Always Beautiful(2019)

Aruã and The Shadow(pt)

In the next day, there was no one else in town. Aruã only had his own shadow to keep him company. Aruã and the Shadow is a film in poem/music format that talks about self-knowledge and learning to live in peace with our own darkness.

The Last Egg(vi)

A successful and beautiful woman has always said no to marriage. Upon turning 30, she discovers she has a rare disease which will soon cause ovarian failure. How will she find a way to get pregnant before she can no longer have a child?

Οι Κολοσσοί του έρωτα(el)

Titled Colossi of Love, the documentary highlights the halcyon days of the kamaki (Greek for harpoon) suitors in the 70s and 80s when droves of women from mainly Scandinavia, Germany and Britain flocked to the Greek islands.

Brooklyn Girls Fight Club(en)

From the birthplace of boxing legend Mike Tyson, young women brawl in secret fight clubs to win $1000 and invaluable street cred.

Layers of Lies(fi)

An ex-fireman returns to his home country Iran after a decade-long absence, only to have his old enemy resurface and steal away what he treasures most - and now he'll stop at nothing to exact revenge.

Siempre la duda(es)

Von Buttiglione Sturmtruppenführer(it)

Nietos (Identidad y memoria)(es)

Documentary about children stolen during Argentina's dictatorship that collects testimonies from kidnapped between 1976 and 1983. During these years, thousands of people were kidnapped and murdered with impunity. In many cases, the state appropriated the newborns of pregnant women at the time of his abduction. The disappearance of 500 children is one of the darkest legacies of this period. However, the tireless work of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo became possible that a hundred of these children were returned to their families.

Daredevil Times(sh)

Sfaira (1971-1984) dedicated to Pythagoras and Plato is a homage to two of his favourite spheroids: the Earth and the Sun.

Men and Beasts(ru)

The plot is based on the dramatic fate of the Red Army commander Aleksei Ivanovich Pavlov. Having been captured in January 1942 and being among the displaced persons, he didn't immediately decide to return to the USSR. Having rolled around the foreign country for 17 years, Aleksei nevertheless returned to his homeland. He goes to his brother in the south of the country to Sevastopol. Aleksei accidentally meets the doctor Anna Andreyevna, who was saved from death in besieged Leningrad. She travels by car from Moscow and also to the south, with her daughter Tanya; she suggests he join them. Aleksei tells about his life on the road.

The Benediction of Baxter Mayfield(en)

Three siblings navigate the aftermath of their father’s death.

A Time for Burning(en)

Explores the attempts of the minister of the Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska, to persuade his all-white congregation to reach out to "negro" Lutherans in the city's north side.

Der Teufel mit den drei goldenen Haaren(de)

H-Club(zh)

A Mother Brings Her Son to Be Shot(en)

Five years in the making, this brave and level-headed documentary exposes paramilitary activity in present day Northern Ireland during a supposed time of peace.

Saturday October 5th(sv)

One day, Saturday October 5th, in a man's life.

The Tale of Genji(ja)

Genji, the illegitimate offspring of a Japanese potentate, goes by the philosophy of "love 'em and leave 'em" as a matter of course. Only when his heart is broken by Awaji does Genji realizes how much pain he himself has caused.

Ten Days That Shook the World(en)

An epic presentation of the turbulent days leading to the Russian Revolution. Based on the classic work by John Reed, this important documentary makes use of rare footage and little-known information, stirringly narrated by Orson Welles.

Algérie, mon amour(fr)

Olympia: Part One – Festival of the Nations(de)

Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. This first half of her two-part film opens with a renowned introduction that compares modern Olympians to classical Greek heroes, then goes on to provide thrilling in-the-moment coverage of some of the games' most celebrated moments, including African-American athlete Jesse Owens winning a then-unprecedented four gold medals.

Die fremde Frau - Winterreise nach Flossenbürg(de)

Matilde Landeta(es)

A woman, an illusion. Matilde Landeta makes come true, at her seventy six years of age, what she has waited and longed for for 40 years. In this documentary we accompany her, from day one, on her adventure.

The Reporter(fi)

Documentary about a Finnish reporter, Hannu Karpo. The movie follows Karpo's decades-long career as a journalist, and how he became a phenomenon and known by the whole nation.

Deadly Gorgeous(pt)

Deadly Gorgeous is a documentary about the importance of beauty even after death. Mixing fiction and reality, the film explores the world of corpse makeup artists, cemeteries and a couple that need to think about how their own funerals would be like.

