Rhodes Forever(2003)

Saved by Language(en)

Can a language save your life? Yes it can, even an ancient one from the 15th century. Saved by Language tells the story of Moris Albahari, a Sephardic Jew from Sarajevo (born 1930), who spoke Ladino/Judeo-Spanish, his mother tongue, to survive the Holocaust. Moris used Ladino to communicate with an Italian Colonel who helped him escape to a Partizan refuge after he ran away from the train taking Yugoslavian Jews to Nazi death camps. By speaking in Ladino to a Spanish-speaking US pilot in 1944 he was able to survive and lead the pilot, along with his American and British colleagues, to a safe Partizan airport.

Kerida(en)

Fascinating documentation of the Sephardic cuisine, which disappears over the years, just like the Ladino language, through the eyes of a director who documented her grandmother, cooking Ladino: "I'm afraid this food is starting to disappear. I want to teach my granddaughters to cook, but they have no time."

The Key from Spain: Songs and Stories of Flory Jagoda(en)

Uplifting account of survival and continuation from renowned Ladino singer and her Bosnian heritage.

From Toledo to Jerusalem(he)

Engaging musical history of Sephardic Jews from their Spanish expulsion and search for new homes across Europe and the Ottoman Empire until their return to the Israeli homeland. Narrated and sung in Ladino by Yehoram Gaon and beautifully filmed throughout international locations.

Ithaka(en)

The campaign to free Julian Assange takes on intimate dimensions in this documentary portrait of an elderly man’s fight to save his son. Arguably the world’s most famous political prisoner, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a figure pretty much everybody has an opinion about; perhaps more importantly, he serves as the emblem of an international arm wrestle over freedom of journalism, government corruption and unpunished war crimes. For his family members who face the prospect of losing him forever to the abyss of the US justice system, however, this David-and-Goliath struggle is personal – and, with his health declining in a British maximum-security prison and American government prosecutors pulling out all the stops to extradite him, the clock is ticking.

The Beloved(en)

Commune or cult? This epic documentary illuminates the Rajneesh sannyasin movement in 1980s Fremantle, as told by those who lived through it. If you lived in the Fremantle of the early 1980s, it was not uncommon to see the so-called “Orange People”: members of the Rajneesh sannyasin commune. Surrendering themselves to the spiritual guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, adherents were promised enlightenment and revolution, but required to live by significantly modified social structures and identities. Like so many living experiments dedicated to a higher consciousness, the movement seemed to have all the trappings of a cult – and its notoriety has lingered in the city in the four decades since.

Freedom Swimmer(cn)

Olivia Martin McGuire (China Love) parallels a grandfather’s journey to safety during the Cultural Revolution with his granddaughter’s fight for freedom in Hong Kong today. Interweaving unflinching testimony of the elder’s exodus from the Chinese mainland, exquisitely animated recreations of the perilous escape to Hong Kong through land and sea, and vivid, evocative archival footage of both mid-20th-century China and the Hong Kong protests today, Freedom Swimmer emerges as a gripping and timely account of the struggle for survival across generations.

Music Under the Swastika - The Maestro and the Cellist of Auschwitz(de)

The stories of Jewish cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who survived Auschwitz, and of star conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who worked with the Nazis, provide insight. The film centers around two people who represent musical culture during the Third Reich - albeit in very different ways. Wilhelm Furtwängler was a star conductor; Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, the cellist of the infamous Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz. Both shared a love for the classical German music.

La Coupe Stanley à Montréal en 1993(fr)

MEGUMI The Campaign(ja)

Megumi Odaka (小高恵美) idol VHS tape, Megumi the Campaign - Idol Roke Zenkoku Jyuudan, 1989. She is best known for the role of Miki Saegusa in six Godzilla films from 1989 to 1995.

Diary(ja)

Idol and actress Megumi Odaka Diary, 1988 VHS.

The Mosaic Church(en)

In 2004, a routine prison renovation in Megiddo, Israel, led to an astonishing discovery—what is believed to be the oldest known Christian place of worship. At its center lies a mosaic bearing the first public inscription declaring Jesus as God. Narrated by Bear Grylls, this documentary dives into the site’s historical, theological, and political significance, featuring expert insights from historians and theologians.

Care(es)

Maia, Yenifer and Luciana begin working as caregivers for the elderly. The routine at the nursing home, very different from what they were used to, becomes challenging. But as their bond with the residents strengthens, they discover as trans women that they have much more in common with older people than they thought.

My Foreign Land(pt)

For the Suruí, an indigenous people in western Brazil, there was a lot at stake in the 2022 presidential elections. Under incumbent President Bolsonaro, logging and mining companies were given free rein in their territory. His opponent Lula, on the other hand, pledged to protect the Amazon and uphold Indigenous rights. Tribal leader Almir and his daughter, the young activist Txai Suruí, are each followed during their campaign in the final month before the elections. While Txai travels abroad to raise awareness about the destruction of the rainforest, Almir campaigns across the state of Rondônia, seeking support for his congressional bid.

People & Wolves: a story of coexistence(en)

For centuries, the Ojibwe have lived alongside their brother Ma’iingan,(wolf). In February 2021, a brutal assault, a hunt on their wolf relative, stirs emotion and grief for Ma’iingan as they know what happens to him happens to them.

Panamarenko, la magie de l'art(nl)

Advanced Television Production - 5 Days, 2 Scripts, No Sleep(en)

The writer's room during the production of the fifth season of Community struggles with time while the show is being filmed. This behind the scenes documentary depicts the writing of episodes 10, 12, and 13; "Advanced Advanced Dungeons & Dragons," "Basic Story," and "Basic Sandwich."

Appendix(pt)

An experimental film following a trip made by three friends in which the contrast between the agitated city of São Paulo, Brazil and the calmness of the beach leads the flow. No script. No story. Just vibes.

Asger Jorn(en)

Portrait about the legendary abstract painter Asger Jorn told by painter and poet Per Kirkeby.

70 Jahre Annemarie Moser-Pröll – Ein Leben als Wintermärchen(de)

In this documentary, the ski legend and her companions look back on their career as a glittering winter fairy tale.