Bars & Tone(2012)

Descending the Mountain(nl)

What happens if you give magic mushrooms (psilocibine) to experienced Zen practitioners who have never used drugs? What does that teach us about the mystical experience of oneness with nature? Based on these questions, psychiatrist Franz Vollenweider and Zen master Vanja Palmers set up a legal science experiment in a monastery at the top of Mount Rigi in Switzerland. Exactly 50 years after the magic mushrooms were officially banned, a new story begins in what is now called the “psychedelic renaissance”. While in 2021 most studies with psychedelics mainly focus on their promising medical applications, Frans and Vanja are already going a step further. Can the combination of meditation and psilocibin help humanity get out of the mess we have created on ourselves and the planet with our neo-liberal society?

Ten Lives of a Cat: A Film about Chris Marker(en)

Ten years after the death of iconic French filmmaker, Chris Marker. A filmmaker, hoping to rediscover that unique sensibility against the uncertainty of the new century, returns to the places synonymous with those incomparable and unforgettable films-- From the cat cemetery of Sans Soleil, to the mausoleum of The Last Bolshevik; The caves of Level Five to the rooftops of The Case of the Grinning Cat. A biographical portrait of one of the 20th century's greatest and most misunderstood filmmakers.

Shadows(de)

Hansjürgen Pohland's short documentary is an audiovisual study that captures events and people on the streets on film. The special feature of the work is that the people and objects are portrayed exclusively through their shadows.

The Ongoing Conversation(en)

An Editor recounts the diaries of a failed film production as they attempt to construct a new narrative from the remaining footage.

Aurum iter(pt)

Aurum Iter is a cinematic journey that delves into the depths of the visual and sonic, challenging the boundaries of traditional storytelling. Inspired by the minimalist essence of "Koyaanisqatsi", the short film invites viewers into a unique sensory experience where King Crimson's music intertwines with the visuals. Without dependence on words, the film reveals the fascinating interaction between humanity, exploring the intrinsic beauty and complexity of the world around us. As the visuals unfold before the viewer's eyes, an invitation is issued to contemplate society's impact on humanity and our never-ending quest for harmony with the environment. In Aurum Iter, I invite viewers to a poetic meditation on life, the interconnectedness of all things, and the urgent need to preserve the delicate balance between man, nature, and the body itself.

Duelo(en)

The short film follows Endika, a director who, in the midst of a clash with his reality, transforms a documentary about paternal absence into a personal quest for reconciliation with his own father.

O Tempo Passa(pt)

your fingerprints on my eyes... or will it be the opposite...(xx)

Optical art with camera movement.

beer cans under my bed(en)

This short, started early on into sobriety, finished about nine months in, is a collage of diaries and notes, collected from within addiction and into recovery.

A Jornada(pt)

A mixture of a time travel, a documentary, artistic and performative record of the director's subjective view of the places, people and moments he spent from 2015 to 2018. Filmed on super 8 mm film.

Ma bande magnétique arrière(fr)

It's A Boy!(xx)

Watch out Earth.

Tree(xx)

Structural study of a tree. Light, water and air coax it out of the soil in a manner foregrounding time’s relativity to different forms of life on Earth. Made the day my brother got his fork-lift license.

Hong Kong Mixtape(cn)

Political engagement spawned the wildest of wonderlands for Hong Kong’s creativity – but as a new law annihilates freedom of expression overnight, underground artists and creatives find themselves targets, and their works disappeared. Together we race to preserve the creative uprising amid China’s crackdown.

Fajr(ar)

In the Moroccan desert night dilutes forms and silence slides through sand. Dawn starts then to draw silhouettes of dunes while motionless figures punctuate landscape. From night´s abstraction, light returns its dimension to space and their volume to bodies. Stillness concentrates gaze and duration densify it. The adhan -muslim call to pray- sounds and immobility, that was condensing, begins to irradiate. And now the bodies are those which dissolves into the desert.

The Pleasure in Pain(en)

A short film that follows key figures of the London kink scene on an exploration into BDSM and the notorious fetish event Klub Verboten. The film touches upon themes of psychology, trauma, LGBTQ+ rights and black representation.

Shoot Me(en)

The Iranian filmmaker Narges Kalhor, daughter of a former advisor of Ahmadinejad's, has been living in exile in Germany for four years. When she hears that the fellow Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi, who is also living in exile in Germany, faces death threats and has to hide because of one of his songs, she doesn't hesitate and has to find him. On her search she encounters fear everywhere. Narges Kalhor has to face her inconvenient memories of suppression, hatred and anger for her past in Iran.

Decaying Vessel(en)

Shot on three cameras over the life cycle of one snowfall, Decaying Vessel is an expression of transness and the feeling of being stuck in a body bound by time.

Vietnam Story(en)

A cinematic impression of Vietnam, told through the eyes of Vietnamese immigrants.

Untitled (Pink Dot)(ja)

In Untitled (Pink Dot), Murata transforms footage from the Sylvester Stallone film First Blood (1982) into a morass of seething electronic abstraction. Subjected to Murata's meticulous digital reprocessing, the action scenes decompose and are subsumed into an almost palpable, cascading digital sludge, presided over by a hypnotically pulsating pink dot.