Kids(de)

In Bettina Büttner’s exquisitely lucid documentary Kinder (Kids), childhood dysfunction, loneliness, and pent-up emotion run wild at an all-boys group home in southern Germany. The children interned here include ten-year-olds Marvin and Tommy. Marvin, fiddling with a mini plastic Lego sword, explains matter-of-factly to the camera, “This is a knife. You use it to cut stomachs open.” Dennis, who is even younger, is seen in a hysteric fit, mimicking some pornographic scene. Boys will be boys, but innocence is disproportionately spare here. Choosing not to dwell on the harsh specifics, Büttner reveals the disconcerting manner in which traumatic episodes can manifest themselves in the mundane — a game of Lego, Hide and Seek, or Truth or Dare. Filmed in lapidary black-and-white, Büttner’s fascinating film sheds light on childhood from the boys’ characteristically disadvantaged perspective — one not yet fully cognizant — leaving much ethically to ponder over.

Acts of Violence(en)

A riveting expose about the personalities of murderers and their motives. This 72 minute film covers the McDonalds' restaurant massacre, President Reagan's assassination attempt, serial murderer Henry Lee Lucas and others.

Extravíos(es)

The Codes of Gender(en)

Arguing that advertising not only sells things, but also ideas about the world, media scholar Sut Jhally offers a blistering analysis of commercial culture's inability to let go of reactionary gender representations. Jhally's starting point is the breakthrough work of the late sociologist Erving Goffman, whose 1959 book The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life prefigured the growing field of performance studies. Jhally applies Goffman's analysis of the body in print advertising to hundreds of print ads today, uncovering an astonishing pattern of regressive and destructive gender codes. By looking beyond advertising as a medium that simply sells products, and beyond analyses of gender that tend to focus on either biology or objectification, The Codes of Gender offers important insights into the social construction of masculinity and femininity, the relationship between gender and power, and the everyday performance of cultural norms.

Pāragate(zh)

From Belgium, Jialai Wang maintains contact via smartphone and camera with her mother and grandmother in China. When her grandmother’s health deteriorates, Jialai returns to Shanghai, but when she arrives, her grandmother has already died, and she is left alone with her mother. A devout Buddhist, her mother seems to pay more attention to her daily prayers, Maoist past and dog Dongdong than she does to her daughter. She herself had been abandoned as a child by her own mother, when she divorced Jialai’s grandfather and moved to the city.

Waste Land(de)

By 2045, twenty localities in Germany will be resettled because of brown coal open pit mining. The film Waste Land follows the inhabitants of three villages in the Rhenish coal-mining district during their last years in their old home and documents how an entire region prepares for its collective relocation.

Les secrets de la belle endormie(fr)

Shelley in Wonderland(en)

Shelley is a timid elderly lady who is competing in the Miss Senior USA pageant. Immersion in an extravagant world that also touches on the universal need for visibility, beauty and being included.

Sisterhood(nl)

Filmmaker Sophie Dros enters into a dialogue with strong women in a powerfull document about being a woman in the Netherlands today. Inspired by Simone de Beauvoir's essay The second sex, filmmaker Sophie Dros (winner of the NFF Debut Competition 2017) talks to four women and a group of young girls. Together they go in search of universal stories; about dealing with expectations, empathy and connection, desires, fear, need for confirmation and losing control.

Je suis la Fête des Vignerons(fr)

It is like a miracle that has occurred five times a century since 1797. The Fête des Vignerons frees the character of the Vaudois from their legendary restraint. It turns an entire region into a gigantic drunken boat. The 2019 arena welcomes 20,000 spectators, the equivalent of the population of Vevey. Guarantor of tradition, the Confrérie des Vignerons ensures that it evolves and engages the artists who best stick to their time.

Mara(be)

It’s 2020 and Minsk, the capital city of Belarus, is overflowing with anti-government protests. A dreamy figure – Mara – takes us on a journey alongside the protesting crowds. Mara’s symbolic presence is a stark contrast to the harsh reality of the street. There is a determination to Mara, but also a fragility – as if her persona reflects the collective mental state of the protesters witnessing their dream for freedom turn into a nightmare.

Porn(fr)

Yolove(fr)

Openland(en)

Openland is an art film guided by issues surrounding micro states and its derivative definitions. Through intertwining interviews, meta-narratives, and digital landscapes, Openland unfurls a dialogue between consciousness, individuality and collectivity.