The Land Between

Notes about identity(es)

Gyrischachen - von Sünden, Sofas und Cervelats(en)

A high-rise apartment built in the 1960s provides housing for 2500 people from 42 nations. Separated from the city by a river and bounded by towering sandstone cliffs, everyone attempts to live and survive in their own way. Foreigners who have a go at being Swiss, and Swiss who observe with scepticism. They meet in the corner shop run by an Iraqi living in exile, send their kids to a children’s club managed by a missionary, and old drinking mates meet regularly over a beer in the neighbourhood’s only bar. Despite all the differences, they are rather proud of the fact that they come from here.

Le point de vue du lion(fr)

Special Flight(fr)

Switzerland still carries out special flights, where passengers, dressed in diapers and helmets, are chained to their seats for 40 hours at worst. They are accompanied by police officers and immigration officials. The passengers are flown to their native countries, where they haven't set foot in in up to twenty years, and where their lives might be in danger. Children, wives and work are left behind in Switzerland. Near Geneva, in Frambois prison, live 25 illegal immigrants waiting for deportation. They are offered an opportunity to say goodbye to their families and return to their native countries on a regular flight, escorted by plain-clothes police officers. If they refuse this offer, the special flight is arranged fast and unexpectedly. The stories behind the locked cells are truly heartbreaking.

Viacrucis Migrante(es)

Parrot at the Milk Bar(es)

A humorous observation in Barcelona’s immigrant neighbourhood El Raval. Four barber shops, four places of remembrance, strange time and space capsules inhabited by people who left their home to find a better one, while the Spaniards are about to leave their own country themselves.

Straight Stories, Part 1(fr)

Somewhere between documentary and fiction, this is an essay on questions of territory and human displacements made during an excursion from southern Spain to northern Morocco. Travelling on the Mediterranean rim, we hear immigrants tell their stories.

A 3 Minute Hug(es)

As daylight breaks between the border cities of El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, undocumented migrants and their relatives, divided by a wall, prepare to participate in an activist event. For three minutes, they’ll embrace in no man’s land for the briefest and sweetest of reunions.

Amazing Journeys(en)

By land, by air, and by sea, viewers can now experience the struggle that millions of creatures endure in the name of migration as wildlife photographers show just how deeply survival instincts have become ingrained into to the animals of planet Earth. From the monarch butterflies that swarm the highlands of Mexico to the birds who navigate by the stars and the millions of red crabs who make the perilous land journey across Christmas Island, this release offers a look at animal instinct in it's purest form.

Lessons for Zafirah(es)

A metaphor of the Flood in our times, The Flood is the rain of violence that washes over us. Noah´s Ark is the train that runs through Mexico toward the United States and migrants are the species attempting to save their lives. For the directors, cinema moves people not just by condemnation, but by confronting and fostering emotions which lead to new, constructive ideas. This documentary became a cinematographic diary for their first viewer, their three-year-old daughter, Zafirah.

2017 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary(en)

In Between(sq)

In rural Kosovo, identical houses are built for family members working abroad, in the hope that they will one day return to settle in their old homeland.

Contained Mobility(en)

Upon entering the harbor, the voyager leaves the exceptional condition of the boundless sea--this traversable space of maritime immensity--to come ashore in an offshore place, in a container world that only tolerates the trans-local state of not being of this place--nor of any other really--but of existing in a condition of permanent not-belonging, of juridical non-existence. He comes to signify the itinerant body, bound to string along a chain of territories, never reaching a final destination. Probing the protocols of access time and again, he moves through non-civil places, waits for status in off-social spaces, only to remain suspended in the post-humanist lapse. What used to be a state of temporary exemption--survival in the fluid time-space of legal deferral--has slowly consolidated into the prime mode of migratory subsistence. The site of this existence is connected but segregated; it is the world system of contained mobility. (Video Data Bank)

Little Birds(es)

Through dances and games, migrant boys and girls who live in a shelter in Reynosa, on the US-Mexico border, shared their dreams and stories of hope with us.

