Dancing Across Borders

Ukraine in Flames(ru)

A 1943 Soviet war propaganda film by Ukrainian director Oleksandr Dovzhenko and Yuliya Solntseva. It is Dovzhenko's second World War II documentary, and dealt with the Battle of Kharkiv. The film incorporates German footage of the invasion of Ukraine, which was later captured by the Soviets.

Liberation(uk)

Wartime documentary by Dovzhenko and Solntseva.

Echo of the Mountain(es)

Echo of the Mountain takes a look at the life and work of Santos de la Torre, a great Huichol artist who, like his people, lives in oblivion. Despite having made a great mural for the metro station Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre, Santos lives isolated and ignored in his country. This documentary follows his pilgrimage to Wirikuta, where he asks gods for permission to make a new mural; his journey across 385 miles of the Peyote Route, and Santos's creative process during the making of a new mural which aims to illustrate the history, mythology and religious traditions of the Huichol people.

Zombies: When the Dead Walk(en)

Zombies are part of pop culture, but what are they? Where do they come from? To find real zombies we visit Haiti where Zombies are an integral part of the island's cultural and religious roots.

Dum spiro spero(hr)

Well-known Croatian author Pero Kvesić, who has been struggling with a severe lung disease, documents his death from his own point of view. Recording his everyday struggle, the picture resembles a peculiar blog filled with self-irony and witty comments about life and death. Although the world around continues to shrink, the hero and the director in one does not cease to fill it with sense.

Home Truth(en)

In 1999, Colorado mother Jessica Gonzales experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when her three young daughters were killed after being abducted by their father in violation of a domestic violence restraining order. Devastated, Jessica sued her local police department for failing to adequately enforce her domestic violence restraining order despite her repeated calls for help that night. Determined to make sure her daughters did not die in vain, Jessica pursues her case to the US Supreme Court and an international human rights tribunal, seeking to strengthen legal rights for domestic violence victims. Meanwhile, her relationship with her one surviving child, her son Jessie, suffers, as he struggles with the tragedy in his own way. Shot over the course of nine years, Home Truth chronicles one family’s incredible pursuit of justice, shedding light on how our society responds to domestic violence and how the trauma from domestic violence can linger through generations.

Lost in Lebanon(en)

As the Syrian war continues to leave entire generations without education, health care, or a state, Lost in Lebanon closely follows four Syrians during their relocation process. The resilience of this Syrian community, which currently makes up one fifth of the population in Lebanon, is astoundingly clear as its members work hard to collaborate, share resources, and advocate for themselves in a new land. With the Syrian conflict continuing to push across borders, lives are becoming increasingly desperate due to the devastating consequences of new visa laws that the Lebanese government has implemented, leaving families at risk of arrest, detention, and deportation. Despite these obstacles, the film encourages us to look beyond the staggering statistics of displaced refugees and focus on the individuals themselves.

Jean Vigo : le son retrouvé(fr)

Wilbur: The King in the Ring(en)

Wilbur: The King in the Ring is a comedic documentary, which wrestles with the worldwide obesity plight. Wilbur McDougall, a former pro-wrestler, agrees to let his best friend J. Ollie Lucks make a documentary about his gastric sleeve surgery and subsequent transformation. But in order to stay literally half the man he was, Wilbur will be forced to maintain a healthier lifestyle while Ollie’s altruistic intentions verge on exploitative.

Les voyages de L'Atalante(fr)

Mighty Ground(en)

A gifted singer, struggling with addiction on the streets of Skid Row, sets out on a journey to transform his life.

Michael Lost and Found(en)

When a feature film is made about them seven years after their break-up, Benjie Nycum visits his ex-boyfriend Michael Glatze and finally tries to get answers about his bewildering shift from gay activist to ex-gay evangelical.

Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids(en)

Documentary depicting the lives of child prostitutes in the red light district of Songachi, Calcutta. Director Zana Briski went to photograph the prostitutes when she met and became friends with their children. Briski began giving photography lessons to the children and became aware that their photography might be a way for them to lead better lives.

God's Ways(uk)

A dual portrait of young drifters on the streets of Odessa, where every day seems the same and the future keeps getting further away.

Full Metal Village(de)

The film describes the microcosmos of the small village Wacken and shows the clash of the cultures, before and during the biggest heavy metal festival in Europe.

The Story of the Weeping Camel(mn)

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.

On Native Soil(en)

The film analyzes the efforts by the families of 9/11 victims to create the 9/11 Commission and what information was revealed by it in the 9/11 Commission Report.

