Good Living(2022)

Moravian Hellas(cs)

Karel Vachek’s graduate film offers us a documentary essay which is both a light-hearted and aggressive little piece and also a parody of investigative film journalism. The Strážnice folk festival, backed by the cultural Party apparatus of the time, for years had little to commend itself to authentic folklore. In the film the event assumes the form of a bizarre stage spectacle with almost surrealistic elements that Vachek reinforces with unconventional approaches (commentary appearing as titles on screen, singing, declamations into the camera, feature etudes, the fusion of news coverage and fiction). The result is a stirring film collage depicting various characters, from crowd-pleasers, Easter egg decorators, kitsch artists and peddlers, to museologists and local residents, all of whom come up against the eccentric "identical” twin reporters Karel and Jan Saudek and a bored actress who appears as an extra. Using their special blend of irony and wit, they present us with the sad truth.

The Faces of Parkinson(nl)

The Faces of Parkinson shows the people who suffer from Parkinson's disease and the impact it made on their life and people around and close to them. As it also asks the question how one continues to stay positive with such a destructive disease.

Roma Boys – The Love Story(cs)

The film explores the taboo subject of homosexuality within the Roma community through the personal story of a Roma activist who happens to be gay. Though his job has earned him respect among his peers, by coming out his status is in jeopardy. However, the desire to share his complex story prompted him to write a screenplay based on his life. Partly a documentary about his autobiographical script, the film switches between documentary and narrative storytelling. Owing to its distinctive style, the film offers a glimpse into the protagonist's world as he faces triple discrimination: as a Roma, as a gay man, and as a gay man in the Roma community.

Taurophilia(xx)

Through rhythmic re-composition of fragmented images, semi-surreal situations are explored in a documentary style of observation of a man's obsession with a powerful animal, the black horned bull, and the Spanish process of taxidermy through which he attempts to embody its beauty and strength, turning into a Minotaur. The subdued basement space in which the man meticulously studies the motionless flesh of the animal is preceded by a sunlit, empty arena in Spain, the stage in which the bull is presented in its full glory before facing man.

The Gordon Affair(en)

As a small liberal arts college on the North Shore, Gordon College has not been without its issues. Budget cuts in 2019 resulted in the downsizing of several departments which impacted students' college career. In 2020 during the heat of the pandemic, racial tensions rise after hate crimes are committed on campus. This is the story of the class of 2022.

As You Are(en)

A glimpse into a visual representation of memory; A Christmas-time series of meals, coffees, and movies, with friends, lovers, and housemates. Faced with the compounding of faces and places, each moment begins to collide with one another: voices are muddled, and faces are broken. How is memory created? How are they separated from one another?

Bugman(en)

A misunderstood and isolated transgender teenager takes revenge upon his unaccepting parents. A powerful supernatural entity known as the Bug God contacts him to help him do the deed. A mysterious organization produces a largely fictitious made-for-TV docudrama on the subject.

Wise Guys 2(en)

After the release of his debut film, documentarian Richard Chase journeys down a rabbit hole to uncover the lost second episode of his initial film's subject: Wise Guys.

La Forteresse Fantôme(fr)

100 Days(cs)

Life is going on, people work and have children, out of love or out of lack of other motivation in life. As there is no God, the only certitude is 24 hours open Tesco hypermarket. 40 years ago, Apollo 11 landed on the the surface of the Moon. Next destination is Mars. No human project can go on without a hope of being completed in a reasonable time-limit. Maximal reasonable time-limit is the duration of a human life. What does fit into it? Béla, a retired Hungarian bio-molecular scientist is waiting for death. In the meantime, he has some things to say.

Off the Record(en)

RPM music is a small shop in the centre of Newcastle selling vinyl records. Founded by former students, the shop has become a place for people with love of music to come, browse, chat and share their stories. These are some of them.

Karun – The Longest River of Iran(fa)

On September 22, 1998, the Iranian poet Hamid Hajizadeh and his nine-year-old son Karun, whose name symbolically refers to Iran's longest river, were brutally murdered in their home in Kerman. The documentary film, based on the statements of the survivors, tries to sensitively reconstruct one of the many terrible motivated events that took place in Iran at the end of the previous century and draws us into the fateful day with the help of detailed shots of the objects in Hamid's study.

Honey Bunny Duracell(cs)

A vivid encounter with former three time Czech National Boxing Champion. Experience the rise and fall in the career of a female fighter.

Hotel Cișmigiu(ro)

Early short film of Romanian director Florin Iepan.

Day Sleeper(en)

A short documentary about a female truck driver in the United Kingdom.

The Most Beautiful Corner in the World(sk)

A reporter for a fictional television station, originally from Ukraine, travels around Slovakia and asks people at memorable places questions about the nature of fascism and the soul of the Slovak nation. The documentary essay seeks to capture the shape of a society on the fringes of the political spectrum through the words spoken and the images of crowd scenes.

Gen A: Do What You Love(cs)

Jakub Strach aka NobodyListen is a successful Czech DJ and music producer. A portrait of his life and work can be seen as a manifesto of the millennial club-going generation. After hundreds of shows and preparations for the upcoming, renowned Addict party, the DJ must deal with the consequences of inflicting a wound scarring his image. Footage from the club backstage mingles with scenes of everyday life in which NobodyListen ponders the dark sides of the club scene, like drugs and misogyny. During the shooting, the Covid pandemic strikes, revealing the insecurities of work in culture.

The Moșilor Fair(ro)

The Moșilor Fair is an exercise by a student director who used his film before he had managed to finalize the originally planned movie. The result is a fascinating experimental montage, without music or sound of any kind, showing details of a legendary fair in the capital.

Malíř Kamil Lhoták(cs)

A poetic documentary portrait about czechoslovakian painter.

Artist Unknown(en)

A short documentary on how people view art and its value in today's society.