Have You Eaten?(en)

Living in downtown Toronto to attend school, Lina Li returns to the comfort of home in Thornhill and her mother's cooking. In this candid short, filmmaker Lina Li and her mother engage in an intimate conversation about immigration to Canada, misunderstandings, barriers to communicating, love and the taste of home.

The Valley(fr)

As thousands of migrants attempt to cross the French-Italian border on foot through treacherous mountain routes, the state cracks down on the local communities that come to their aid in this revealing look at an unfolding human rights crisis.

A Tale of Two Kitchens(en)

Two countries, two restaurants, one vision. At Gabriela Cámara's acclaimed Contramar in Mexico City, the welcoming, uniformed waiters are as beloved by diners as the menu featuring fresh, local seafood caught within 24 hours. The entire staff sees themselves as part of an extended family. Meanwhile at Cala in San Francisco, Cámara hires staff from different backgrounds and cultures, including ex-felons and ex-addicts, who view the work as an important opportunity to grow as individuals. A Tale of Two Kitchens explores the ways in which a restaurant can serve as a place of both dignity and community.

Migration(es)

Almost eight years ago the family of Marcela Gómez separated. His parents and younger sister emigrated to the United States and lived in Cali, Colombia. While reconstructing the history of her family through the home movies they sent her in the mail, Marcela questioned the phenomenon of third world migration to the great powers and how these powers assume an immigrant.

Southern Border(es)

On the border, the line as principle of property and belonging reaches an extreme dimension where it physically defines the sphere of its relations. Those who transgress it reconstruct these imaginary lines on a daily basis, redefining the traditional geography and occupying the non-spaces where others live in a temporary form of existence. These others, the non-citizens, are phantasmtic, exchangeable parts of a flexible market. Made invisible, they are permanently controlled persons. Under the pretext of a greater civilian security, they are kept clear from the public spaces reserved for the citizens with rights and pushed into non-public spaces, which are run by state and military surveillance, multinational operations servicing a European market and non-governmental organisations.

(be)longing(en)

A group of inspiring African teenagers brought illegally or trafficked into the UK overcome desperate situations and build new lives for themselves in London. The girls face deportation on their 18th birthdays under current Home Office rules. This film asks them what they long for and where they feel they belong.

Piccadilly Zero Hour 12(de)

No Trace(fr)

In a near future, a callous smuggler hardened by life guides a pious young woman and her child across the border to safety, unaware that their destinies are inescapably linked in this inhospitable land.

Jolly Roger(en)

The future is stolen by Captain Bill the Black. It is up to the infamous pirate Jolly Roger and his great-great-great grandchild Lula to save it, helped by the two arch-angels Theobalt and Emil.

RED(en)

He was at the bay when his world split in half.

À dix minutes de nulle part(fr)

The Stievenart family decides to spend their vacation far away and puts an ad on the internet. The Mailon family responds by offering to exchange homes. But the Stievenart family has an environmentally friendly house, while the Mailons consume a lot of energy.

Bordon Sunday Market(en)

Bordon Sunday Market is a poignant and heartfelt short film that tells the story of James, a selfless social worker battling multiple illnesses, including a recently confirmed autoimmune disease. Despite his deteriorating health, James remains resilient, dedicating his life to helping others. Borden Sunday Market is in Alton Hampshire.One Sunday, James decides to visit the Bordon Sunday Market with his two sisters, Sophie and Helene. They bring along his unwanted clothes to sell, hoping to raise funds for his medical expenses and to continue supporting the poor and underprivileged-a cause James holds close to his heart. As the day unfolds, the market becomes a backdrop for moments of love, laughter, and reflection between the siblings. Through their interactions with buyers and locals, the film highlights James's unwavering kindness and determination, even in the face of his serious illness. Bordon Sunday Market is a heartbreaking yet uplifting story.