Singapore GaGa(zh)

Singapore GaGa is a 55-minute paean to the quirkiness of the Singaporean aural landscape. It reveals Singapore's past and present with a delight and humour that makes it a necessary film for all Singaporeans. We hear buskers, street vendors, school cheerleaders sing hymns to themselves and to their communities. From these vocabularies (including Arabic, Latin, Hainanese), a sense of what it might mean to be a modern Singaporean emerges. This is Singapore's first documentary to have a cinema release. With English and Chinese subtitles.

In My Mother's House(en)

One day in 2005, Lina Fruzzetti receives a startling email that reads, "If this is your father, we are cousins." There follows a decade-long quest to learn more about her Italian father who died young in Italian ruled Eritrea and her Eritrean mother who does not dwell on the past. Above all, Fruzzetti strives to understand her far-flung African, European, and American family against the backdrop of colonial rule, worlds at war, migration, grief, diasporas, and the global world in which we all live.

Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum(fr)

The film tells the story of the intimate and unprecedented encounter between the photojournalists of the Magnum Agency and the world of cinema. The confrontation of two seemingly opposite worlds – fiction and reality. For 70 years their paths crossed: a family of photographers, amongst them the biggest names in photography, and a family of actors and filmmakers who helped write the history of cinema, from John Huston to Marilyn Monroe to Orson Welles, Kate Winslet and Sean Penn.

Main Street on the March!(en)

This Best Short Subject Academy Award winning film begins in the spring of 1940, just before the Nazi occupation of the Benelux countries, and ends immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It chronicles how the people of "Main Street America", the country's military forces, and its industrial base were completely transformed when the decision was made to gear up for war. Original footage is interspersed with contemporary newsreels and stock footage.

Main Krishna Hoon(hi)

In answer to an orphan boy's prayers, the divine Lord Krishna comes to Earth, befriends the boy, and helps him find a loving family.

Murder, She Baked: A Deadly Recipe(en)

Bakery owner Hannah Swensen just can't keep her hands out of the batter when murder stirs things up in Lake Eden, Minnesota, leaving the sheriff dead, a deputy accused, and a killer on the loose.

12(en)

After blowing his professional ballet career, John's only way to redeem himself is to concoct the demise of his former partner, Leah, who he blames for his downfall; he rehearses his salvation in his mind in the way that he rehearses a dance, but being able to break from the routine will be the key to his success.

Home Run Showdown(en)

Two little league teams take on their coaches' sibling rivalry, and end up in battle in a place the baseball world never expected: in the outfield of the Home Run Derby.

Journey Across the Mainland(zh)

Joseph Kuo's final film.

Balas & Bolinhos: O Regresso(pt)

A group of friends meet after some years apart and decide to go on a treasure hunt.

PorNO(uk)

Max films his friends having lecherous fun at his own birthday party; unaware of how it will change his life. Just out of high school, by haphazard, he becomes a big porno producer. His father, a principled police major, chases porno makers, not suspecting that one of them lives in his own apartment. Hoodlums and girls from good families, corrupted policemen, petty dealers find themselves in a luring and scary world of porno.

Man(en)

An experimental film through the eyes of a man

Sabadazo(es)

Realizing that he's out of touch with "the common people," a Mexico City politician spends a weekend slumming among the plebes he's supposed to represent.

Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?(hi)

Dr Samir is an absolute charmer when it comes to women, but he poses as a married man to keep them at bay. Love becomes a three-ring-circus for him after he ends up tangled in his web of lies with his girlfriend Sonia and pretend wife Naina.

The Jurassic Games: Extinction(en)

In this thrilling sequel to The Jurassic Games, 10 death row inmates enter a deadly VR show to battle dinosaurs for a second chance at life. But when the system malfunctions, the carnage turns real. With a new host and higher stakes, survival is no longer just a game.

Fight Club But With Tennis And No Fight(en)

Drama descends upon two tennis-obsessed women as the tension moves from off the court and into the café.

Flow(en)

A filmmaker talks about his work and love life with an unseen friend behind the camera. We also watch four of his short films.

12(ar)

not there yet

Cholay(en)

Thakur, a passionate filmmaker, had one dream: to create that could capture the spice, drama, and humor of Indian life. Inspired by the classic Indian dish Cholay. After his audition he finally found his casts Veeru,Basanti,Jay and Gabbar.

Quickie(hi)

Quickie is a Bollywood comedy movie touted to be a teenage love story.

Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine"(fr)

Divers go to work on a wrecked ship (the battleship Maine that was blown up in Havana harbour during the Spanish-American War), surrounded by curiously disproportionate fish.

Musangwe: Fight Club(en)

The first rule is that there are no rules. For the bare-knuckle combatants competing in Musangwe fights, anything goes - you can even put a curse on him. The sport, which dates back centuries, has become a South African institution. Any male from the age of nine to ninety can compete. We follow a group of fighters as they slug it out in the ring. Who will be this year's champion?