko)

We no longer see children running around playing in the alleys of Seoul. Starting from elementary school, children go to private classes after their school. However, we see these people who are making efforts to protect children’s right to be a child and play like a child.

Favorite Daughter(en)

A grandmother, mother, and daughter quarantine together in a Tribeca apartment as they laugh about life over wine.

Cinéma Laika(fr)

In the heart of the Finnish forest, the long-closed foundry of the little town of Karkkila has come back to life thanks to director Aki Kaurismäki and his creation of the town's first cinema. The peace and calm of the little town of Karkkila, nestled deep in the Finnish forest, is interrupted by unexpected sounds. In the abandoned foundry, noisy building work is taking place. Inside the building, Aki Kaurismäki is both builder and site manager of what is soon to become the Kino Laika cinema. The creation of the cinema is the talk of the town. In the factory still in activity, in a 1960s Cadillac, in a bikers' club, in the local pub, in the woods or in Aki Kaurismäki's former editing room, people start talking about cinema again.

Boundless(cn)

As Hong Kong's foremost filmmaker, Johnnie To himself becomes the protagonist of this painstaking documentary exploring him and his Boundless world of film. A film student from Beijing and avid Johnnie To fan, Ferris Lin boldly approached To with a proposal to document the master director for his graduation thesis. To agreed immediately and Lin's camera closely followed him for over two years, capturing the man behind the movies and the myths. The result is Boundless, a candid profile of one of Hong Kong's greatest directors and a heartfelt love letter to Hong Kong cinema.

Afternoon at home(it)

The Door Is There(es)

Portrait of the birth of a friendship between two men, while one helps the other to die. The acceptance of pain, the sense of humour and the commitment to family and friends, will accompany the virtual chats between Fernando and Eric, who were unable to meet due to the pandemic.

2020: A Very Particular Year(de)

At the beginning of the year 2020, a relentless plague sweeps the planet and, as a consequence, a global lockdown is gradually decreed: how did people from very different latitudes, living necessarily very different situations, experience this shared solitude? How did people adapt to the restriction by decree of their personal freedoms and the transformation of many bustling metropolises into ghost cities?

How Love Moves(en)

Following Shamim Khan’s and his co-workers’ daily care for the Islamic Delhi Gate Cemetery over the last two years, the film attempts to comprehend an event unprecedented in the recent history of the world – the COVID-19 pandemic – through the eyes of a keeper of the dead.

Indignité(fr)