Polack Waltz

Fontelonga(pt)

Fontelonga is a village of Trás-os-Montes, in the interior of Portugal. A mirror of exile in the eyes of their own people. A reflexion where memory is the last object of beauty and redemption.

Punky Night at Hinton St. George(xx)

Children parade through the streets of Hinton St George in Somerset on the last Thursday of October. Children have hollowed out pumpkins or mangelwurzels, a type of animal fodder turnip to make lanterns following a tradition in this part of West Somerset that coincides with Halloween. Punky or Punkie Night is thought to date from the turn of the 20th century or perhaps medieval times chanting rhymes and following a Punkie King and Queen.

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 Punk of Natashquan(fr)

In 1981, an unusual person arrives in Natashquan, marking the beginning of an unlikely love story between this small Quebec village and the young man they call “The Punk”. Five years later, he vanishes without a trace, forever impacting the community.

The Coast of Commerce(en)

Take a revealing tour along a coast of contrasts, from the folksy freshness of Whitby to the coaly Tyne, queen of all rivers.

Alvey: Derbyshire Customs(xx)

From Well Dressing to Garland Day and even elephants in Alfreton - a celebration of the traditional customs of Derbyshire.

The Village Pet(xx)

Billy the pet seal adapts to village life in Wereham, Norfolk.

Everyday Life in a Syrian Village(ar)

The first documentary to present an unabashed critique of the impact of the Syrian government’s agricultural and land reforms, Everyday Life in a Syrian Village delivers a powerful jab at the state’s conceit of redressing social and economic inequities.

The Noise of Time(es)

In the town of Xoco, the spirit of an old villager awakens in search of its lost home. Along its journey, the ghost discovers that the town still celebrates its most important festivities, but also learns that the construction of a new commercial complex called Mítikah will threaten the existence of both the traditions and the town itself.

Rothenthurm(de)

A documentary about a proposed military training area in Rothenthurm, Central Switzerland, and the village's resistance to those plans.

Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness(en)

Elephants disrupt the lives of a family deep in the jungles of Northern Siam, and an entire village.

Davos(en)

Beneath its reassuring façade, Davos is each year at the heart of the Western and capitalistic world. Every chief of State and everyone who is someone in the money world meets with their peers in the Swiss village. What is really at stake in Davos ? Julia Niemann and Daniel Hoesl create a fascinating observational documentary in which judgement is never handed out and where the dialectics of conflicts matter more than easy and reassuring answers. The film asks the viewer some uncomfortable questions by focusing on challenges that the new global economy poses to the world.

Dadi's Family(en)

Dadi manages an extended family in Haryana, Northern India, where daughters-in-law face loneliness and unrealistic expectations. The film delves into family dynamics, highlighting Dadi's firm control amidst tensions. Social and economic shifts challenge traditional values, exemplified by Dadi's son marrying outside the village. Despite clinging to tradition, Dadi adapts to her children's modern aspirations. This narrative reflects the clash between generations and gender roles in 1980s rural India, offering insight into the evolving concept of family.

Women 50 Minutes(zh)

A representation of queer and feminist imagery that was mainly shot in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, remote and developing areas in southwest China, and metropolitan cities like Beijing from 2000 to 2004 to document the social changes in contemporary China. The director sympathetically and erotically represents a variety of women, including women as laborers, women as prayers, women in the ground, women in marriage, and women who lie on the funeral pyre with their dead husbands. Her camera juxtaposes the mountains and rivers in old times, the commercialized handicrafts as exposition, the capital exploitation of the elders’ living space, and the erotic freedom of the young people in a changing city.

Horse Wrangler(es)

Nando, a young horse wrangler in a rural Mexican village, has taken his own life following a disagreement with his father. Caballerango shows the boy’s family members and townspeople as they reckon with the new realities borne out of this inexplicable tragedy. Each account of Nando’s story reveals a different aspect of this rural town, which is deeply affected by modernization. The confrontation between the centuries-old ways of life and the modern-day world seems to be creating serious identity crises among the younger generation. The story is told in a patient, observational style with methodical shots of the landscape, ranches, and of the two white horses, whom Nando and his father tended to. Those horses, the last to see Nando alive, connect us to an ethereal sensation of almost otherworldly mystical beings.

The Last Austrians(de)

In a valley in the Ukrainian Carpathian forest lies the small and forgotten town of Königsfeld. In 1775, the Habsburg Queen, Maria Theresa, sent a hundred foresters and their families here from the Austrian west of the kingdom. All that remains today of the now over two century-old timber industry are factory ruins, potholes in the valley road and an increasingly seldom heard German dialect. Only a few factories survived a flood that cut the village off from the rest of the world, and left it economically isolated. An atmosphere of farewell hangs heavy in the air.

Zem ešte stále spieva(sk)

Harvest and Seed(fa)

The banned and unseen Harvest and Seed is a sardonic look at the conditions of a poverty-stricken Iranian village after the so-called agrarian reforms of the early 1960s, which amounted to a corrupt land grab rather than an equitable redistribution of wealth. This film recorded in village in south of fars, Shiraz, Esmaeel abad

A Hakka Song(zh)

A song is heard in the distance. It comes from the Hekeng village, famous for its ancient earthen buildings, also called tulou. It is where the last original Hakka families live amidst the exodus of those looking for a more modern environment. Among them there is Zhang Zhouyin, an elderly man concerned about the state of the village's temple; or her daughter-in-law, Wei Yi, who spends her entire day guiding tourists through these awe-inspiring houses. And then there’s young Zhang Weibo, her son, who manages to find joy even in the simplest of things... Hekeng: a place frozen in time whose songs have endured for centuries.

A Man Vanishes(ja)

A Man Vanishes examines the concept of Johatsu, tackling the phenomenon of people missing in Japan over the years. It picks one such person from the list, someone who had seemed to disappear from the face of the earth due to embezzlement from his company, and the filmmakers begin an investigative documentary into the reasons behind and attempt at tracking him down.