Best of E.O.F.T. No. 14(2018)

Clouds(en)

Clouds 1969 by the British filmmaker Peter Gidal is a film comprised of ten minutes of looped footage of the sky, shot with a handheld camera using a zoom to achieve close-up images. Aside from the amorphous shapes of the clouds, the only forms to appear in the film are an aeroplane flying overhead and the side of a building, and these only as fleeting glimpses. The formless image of the sky and the repetition of the footage on a loop prevent any clear narrative development within the film. The minimal soundtrack consists of a sustained oscillating sine wave, consistently audible throughout the film without progression or climax. The work is shown as a projection and was not produced in an edition. The subject of the film can be said to be the material qualities of film itself: the grain, the light, the shadow and inconsistencies in the print.

The Opposition(en)

Chile hosts a decisive World Cup qualifier at Santiago’s National Stadium just weeks after the stadium had been transformed into a concentration camp and killing field for opponents of Augusto Pinochet (who had just gained power in a military coup). Though FIFA investigates the matter, the game goes on, with the Chilean team winning in a walkover after their opponents from the Soviet Union boycott in protest over the stadium's use

Perennial Pilot(en)

Perennial Pilot tells the story of lifelong pilot, Walt Bates, and his love of flying.

The Diggers(fr)

The Diggers is an observation journey into various artisanal mining sites in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The film shows the arduous and surreal labor of adults and teenagers extracting coltan, tungsten and black tourmaline. Our camera captures their repeated movements, their picks, their sweat, fatigue, their faces tense by the effort, their breathing. Their tirelessly repeated gestures compose a kind of bitter-sweet symphony. We enter makeshift tunnels and follow the men who have to arch their backs to advance to the deposits. Our camera is in no hurry to allow the spectators to live and feel this difficult work. The light falls and the workers leave the mining site little by little towards the evening refreshments, before returning to the same routine at dawn.

Nike's Big Bet(en)

On October 1, 2019 Alberto Salazar, perhaps the greatest track coach on Earth, was suspended for doping violations. Did he do it? Or is Salazar being victimized for his obsessive methods of pushing athletes to their absolute limits.

The BND File: The Secret Service and Its First Arms Dealer(de)

In occupied post-war Germany, the ex-paratrooper and former SS man Gerhard Mertins rises to become a powerful arms dealer. He has many contacts in the Middle East and with old Nazi greats, a man who therefore becomes interesting for secret services. He starts right after the Second World War as a simple taxi entrepreneur in Bremerhaven, but soon he does best business with the German secret service BND and also the American CIA. Until today many files about Mertins are secret. Because against German laws, against international law, Mertins moved weapons into war zones with the backing and sometimes on behalf of the German secret service BND. For almost two years, the team around author Rainer Kahrs did research for the film. For the first time, the BND granted a camera team access to files on Gerhard Mertins, the first BND arms dealer. For the first time, Mertins' wife and daughter also speak in front of the camera.

A Reckoning in Boston(en)

Kafi Dixon dreams of starting a land cooperative for women of color who have experienced trauma and disenfranchisement in the city of Boston. By day she drives a city bus; at night she studies the humanities in a tuition-free course. Her classmate Carl Chandler, a community elder, is the class’s intellectual leader. White suburban filmmaker James Rutenbeck documents the students’ engagement with the humanities. He looks for transformations but is awakened to the violence, racism and gentrification that threaten Kafi and Carl's very place in the city. Troubled by his failure to bring the film together, he enlists the pair as collaborators with a share in the film revenues. Five years on, despite many obstacles, Kafi and Carl arrive at surprising new places in their lives—and James does too.

Selfish(fr)

War, emergency, pandemics and hunger. Humanitarian workers are used to working in the most varied and extreme missions and contexts across the planet. However, few of them venture openly into the world of personal feelings. For this film, forty humanitarian workers and their loved ones did just that, speaking without reserve about the risk, the commitment, the first mission, the sense of powerlessness, the encounters, the passion, the return home and the unspeakable things they’ve witnessed. This film explores the question of their selfishness in choosing to do this kind of work. Each person, in their own words, tells us about their feelings and experiences. Openly and straightforwardly, they tell us who they are and speak of their commitment to others, their doubts, their weaknesses and the images that haunt them.

Orbital Squares(ko)

"Orbital Squares", by the media art collective Moojin Brothers, points to deeper understandings of a cultural and political moment unfolding despite and because of human intervention. As elusive as it is utterly gripping, the film juxtaposes and intersperses three scenes. A snail’s movements – tentative, curious – on a grooved mound of clay are contrasted against the powerful rhythms of a horserace shot at 240 frames per second; both of these are bookended by a shadowy display of a living, sculptural humanoid seemingly tormented by a web-like concoction of thread and nails fully enveloping its head, as a soundscape of terror and flickering embers unfolds.

Witness(en)

Witness explores the personal, political, and cultural ramifications of going viral. Directors Yasmine Mathurin, Amar Wala, and Carol Nguyen follow people who chose to document what they saw, whether in rage, fear, or amusement, and reflect on the staggering but fleeting attention that changed their lives. This series of six short episodes tells the stories that happened after the stories we heard about.

Gérard Jugnot, une vie de comédies(fr)

At the Border(es)

Set on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, Español and Barrabas, two "coyotes," or human smugglers, go about the business of surviving despite all the odds against them.

Whitney Houston in Focus(en)

Iconic photographer Bette Marshall reminisces on her memories as photographer of Whitney Houston right before she ascended to stardom.

Keeping the Music Alive(en)

Zohra, Afghanistan’s award-winning first all-female orchestra, has captivated audiences around the world with its musical talent. However, the return of the Taliban, with its rigid and damaging views on women and music, now puts the ensemble in grave danger. With the fall of Kabul, members still in the country have gone into hiding, while those who fled are advocating internationally to rescue their fellow musicians. The question remains: despite the challenges, will they be able to keep their music alive?

In a Wintry Season(en)

In the heavily-immigrant and Catholic coal regions of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Tom and Sheila choose the pageantry, promise and safety of religious life, taking life-long vows of celibacy as teenagers.

Promisedland™(en)

In a fantastical domed theme park in the middle of the desert east of Jerusalem visitors and workers have an oasis, however absurd.

Nanook of the North(en)

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations(de)

Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, Riefenstahl covers twenty-one athletic events in the first half of this two-part love letter to the human body and spirit, culminating with the marathon, where Jesse Owens became the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.

Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty(de)

Part two of Leni Riefenstahl's monumental examination of the 1938 Olympic Games, the cameras leave the main stadium and venture into the many halls and fields deployed for such sports as fencing, polo, cycling, and the modern pentathlon, which was won by American Glenn Morris.

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory(fr)

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.