Self-Portrait with Mother(2000)

Hi, My Name is Dicky(en)

Hi, My Name is Dicky is a sports documentary about hockey player Richard Clune, and his struggle with substance use disorder while playing in the National Hockey League (NHL). The story begins in Toronto, where we learn about his typical Canadian childhood, then moves onto his teenage experience with the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) Sarnia Sting. During his time in the OHL, Rich developed a crippling addiction to drugs and alcohol, which threatened to derail both his personal life and professional career. Shortly after debuting in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings, Rich made the choice to get sober, embarking on a wild journey to the rehab clinic back home in Canada, from his brother's dormitory in Worcester, Massachusetts. Sober for over ten years, the viewer learns how Rich leads a fascinating life off the ice, and has become a mentor to many players in the NHL, now in the twilight of his career playing for his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Andersson Brothers(sv)

A tender portrayal of four stubborn brothers becomes a touching contemporary Swedish family chronicle about dreams, class, heritage, and the difficulty of connection. The Andersson brothers grew up in a working-class home in Gothenburg. Roy became an internationally acclaimed filmmaker while Ronny ended up as a homeless man. Kjell became a documentary filmmaker, and Leif lives as a disability pensioner.

Track Two(fi)

A newspaper clip of a 30-year-old movie makes our middle-aged protagonist in the middle of his peak years to look for his best childhood friend. The journey leads him back to his teenage years in the 1990s depression, over-generational substance abuse and past encounters. This partly essayistic, autobiographical documentary tells the story of friendship and generational experiences while also pondering on the causes and effects of destinies in the judgmental atmosphere of our society.

Haaveiden kääntöraide(fi)

Metro trains disappear on the turning track, only to immediately return on the same route. Tapio (57), Toni (42) and Aksa (60) are also stuck on these tracks. The men meet every morning in the square behind the Herttoniemi metro station, from where they transfer to Vuosaari in the metro's "restaurant car". Men's lives are dominated by alcohol and unemployment. The turning track of dreams follows the lives of Tapio, Toni and Aksa for a year - moments filled with joy, despair, self-destruction and friendship in the metro stations and trains of Eastern Helsinki. It gives voice to those who do not have special human dignity in the eyes of society.

Dompter son dragon(fr)

Pass It Around(en)

Documentary about living with an addict and grappling with the genetic propensity of becoming one.

Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?)(en)

The life and work of the enigmatic singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson.

Be Here to Love Me(en)

Chronicles the fascinating and often turbulent life of Townes Van Zandt.

Man of Kihnu(et)

In 1986, twelve years after his film Kihnu Naine (The women of Kishnou), Mark Soosaar made this complementary documentary at the centre of which are the male inhabitants of the island. With a bitter undertone to it, Soosaar shows how, to this view, a lack of possibilities for self-government and the conceited attitude of the mainland towards the islanders have caused great problems to this society. The island has been negligently placed under far too large a kolkhoz. Enormous alcoholism is prevalent among the male population and, increasingly, among the women. Sheer possession of money has become a standard of regard. If a family cannot spare 4,000 roubles for the marriage of their children, they are ignored by the other islanders. In this dramatic as well as poetic documentary we see how the social awareness of a society has gone by the board. Merely concrete and strict reformations can improve the situation the island is in.

One Little Pill(en)

Bold & candid, One Little Pill will reveal to the world a startling pharmaceutical discovery & assault the skepticism & denial perpetuating alcohol dependence.

Portraits deutscher Alkoholiker(de)

The people at the centre of this film are lawyers, civil servants, housewives, managing directors and mothers. They are also alcoholics. In her documentary, Carolin Schmitz explores the protagonists’ stories and their strategies for survival: the little tricks they employ in order to try and get through their daily lives – lives which become increasingly difficult to manage the stronger the addiction becomes. Their fear of losing control and being exposed as a drinker create their need to conform, but the protagonists can only cope with this pressure by increasing their alcohol intake.

Shed Your Tears and Walk Away(en)

Real-life drama about why, in a beautiful and quirky rural town, film- maker Jez Lewis' childhood friends are killing themselves. Beginning with a personal quest for understanding, the film moves into a year-long drama of human tragedy and redemption as principal character Cass comes to terms with his own mortality and attempts to lift himself out of his cycle of self-destruction. This core narrative carves an upward arc through an intimate study of a place often described as paradise, but which harbours an undertow of lethal hedonism and disillusionment. As people continue to kill themselves during the making of the film, a maelstrom of conflicting values throws up unexpected truths about the human condition.

Rodman: For Better or Worse(en)

While Rodman is no doubt one of the greatest talents in NBA history, he is just as famous for his off-court exploits. 30 for 30 explores the reasons behind him becoming the character he is known as today.

Out of Sight(en)

America may be ready for a blind woman who has a career or is raising a family, but is it ready for a blind woman who doesn't conform to the norms of proper behavior?

Even Vergeten(nl)

Markenhof nursing home is located in the woods of Beekbergen. The unsuspecting walker might think it's a holiday park, but the buildings are home to 138 patients, all wandering around in various stages of memory-destroying Korsakoff's Syndrome. Korsakov's disease is caused by severe vitamin B1 deficiency, almost always the result of alcoholism. One patient can do little more than stare into space, while the other appears to be fine at first glance. Wracked by guilt, shame, addiction and a destroyed memory, patients Kenny and Christina try to create an understandable and livable world.

The Shadow of a City(fi)

The degenerate alcoholics, the men and women of the beaches, themselves speak openly about their lives and problems. Through their stories, a picture emerges of those on the periphery of society who succumbed to alcohol because of war or difficult living conditions. They are aware of their own State; reason is still there, but the Will is lacking. The film is a cry for help on behalf of humans, it is a dispassionate and honest description of the position of degenerate alcoholics in Finnish society in the early 1970s.

Two Brothers(en)

Arthur and Ernest are two bachelor fishermen who occupy the proverbial end-of-the-road on Morris Island, an Acadian community in southern Nova Scotia. Sober or not, they carry on with and for the filmmaker who is attempting to find out about their lives. The resulting encounters owe a smuch to Harold Pinter or Samuel beckett is they do to the documentary genre of film-making.

The Night Dad Brought Us Home(no)

A personal film by Steffan Strandberg about his adolescence with an alcoholic mother.

American Hollow(en)

This documentary follows the lives of the Bowling family as they fight to survive in dirt-poor Appalachia. Matriarch Iree has given birth to 13 children, but only two have left to seek better lives in Ohio while the rest have married and started their own impoverished families near home. Uneducated and unskilled, all are unemployed, and domestic violence and alcoholism pose serious problems. The filmmakers explore the family's relationships through interviews and footage of their daily lives.

Circus(et)

We all carry hell with us. The filmmaker’s hell exists on a canvas, which he studied carefully in childhood. The mystical picture has many names: Circus, Hell, Game at the Arena. Decades later he finds the painting again. The film unravels as loose ponderings about the plight of being an artist and touches upon the filmmaker’s personal demons. Can he see the painting in a new light?