Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life(2024)

KHAMAICA(en)

NYC based photographer, Khalik Allah, travels to Jamaica to connect with family and document the streets. This is his synopsis.

Kasama Kang Tumanda(tl)

A filmmaker follows her grandparents’ daily life after her chain-smoker and alcoholic grandmother is forced to stop drinking beer for a month.

Comme un rayon de soleil sur la peau(fr)

Far Apart(en)

In 2021, Australia (particularly the eastern states) was hit with a wave of COVID-19 cases that heavily affected many families, causing whole states to go into lockdown. This short documentary highlights the impact lockdowns have on any family throughout Australia.

Blue Boy(fr)

Yannis is 22 years old. The restless soul, the heart that beats for music. In Marseille, surrounded by a group of passionate friends, his goal is that of thousands of others: to make a living from his art. We delve into his daily life, the creative process of his first EP and an encounter with a tumultuous youth. How to learn to live in uncertainty? What does it mean to want to be an artist? And above all, how can you be happy when you're a blue boy?

Neighborhood Tokyo(en)

Miyamoto-cho is a community of Mom-and-Pop stores and family enterprises located near the center of Tokyo. Competition from supermarkets and shopping centers threatens the livelihoods of long-term residents. High land prices tempt owners to tear down old homes and replace them with apartment buildings; this in turn is changing the composition of the population. Against this backdrop, residents strive to maintain the close social ties, symbols of local identity, and community rituals that keep Miyamoto-cho from becoming just another mailing address. Theodore Bestor began his research here in 1979. His prize winning book of the same name is available through Stanford University Press. This documentary is one of a series depicting the variety of life in today's Japan in the context of human problems common to all industrial nations. A comprehensive study guide is available.

Babushka(ru)

Twenty-five years after she moved away, Canadian filmmaker Kristina Wagenbauer (a participant in the 2019 Talent Lab) returns to her native Russia to visit her grandmother – her Babushka – with whom she spent part of her childhood, in this film brimming with tenderness and humour. The two women reflected in the mirror bear an undeniable resemblance, and each seeks to recognize herself in the other. Plumbing her memories, Wagenbauer hopes to re-establish a lost bond of intimacy and to confront the wounds of the past. Babushka has survived the Second World War, the break-up of the Soviet Union, the void that her daughter and granddaughter left behind when they moved abroad, and, more recently, the death of the love of her life. Despite all of this, she holds to life with a strong spirit of resilience.

Children in Naturism(en)

Interviews and discussions about children in naturism.

Our Home(ca)

A film in which the author seeks to express the love he feels for the central figure of the family: his grandmother. By documenting her daily life and interviewing family members about their feelings toward her, this documentary becomes a love letter.

On the Track of Robert Van Gulik(en)

Robert van Gulik (1910-1967) is one of the world’s most read authors from the Netherlands. This diplomat, Sinologist and scholar is mainly known for his detective novels, starring 'Judge Dee'. Filmmaker Rob Rombout follows in his footsteps to discover the author’s legacy - via his diaries, the people he inspired and those who witnessed his extraordinary life.

Only Day and Night(pl)

A pandemic, a time of hard lockdown, when contact with other people is severely limited. The most common means of communication are online conversations, which the director uses to talk to people who, like him, are stuck alone in their apartments.

Wright's Law(en)

Every now and then, we get a teacher who doesn't just connect with us -- they make us a better person in the world. Jeffrey Wright of Louisville, Ky. is one of those teachers. He uses wacky experiments to teach high school kids about science and the universe. But it's his own personal story about his relationship with his disabled son that shows his students the true meaning of life.

The Cheese & The Worms(ja)

A documentary that records the daily life of a mother with a limited life expectancy and a grandmother, directed by the daughter, Haruyo Kato.

Carlitos(es)

This documentary is about Carlitos, a young man with mental disability who has a particular vision of the world and a tender sensibility. This documentary tries to show his way of perceiving the world and also his attempt to live to the fullest.

Papa(en)

This is Jon Alpert's portrait of his father's struggles with growing old and nearing the end of life.

The Beksińskis. A Sound and Picture Album(pl)

Painter Zdzisław Beksiński, his wife Zofia and their son Tomasz, a well-known radio journalist and translator, were a typical and unconventional family, both at the same time. One of the father’s obsessions was filming himself and his family members. Using archival footage only, shot primarily by Zdzisław, as well many other materials, which have not been presented anywhere so far, the film tells a tragic story of the Beksińskis that has never ceased to fascinate Polish filmmakers.

Plasticine Family(en)

It is hard to find a family home where all the members have gone to live their separate lives in different parts of the world. Travelling between different continents, the director visits divorced parents and their new partners and also meets her sister who decided to join an alternative community. Their family exists on archival films and photographs only. Is it still possible to put it all together against all odds?

The Echo(es)

In the remote village of El Echo that exists outside of time, the children care for the sheep and their elders. While the frost and drought punish the land, they learn to understand death, illness and love with each act, word and silence of their parents. A story about the echo of what clings to the soul, about the certainty of shelter provided by those around us, about rebellion and vertigo in the face of life. About growing up.

Lenin kam nur bis Lüdenscheid - Meine kleine deutsche Revolution(de)

The free, almost naive view from the perspective of a child puts the "68ers" in a new, illuminating light in the anniversary year 2008. The film is a provocative reckoning with the ideological upbringing that seemed so progressive and yet was suffocated by the children's desire to finally grow up. With an ironic eye and a feuilletonistic style, author Richard David Precht and Cologne documentary film director André Schäfer trace a childhood in the West German provinces - and place the major events of those years in completely different, smaller and very private contexts.

The Garden of Goodness(bg)

The moving story of Milena Boeva, a passionate woman who finds a one-of-a-kind sanctuary where young people with disabilities can thrive through creativity, community, and meaningful work. As the garden blossoms into a place of hope and transformation, Milena faces growing challenges that threaten its very existence. Will her dream endure, or will the pressures of reality uproot the seeds of change she’s planted?