Concrete Pharaohs

Visit to Death(es)

Four experts in different areas such as religion, philosophy and thanatology, share their wisdom when it comes to death.

Text Messages from the Universe(en)

A film that immerses its audience in subjective states of consciousness they might experience when they die, imagining what they can see and think and hear in a seamless but fragmentary flow of poetic images, words and music. The viewer undertakes a journey into their own interior world of dreams and projections in which time and space, and cause and effect logic, are turned on their heads. Text Messages from the Universe is inspired by The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a text which guides souls on their journey of 49 days through the 'Bardo', or intermediate state, between dying and rebirth.

After the Death(th)

After I died from suicide, I was punished for this deadly sin, to live alone in the spirit world deep in the sea, but He gave me a chance to redeem my sin by shooting a film of a philanthropist's afterlife to ask and get the merits, I've been waiting for overly time to see a philanthropist's spirit.

FC Roma(cs)

A team of Romany football players try to overcome prejudice in this Czech documentary.

Django Reinhardt, trois doigts de génie(fr)

By the River(hi)

Stretching along the river Ganges rests Varanasi, the holiest of India’s seven sacred cities, and a place where devout Hindus go to die in hopes of achieving moksha - becoming liberated from the cycle of rebirth. Hindu scriptures say that a soul has to undergo 8.4 million rebirths before reaching the human form, the only form one can attain moksha, and dying in Varanasi and being cremated along the banks of the river is believed to be the ideal way of achieving this. Several so-called ‘death hotels’ exist to accommodate believers who abandon their lives and come here in wait for death - some for as long as 40 years.

Loli Kali Shuba(uk)

Prominent Ukrainian/Italian documentary film director Oleksandr Balahura (most known for link) visits Roma neighborhoods and social events in Zakarpattia (Western Ukraine) and re-visits his earlier work, "Widow-Street", shot on same locations in 1991. He also screens "Widow-Street" to its characters, whom he meets again in 2013.

As Seen on TV: The K-Tel Story(en)

Documentary about K-Tel - the "As Seen on TV!" company that was hugely successful in the 1970s and 80s.

Gypsy Blood(en)

Gypsy Blood examines the culture that Gypsy and Traveller fathers hand on to their children, which many non-gypsy view as overly violent, exploring its impact on two fathers and their young sons.

Zen & the Art of Dying(en)

Zenith Virago is an activist and educator who for over 20 years has been returning the coastal region of Byron Bay, Australia to a more communal, celebratory, and creative engagement with death and dying.

Pretty Dyana(sr)

An intimate look at Gypsy refugees in a Belgrade suburb who make a living by transforming Citroen´s classic 2cv and Dyana cars into Mad Max-like recycling vehicles, which they use to collect card-board, bottles and scrap metal. These modern horses are much more efficent than the cart-pushing competition, but even more important, they also mean freedom, hope and style for their crafty owners. Even the car batteries are used as power generators in order to get some light, watch TV and recharge mobiles ! Almost an alchemist´s dream come true ! But police doesn´t always find these strange vehicles funny... Pretty Dyana is a very funny documentary, but sad in a way... " If Mitic had focused only on the terrible misery these people live in, the film would have been unbearable. Instead, you never know whether you should cry after you laugh, or the other way around " Sara Hultmanm, Goteborg Film Festival

NINA G: STUTTERER INTERRUPTED(en)

This one-of-a-kind comedy special showcases the comedian's riotous stand-up performance, exploring everything from the Disability experience to her Italian-Catholic upbringing to body image issues and more.

Jag Är Registrerad(sv)

The news about the Swedish police's registry of Roma people has generated very strong reactions. In this new documentary we meet some young Swedish Roma people who talk about their feelings and thoughts about the registration.

Alltid Fick Man Höra Jävla Zigenare(en)

Ever since the first Roma people arrived in Sweden five hundred years ago, they have been discriminated against and persecuted. The lack of knowledge, invisibility and denial of the historical abuses that Roma have been exposed to is one of the many contributing causes of continued marginalization and vulnerability of Roma today. Here, the Roma tell of the abuses and persecutions they experienced during the 20th century. How it felt like as a child being constantly expelled from the camp, not infrequently in the middle of the night, with violence and under gunfire. Soraya Post from the traveling group tells how her mother, as a pregnant 23-year-old, was forced to abort her child in the seventh month. The reason: She was a "gypsy".

L'absent, dans le cœur de Piche(fr)

Piche, a bearded drag queen and rapper from a Gypsy community in Arles, rises from the rupture of her father cutting ties in adolescence to the 2024 Olympic opening ceremony. With her mother Nadia and twin brother Morgan by her side, she dares to defy norms and becomes a leading voice of the queer revolution.

RYTMUS Housing Estate Dream(sk)

The film RYTMUS Housing Estate Dream took 8 years to create and closely documents the life of one of the most famous personalities of the Czech-Slovak music scene. Patrik "Rytmus" Vrbovský grew up in an ordinary family in a housing estate in Piešťany and, due to his Roma origin, he often encountered prejudice from his surroundings. Today, he releases albums in tens of thousands of copies, was a Superstar judge, and his videos have been viewed on the Internet by more than 200 million users. The film will also offer exclusive footage from family archives of videos and photographs, supported by personal testimonies from people from Rytmus' closest circle.

After Death(en)

Based on real near-death experiences, the afterlife is explored with the guidance of New York Times bestselling authors, medical experts, scientists and survivors who shed a light on what awaits us.

Czechs Against Czechs(cs)

This cinematic reportage with elements of a personal journal explores xenophobia in Czech society and anti-Nazi activists, but also the filmmaker’s personal experience from living among in an socially excluded Romani neighborhood. Most of the footage was shot by the director using his own camera, and the immediacy of the images is further accentuated by voiceover observations and commentary. In just a few scenes, he adds music for dramatic affect. With his direct questions, he tries to unmask the racist arguments not only of anti-Roma protestors, but also of many ordinary citizens.

Romazsaruk(hu)

The Place of Chimeras(pt)

An elegy about ‘José Ð Almeida’s life and work. Along an intimate metamorphosis, this dreamlike and visually expressive world created by the visionary and insane dreamer is recreated and performed between a symbiosis of moving image, photography and painting- in a scenic, dramatic, symbolic and mystical tone.