2020: A Very Particular Year(2020)

Russisches Geld in der Schweiz(de)

Radiograph of a Family(fa)

"Mother married a photo of Father," says director Firouzeh Khosrovani in the opening of this deeply personal documentary. She's not speaking metaphorically though. Her mother Tayi literally married a portrait of Hossein in Teheran -he was in Switzerland studying radiology and was unable to travel back to his homeland for the wedding. The event illustrates the abyss that still exists in their marriage: Hossein is a secular progressive and Tayi a devout, traditional Muslim.

Esprit D'Amour(cn)

Joe Chan (Julian Cheung), an Pay-TV office manager, mourns the death of wife-to-be Winnie Tsang (Loletta Lee), while a spirit causes trouble for a pair of wrongdoers set on taking over the station. A not-so-literate taxi driver Shing Wai-lin (Simon Loui) visits a tarot reader after his girlfriend leaves him. The mystic warns him that he is set to meet a strange woman and he'll be in certain danger. In a dingy flat, housing nurse Mindy (Fennie Yuen) treats triad member Ton's (David Wong) latest wounds. Her Aunt Ha (Helen Law Lan), meanwhile, senses a dark force drawn to the flat's dark hallway.

Cold Hard Cash(en)

Watch what happens when two beautiful bad girls with no option are put in a desperate situation.

Wonderful Adventures of Nils(sv)

A film adaptation of Selma Lagerlöf's classic book about Nils Holgersson, who is a real rascal. As punishment for his mischief, a house elf shrinks him to his size. The farm animals are out for revenge and so Nils must escape on the back of a goose from Skåne in the south to Lapland in the north. During his flight over Sweden, Nils gets to take part in many adventures.

Pido - Bienvenue chez les Corses... Et bonne chance !(fr)

Il revient enfin sur scène avec un one man show intitulé : « Bienvenue chez les Corses et bonne chance ! »… Vous l’aurez compris, l’île de beauté est le thème principal de ce spectacle. Un voyage au cœur de la Corse que Pido nous propose avec son style inimitable. Que ce soit à travers des personnages que l’on connait déjà, ou à travers des « nouveaux venus », plus fous les uns que les autres, voici un spectacle qui raconte la Corse et les Corses et qui s’adresse à tout le monde.

Wandering with the Moon(sv)

Dan, aged 19, leaves his home after a quarrel with his father. At the side of the country road he meets a traveling theater company who has run out of money. He falls in love with the young actress Pia and together they leave, meeting a string of peculiar characters: a vagabond, a friendly vicar and a cynical adventurer.

Chicks in White Satin(en)

Oscar nominated documentary short about two Jewish lesbians getting a Jewish marriage. They interview the rabbi, the family members, especially one of the mothers who has a hard time coping with the fact that their daughter is a lesbian. They go through their feeling for each other, and what kind of wedding they want, and how to do it...

The Price of Wisdom(en)

A young woman designer goes to London to further her career, but things are complicated when her invention is a success.

A Bright World(es)

A tale about fantasies and pain. A character lost in a wet cloud of grass, dirty socks and giant joints.

Here Come The Freeloaders(es)

Authorities close down a restaurant after a violent crime is committed on the premises; the employees look for new jobs and try to track down the murderer.

Jon Secada: Live On Sound Stage(en)

Live On Soundstage performance was originally broadcast on the PBS Soundstage series. Songs include cuts from Jon Secada's recent tribute to Latin singer Beny More' and also Jon's classic pop hits, "Just Another Day," "Do You Believe In Us", as well as many others. With a career spanning more than two decades, three Grammy Awards, 20 million records sold, and leading roles on Broadway, Jon Secada's acclaimed romantic sound has resulted in numerous hits in English and Spanish, establishing him as one of the first bilingual artists to have international recognition in both markets.

The Little Death(en)

An erotic thriller from the director of Psychopathia Sexualis, THE LITTLE DEATH offers a peek into the seedy boudoirs of a Victorian-era brothel, where a strong-willed reformer (Courtney Patterson) and a corrupter of innocence battle over the fate of a young woman (Christie Vozniak) who seems to be held there in sexual captivity. While the owner attempts to mesmerize and seduce the would-be rescuer, a meek student (Clifton Guterman) wanders into the house and becomes a tragic pawn in the psychological game of cat-and-mouse that is rapidly unfolding.

Les plus grands magiciens du monde - Les Mandrakes d'or(fr)

Salinas(de)

Documentary short by Raimond Ruehl about the hard work of salt production.

The Wakeful Sleeper(fr)

B., a film-maker and insomniac, decides to rescue his hours of insomnia from the void by filming his quest for sleep. The insomniac asks questions about these different states of consciousness and about the difficulties humans have in synchronising their social rhythms and biological ones.

The Nanny(en)

A wealthy couple hire a young girl from Finland to take care of their newborn. These new parents should be in a state of bliss, so why does it seem like they are trying to kill each other?

Two Chens(en)

After the creation of QwC in March 2020, Christian is living his best life. That is until a new threat arrives that could wipe out his entire show; himself.

The green silhouette(es)

Federico and Olivia are editing their first short films, which encountered mistakes during shooting. Both discover that they filmed at the same location and accidentally interfered in each other’s films. Together, they find a way to edit their two shorts into one.

The Death of Hitler: The Story of a State Secret(fr)

On April 30, 1945, while the Russian Army surrounded Berlin, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. His body was discovered a few days later by the Soviets. He would be positively identified after a top secret inquest in which Hitler's personal dentist would play a central role. And yet, at the same time, Stalin publicly declared that his army was unable to find the Führer's body, choosing to let the wildest rumors develop and going so far as to accuse some of his Allies of having aided the monster's probable escape. What secrets were hidden behind this dissimulation? What happened then to the two ladies involved in the identification of Hitler’s body?

