Visitor's Day

Young Wrestlers(tr)

“Let’s see if you gained any weight. 26,3 kilogram. Ahmet, you need to eat more. Double meals.” Like other boys their age, Baran, Ahmet and their classmates wrestle with the desire for recognition, with homesickness and with their target weights. Most of all though, they wrestle with, and against, one another. They are comrades and competitors, united by one and the same dream: Olympic gold! In their wrestling academy in the Turkish province of Amasya, which is well known for this traditional form of combat sport, they undergo strength and endurance training, they learn lifts and throws, they urge each other on and they console one another. Always responding to the boys’ needs, the trainers give the boys tough love, sometimes fatherly, sometimes strict and disciplinary. The film’s intimate documental camera bears close witness to the fine line between friendship and competition, victory and the lesson of how to lose.

Risk(en)

Capturing the story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with unprecedented access, director Laura Poitras finds herself caught between the motives and contradictions of Assange and his inner circle in a documentary portrait of power, betrayal, truth and sacrifice.

Icon(pl)

“Where is the human soul? Is it in the heart? In the brain? Or maybe elsewhere?”, wonders an old doctor who has spent his life working at a psychiatric hospital in the Siberian countryside. The place, which was inaccessible for film crews, can be shown thanks to its residents, some of whom spent several decades at the hospital. This discreet and, at the same time, insightful observation of the patients’ daily lives transforms into meditation on the human nature, which is not entirely penetrable.

Crowds(es)

Crowds is a feature documentary that records popular events of Uruguay where thousands of people gather spontaneously, called by faith, passion, celebration and memory. What happens when we set aside our individuality to act collectively? This documentary observes the passions that draw thousands of people close in order to join in a choral character. It discovers the crowd while it transgresses and experiences catharsis, while it seeks miracles and hopes; in continuous movement it splits and rejoins... until they dissipate and individuals re-emerge in their own solitude.

Torn Apart: Separated at the Border(en)

Two mothers who were each separated from their children in the United States for months after fleeing from danger in their homelands to seek asylum work with pro-bono lawyers and volunteers to reunite with their kids who have been placed thousands of miles away from them with little access to communication.

Deportation Class(de)

Documentary about a "transportation commando" in Germany with the goal to deport 200 people to Albania...

Cropsey(en)

Realizing the urban legend of their youth has actually come true, two filmmakers delve into the mystery surrounding five missing children and the real-life boogeyman linked to their disappearances.

Reimagining A Buffalo Landmark(en)

The Richardson Olmsted Campus, a former psychiatric center and National Historic Landmark, is seeing new life as it undergoes restoration and adaptation to a modern use.

Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy(en)

Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the history of the Crownsville State Mental Hospital in Crownsville, MD.

Caravan(en)

The four Afghan refugees who have applied for asylum in Austria strike up the song, “The caravan moves on” again and again. Encouraged by the journalist Lucy Ashton to record their lives on their smartphone cameras as a video diary, the friends film their precarious daily routine between visits to authorities, small jobs, and changing accommodations. Yet even when hope is lost, one certainty remains: the power of friendship.

Somber(nl)

Somber tells the story of three depressed young people, all three in a different phase of the disease. What does depression do to a person? What does it actually mean? And above all, is there a way out?

When Paul Came Over The Sea(de)

An unusual friendship in an agitated political context.

Viacrucis Migrante(es)

Skæve dage i Thy(da)

Documentary about the construction of Thy Lejren in 1970 - an alternative summer camp. Features concerts by bands such as Gasolin' and Gnags.

Asyl(de)

50 anni di CLU(it)

It's December 16, 1972, 50 years ago. The first social cooperative in the world is born in Trieste. It was formed by 28 people: two sociologists, two psychologists, five nurses, a healthcare assistant, two doctors and sixteen private individuals who all have the same residential address: via San Cilino 16, Trieste. They are interned in a psychiatric hospital and therefore have no civil and political rights: they cannot vote, marry or make a will. Imagine founding a cooperative. Thus the Court of Trieste rejected the request to establish the cooperative. It would have been a long march through the institutions.

Echo Of The Past: The Terrence Tower(en)

A historical documentary documenting the rise, function, and abandonment of a 17 story building that once housed The Rochester Psychiatric Center. This film tells the story of the building through historical footage, interviews of former staff and patients who recount their memories of the behemoth facility while also exploring the abandoned building as it is today.

Welcome To Canada(en)

Mohammed Alsaleh, a young Syrian refugee, is rebuilding his life after being granted asylum in Canada. In Vancouver, he counsels and helps resettle newly-arrived Syrian refugee families so that they may find new homes and begin again.

This Is Home: A Refugee Story(ar)

The lives of four Syrian families, resettled in Baltimore and under a deadline to become self-sufficient in eight months.

Dissidents(en)

An artist's sculpture is burnt down, a protester is charged with a criminal case, and a democracy movement is violently attacked. In the United States, three Chinese dissidents fight for democracy against a superpower through art, petition, and grassroots organizing, but not even exile is safe.