Defining Hope(2017)

If We Knew(nl)

If We Knew is a documentary about paediatricians in an intensive-care unit for newborns. A film about the compassion needed to heal the sick and occasionally needed to hasten the death of a child.

On the Edge(fr)

Things are busy at the Paris hospital where young psychiatrist Jamal and his colleagues work. The place is run down, the staff are exhausted, budgets are constantly being slashed. You know the story, but you’ve rarely seen it conveyed as engagingly as in ‘On the Edge’, which employs a handheld camera and meaningful, artistic interventions to observe the daily routine at the psychiatric ward. The deeply sympathetic Jamal is an everyday hero with an exemplary, humanistic disposition, for whom the most important prerequisites for mental health – and for a healthy society in general – are good relationships with other people. He puts his philosophy into practice by listening patiently, giving good advice and organising theatre exercises based on Molière. Realism and idealism, however, are in balance for the young doctor, at least as long as the institutional framework holds up.

Der lange Weg ans Licht(de)

And Outside Life Goes On(fr)

The small regional hospitals of Vevey, Montreux, Aigle and Monthey are closing in favor of the new, larger, more adapted and more modern hospital in Rennaz. As the construction of the new hospital progresses, emergency physicians Eric and Frédérique tell us about their daily life in the face of illness and death.

Sicko(en)

A documentary about the corrupt health care system in The United States who's main goal is to make profit even if it means losing people’s lives. "The more people you deny health insurance the more money we make" is the business model for health care providers in America.

Coma(en)

Four young Americans who've each suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury emerge from their comas at a New Jersey medical facility. Their eyes may be open, but now the real challenge for each of the patients, their families, their doctors and their therapists begins. Brain healing isn't predictable, we're told, and certainly is not guaranteed. So with each 'major' step forward that is observed (opening one's eyes, bending a thumb upon command, vocalizing a word, answering a question correctly) comes a sense of jubilant relief and hope from the families of these patients, but as we soon see, the more a patient progresses, the more difficult things can be for all involved. Moments of faith & hope contrast with disappointments & frustrations, moments of confidence with moments of doubt. It's difficult to watch, and unimaginable to have to ever live through.

Donauspital(de)

The daily workins of Austria's Danube Hospital.

Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom(ja)

Kazuo Nishii, renowned editor and photography critic, died in 2001 of stomach cancer. Two months earlier he contacted Naomi Kawase, whose works he admired, to document the remaining weeks of his life. Kawase visits him in the hospital and films the progression of his sickness and the conversations between the two.

Ruthless Times – Songs of Care(fi)

A choir of tired nurses sing to Anna-Mari Kähärä’s hypnotic tunes about the truths of everyday nursing work in a musical documentary directed by Susanna Helke and co-scripted by Helke and Markku Heikkinen. DocPoint’s opening film is new in its format, and jolting in its message. It is a cinematic-musical work of activism, calling for more humane work, life and old age.

Reimagining A Buffalo Landmark(en)

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.

The Heart of the Emergency Room(ja)

A variety of patients are brought in by ambulance 24 hours everyday. In Japan, ambulance as a part of municipal fire departments, do not charge for transportation to hospitals. Under the motto of "emergency care that never refuses," the Ekisaikai Hospital in Nagoya accepts everyone from the elderly with no relatives to those in need. However, the number of ambulances carrying critically ill patients reached a record high due to the pandemic. Patients rejected by other hospitals are pouring into the Ekisaikai Hospital, and the beds are filling up fast... Documentary filmmaker Takuro Adachi observes doctors and patients in various generations and background, and listens to their real voices.

Hersenleed(nl)

We follow neurosurgeons Clemens Dirven and Arnoud Vincent of the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam in this documentary during the treatment of three patients with a brain tumor.

Novanta Giorni(it)

“Novanta Giorni” to make a life-changing choice. Two opposing worlds brought into dialogue in this documentary by Women from all walks of life turn to the “Cervello” Hospital in Palermo, Sicily, to terminate their pregnancies while the pro-life center ostracizes this practice and those who instead understand and help in this journey...

Emergency Ward(en)

This 1959 documentary short is a frank portrait of the daily operations inside the Montreal General Hospital’s emergency ward.

Mission COVID(fr)

The COVID crisis triggered a real war against the virus. Civilian or military, medical, paramedical or logistical personnel all joined forces to try to deal with it. At the Hôpital d'Instructions des Armées in Percy, in the south of Paris, this real tour de force is both human and technical. On every floor, the staff was confronted with this crisis situation requiring cohesion, adaptation, commitment, immediate decisions, unprecedented actions... with a common objective: to unite to save lives. What has this crisis changed in their profession?

Stopping for Death: The Nurses of Wells House Hospice(en)

A year following four hospice nurses who question their calling as they face emotional distress, financial hardships and the possible closure of their facility.

Harrow Hospital Carnival(xx)

Harrow’s extraordinary and opulent pageant, and seaside holidays on the south coast.

Click to Ransom(en)

A small rural hospital in Japan battles an international cybercriminal gang that is holding them ransom with their stolen patient data.

Perfecting the Art of Longing(en)

Cut off from his loved ones due to the strict COVID-19 lockdown at the long-term care facility where he lives, a quadriplegic rabbi is filmed by his daughter while reflecting on love, mortality and longing.

Las enfermeras de Evita(es)

Musical documentary based on the stories of four women who studied to become nurses in the school of the Fundación Eva Perón in 1948, which was one of the institutions that helped pave the way for change for women in Argentina. The testimonies from the protagonists are reenacted in the form of a musical, in a film that combines archival footage and choreography.