Checkpoint Zoo

Maidan(uk)

A chronicle of the civil uprising against the regime of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych that took place in Kyiv in the winter of 2013/14. The film follows the progress of the revolution: from peaceful rallies, half a million strong in the Maidan square, to the bloody street battles between protesters and riot police.

Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover(en)

Compulsive Twitterer, Elon Musk bought himself his favorite social network in 2022, and brutally shaped it according to his desires. This punchy investigation relates the stormy relations between the platform and the billionaire, and their impact on the public debate.

1h30 d'orgasme(fr)

Where Is Heaven?(en)

Maverick soulmates Ged and Dave are on a mission through the winding lanes and hidden tracks of North Devon, to record the lives and experiences of people living without mains electricity.

Die Mamais(de)

This color documentary tells the story of the "Mamais." In 1960, a group of workers at the Bitterfeld chemical plant set themselves the task of becoming the first "socialist brigade" in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to act in accordance with the slogan "Work, learn, and live socialist."

Kalush Orchestra, or How We Stopped Worrying and Won Eurovision During the War(uk)

A documentary story about the participation and victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 by the Ukrainian band Kalush Orkestra.

Dominion(en)

Exposing the dark underbelly of modern animal agriculture through drones, hidden & handheld cameras, the feature-length film explores the morality and validity of our dominion over the animal kingdom.

Far Away(es)

A landscape is only a landscape until we know what lies beneath. Pozo Ibarra, in the Central Mountains of León, is a mining complex full of significant architectural attributes, and also the imposing and ruinous remnant of a painful past that passed the ideas of freedom, literally, through the stone, turned into a great mass grave. Now, when the sun goes down, the souls that inhabit it rise up, refusing to forget.

VHS Revolution(fr)

Using testimonies by pioneers and witnesses of the times, delve into the feverish visual culture the media generated – with far-fetched examples of canine television games, seduction manuals, aerobics class while holding a baby, among others.

Snow in Curitiba(pt)

In 1928, the city of Curitiba went through a rare snowstorm. To this day, it is the harshest snowstorm to ever take place in the city. Everything was recorded by Alberto Botelho in this short documentary.

La France de l'épuration, entre vengeance et justice(fr)

Alaska's Giant Bears(de)

In Canada and Alaska, the consequences of global warming are being keenly felt by brown bears - but in different ways by different populations. Their survival depends mainly on the quantity of wild salmon available in the region, as it is the fruit of their catch that enables the bears to accumulate fat reserves for the winter. While salmon populations off Canada's Pacific coast continue to decline year after year, in the immense Bristol Bay in western Alaska, as well as on Kodiak Island, they are increasing considerably. The water temperature in the North Pacific is now ideal for salmon development. From Canada to Alaska, the documentary follows different bear populations over a two-year period.

Here and Elsewhere(fr)

Here and Elsewhere takes its name from the contrasting footage it shows of the fedayeen and of a French family watching television at home. Originally shot by the Dziga Vertov Group as a film on Palestinian freedom fighters, Godard later reworked the material alongside Anne-Marie Miéville.

Le Paris des mannequins(fr)

A photoshoot on the roofs and in the streets of Paris, under the astonished eyes of the inhabitants.

For a Fistful of Fries(fr)

For several days, a team of police officers (backed by Judge Anne Gruwez, the revelation from their previous So Help Me God) sift through the evidence in a murder case that’s tougher than it appears. Jean Libon and Yves Hinant lead a police investigation unlike anything you’ve ever seen. With every banal turn of events, camaraderie and professionalism go hand in hand as humour meets tragedy and a handful of fries, a Tupperware container and St. Rita heighten the suspense. Hilariously scathing, yet filled with tenderness.

Invasion(es)

INVASION is a documentary about the collective memory of a country. The invasion of Panama by the U.S in 1989 serves as an excuse to explore how a people remember, transform, and often forget their past in order to re-define their identity and become who they are today.

Murbah Swamp Beer(en)

Just before Easter 2001, a semi-trailer loaded with 40,000 bottles of beer crashed into the Tweed River on the out skirts of the northern New South Wales town of Murwillumbah (known as "Murbah" to the locals). With salvage crews ordered to clear the crash zone for the busy Easter traffic, the locals undertook their own salvage operation, making it their best Easter ever. Murbah Swamp Beer is a documentary about an event that could only happen in Australia. It captures the spirit of a small, country town as its citizens discover that beer definitely tastes better when it's free.

Caribou(fr)

Of Fathers and Sons(de)

Talal Derki returns to his homeland where he gains the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses on Osama and his younger brother Ayman, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up in an Islamic Caliphate.

Launching Red Dwarf(en)

A documentary about the making of the first series of "Red Dwarf" (1988).