Angel Terminators 2(cn)

Bullet, a female triad member, is recently released from prison. Bullet hooks up with her old gang rather quickly, although she is being closely watched by her policeman father and his gritty female partner Big Aunt . Bullet steals some jewels belonging to triad gangster Chin Bo while helping her friend May, who has been forced into prostitution. Chin Bo, also known as Brother Mad, kidnaps May and another of Bullet's friends to secure the return of his fortune, but the exchange goes wrong and a furious gun battle erupts.

I Am Nothing(en)

Vasco, a wealthy Italian real estate developer, lives between vice and luxury, when a killer of organized crime seriously injures him in an ambush. When he wakes up after three years of coma is no longer the same: no longer has any memory of his past, talk to the trees as if they were close friends, avoids the demands of work and luxuries preferring to wander on the beaches. To prevent the collapse of his business empire is sent in search of a cure through Italy, India and the United States, but a planetary cataclysm is lurking ...

Six Reasons Why(en)

In a desolate place called the Badlands, four men stand off with guns drawn, their fingers ready at the trigger. Among them are a fugitive seeking redemption, a son out to avenge his father's murder, a loyal servant with a secret and a murderous criminal hired to kill with a vengeance. This is their story...in a place where revenge, deception and cruelty are a way of life.

Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion(en)

Ezra Bridger encounters the Ghost crew and joins them on a mission to free Wookiees from an Imperial Star Destroyer.

The Olsen Gang Outta Sight(da)

Egon is starting to be a little forgetful; he forgot the zone number, so he fails to open the strongbox. When he gets out of Vridslose State Prison, Kjeld and Benny have become associates of Yvonne's cousin Georg from America. He is not just some old-fashioned strongbox thief that can't remember like Egon, but a young hip IT criminal, that thinks that everyone else is inferior. However, Egon doesn't take lightly to the Georg's patronizing so he sabotages Georg's computer and ruins his cup. This time Egon's ambitions reaches a new high, when he and his gang break in to the World Bank, and they get away with it. Of course, thanks to Yvonne, they aren't rich very long.

The Avenging Fist(cn)

In the not too distant future, scientists begin to conduct research on the Power Glove, a device that will yield unimaginable power. But the gloves were stolen by the ambitious special agent Combat 21, who subsequently disappears. Twenty years later, Combat 21 re-emerges to rule the world, calling himself the God of Fists. Now a new generation of special agents must come together and defeat the omnipotent enemy.

Panda Plan(zh)

International action star Jackie Chan is invited to the adoption ceremony of a rare baby panda, but after an international crime syndicate attempts to kidnap the bear, Jackie has to save the bear using his stunt work skills.

4 maneras de tapar un hoyo(en)

A hole can be interpreted in many ways, and so can these 4 ways of covering it

The Gendarme Takes Off(fr)

The whole clique of Cruchot's police station is retired. Now he lives with his rich wife in her castle - and is bored almost to death. He fights with the butler, because he isn't even allowed to do the simple works. But when one of the clique suffers from amnesia after an accident, all of the others reunite and kidnap him, to take him on a tour to their old working places and through their memories. In their old uniforms they turn St. Tropez upside down.

The Lone Ranger(en)

The Texas Rangers chase down a gang of outlaws led by Butch Cavendish, but the gang ambushes the Rangers, seemingly killing them all. One survivor is found, however, by an American Indian named Tonto, who nurses him back to health. The Ranger, donning a mask and riding a white stallion named Silver, teams up with Tonto to bring the unscrupulous gang and others of that ilk to justice.

The Bourne Legacy(en)

New CIA operative Aaron Cross experiences life-or-death stakes that have been triggered by the previous actions of Jason Bourne.

Hello(gu)

During one of their night stays, three college teens play a silly prank where they randomly call people and tell them that they know who that person is and what they have done. What will happen when things take a dangerous turn?