The Great Game: The Making of Spycraft(en)

In 1995, former KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin and ex-CIA Director William Colby collaborated in an unexpected way. They made a video game. The Great Game traces how both men rose to the tops of their fields following World War II, before falling out of favor with their respectives agencies — on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. For Kalugin, a growing discontent with the KGB’s treatment of Russians radicalized him against the institution. Meanwhile William Colby, an OSS operative and the CIA’s man on the ground in Vietnam, was fired by President Ford after testifying before Congress about controversial CIA programs like MKULTRA and CoIntelPro. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, both living on American soil, Colby and Kalugin played themselves in Spycraft, a multi-million dollar game that was among the most advanced of its time — and is now almost entirely forgotten.

Sanctuary(es)

"Sanctuary" is a documentary short film that takes us into the life of Carlos, a dedicated niche caretaker who has been working for 20 years at the Chacarita Cemetery, located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Through his narration, we discover the profound influence his father had on his life and how Carlos establishes an intimate connection with his profession.

Land Without Bread(es)

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

Monopoly - Spiel ohne Erbarmen(de)

Monopoly is the most famous board game in the world. It brought capitalism to the game board and made haggling over roads and train stations socially acceptable worldwide. The documentary tells the true story of how the legendary Monopoly game came about, of clever marketing, the utopia of a fair world - and of ourselves.

Agent of Happiness(dz)

The documentary team follows two happiness agents in their forties who spend a month and a half on the road twice a year, going door-to-door with their questionnaires in isolated villages in the Himalayas. The filmmakers undertake to provide an intimate insight into the daily lives and desires of Bhutanese people, and also seek the answer to the universal question of whether happiness can really be measured. Gross National Happiness promises a heart-warming journey into a mysterious, fairytale-like world, which is the exact opposite of the social order dominated by consumption and desires.

Unrest(en)

When Harvard PhD student Jennifer Brea is struck down at 28 by a fever that leaves her bedridden, doctors tell her it’s "all in her head." Determined to live, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story—and four other families' stories—fighting a disease medicine forgot.

Titanic's Final Mystery(en)

The sinking of the RMS Titanic remains one of the most enduring and mysterious tragedies of the 20th century. For decades, investigators and amateurs alike have floated theories for why it occurred and who was to blame for the extraordinary loss of life, but no one answer could fully explain what happened. Until now. To mark the 100th anniversary of the infamous disaster, Smithsonian Channel will premiere Titanic's Final Mystery. The two-hour special investigates a century of theories and uncovers astonishing new forensic evidence that proves the most likely theory for the case.

White Power: Inside Europe's Far-Right Movement(fr)

An analysis of the rise of the European far-right, increasingly present in both politics and everyday life: an inquisitive journey through France, Germany and Belgium.

Behind the Looking Glass(en)

Behind The Looking Glass is a film about the lives of women whose partners have or want to ‘transition’. While we hear a great deal of “stunning and brave” stories of men, there is a deadly silence when it comes to the stories of the wives or partners. This film will be the first of its kind in collecting such experiences of women from around the world.

Modern Life(fr)

For ten years, Raymond Depardon has followed the lives of farmer living in the mountain ranges. He allows us to enter their farms with astounding naturalness. This moving film speaks, with great serenity, of our roots and of the future of the people who work on the land. This the last part of Depardon's triptych "Profils paysans" about what it is like to be a farmer today in an isolated highland area in France. "La vie moderne" examines what has become of the persons he has followed for ten years, while featuring younger people who try to farm or raise cattle or poultry, come hell or high water.

The Society of the Spectacle(fr)

Guy Debord's analysis of a consumer society.

Des Amandiers aux Amandiers(fr)

A free and intimate portrait behind the scenes of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi's creation. In front of the camera, she transmits to today’s young actors the memory of the 1980s.

The Last Cruise(en)

Using intimate footage recorded by passengers and crew, The Last Cruise is a first-person account of the nightmare that transpired aboard the ill-fated Diamond Princess cruise ship, which set sail from Japan on the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Framing Britney Spears(en)

Her rise was a global phenomenon. Her downfall was a cruel national sport. People close to Britney Spears and lawyers tied to her conservatorship now reassess her career as she battles her father in court over who should control her life.

Cyborg Society(en)

What does the looming A.I. revolution mean for us as individuals and as a society?

Robert Downey Jr.: High Altitude(en)

When we think of a prolific, yet tumultuous career in Hollywood... A name stands out amongst the crowd. In a rollercoaster of events, from stardom, rock bottom, and returning, as one of the most well known actors in the industry, thanks to his incredible portrayal of his roles and charismatic demeanor. From his hardships to his incredible retribution... This is... Robert Downey Junior.

Strip-Tease intégral(fr)

More faithful than ever to the spirit of the cult series that has been inspiring filmmakers for nearly thirty years, STRIP-TEASE INTEGRAL offers us, this time on the big screen, five sensitive, touching, sometimes absurd, often funny, sometimes dark, sometimes bright - but always the vanities of human society in all their marvelous banality.

Bringing Godzilla Down to Size: The Art of Japanese Special Effects(en)

A look at the unrecognized work of the talented artists and craftsmen who've maintained the tradition of Japanese special-effects. Highlighted is Yasuyuki Inoue along with various crew members who crafted meticulously detailed miniatures and risked life and limb as suit actors. All done to bring to life some of film's most iconic monsters through a distinct Japanese artform.

My Daughter's Killer(fr)

A father fights for decades to bring his daughter's killer to justice in France and Germany before taking extreme measures.