Anhell69
A funeral car cruises the streets of Medellín, while a young director tells the story of his past in this violent and conservative city. He remembers the pre- production of his first film, a B-Movie with ghosts. The young queer scene of Medellín is cast for the film, but the main protagonist dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 21, just like many friends of the director. Anhell69 explores the dreams, doubts and fears of an annihilated generation, and the struggle to carry on making cinema.
"a brutal examination of cinema as a kind of makeshift memorial, and how the present moment is everything when life itself becomes unfeasible. This is a story of fragile existence focused on the queer community in Medellín, a city ravaged by authoritarianism, narco wars, and relentless homophobia." - In Review Online
Where God Is Not
Là où Dieu n'est pas (Where God Is Not) is a film based on the testimonials of those who have been brutally treated by the Iranian regime. It seeks to understand how the most repressive aspects of this totalitarian system rely on imprisonment and torture. What does the torturer do? What are his gestures and practices? How can a left-wing activist, under the pressure of a totalitarian regime, end up changing sides and participate under duress in such a repressive system? How can the fight be carried out? These are questions that have haunted me since the first feature film I made in Iran on the regime’s militia. Once again, I am trying to understand power by looking at it from the perspective of those who have directly experienced the violence meted out by the Iranian regime.
"a powerful portrait of the abuse of power....an unflinching account of being pushed to the extremes of one’s own humanity – what it means to be broken and to resist" - Sheffield Doc/Fest
Malqueridas
They are women. They are mothers. They are prisoners serving long sentences in a correctional facility in Chile. Their children grow up far from them, but remain in their hearts. In prison they find affection in other partners who share their situation. Mutual support among these women becomes a form of resistance and empowerment. Malqueridas builds their stories through images captured by them with cell phones inside the prison, recovering the collective memory of a forgotten community.
"Because its subject is vertiginous, because its formal approach is masterful, a radical gesture that makes the off-screen come to life and shows us only the details, the blurred image, the stolen pixels. Narrative and set-up are at the service of the witnesses. - *Winner* Grand Prize, Settimana Internazionale della Critica ’23, Venice Film Fest
On the Edge
In a hospital in the Paris region, a psychiatrist devotes himself to his mission at the risk of going out of his depth. How do you provide good care in a sick institution? In a hospital in the Paris region, Dr. Abdel-Kader, a liaison psychiatrist, navigates from the emergency room to the intensive care unit, from patients with mental disorders to those who are chronically ill and bedridden. Despite the pressure to be productive and the lack of resources, he tries to alleviate their suffering.
"seeks and successfully finds what remains of humanity, and of the bond between humans” - Le Polyester
Among the Palms the Bomb, or: Looking for Reflections in the Toxic Field of Plenty
Where the beach of the Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, starts to crunch, it’s no longer sand but layers of dead fish, plants, and insects forming a toxic mix. Derek is a Cahuilla tribe member whose ancestors fled here during 19th-century genocide attempts.. His community are now guardians of the once flourishing but increasingly deserted area. During WWII it served as a nuclear test site for the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A camera glides around a model of the bomb “Little Boy” in the local museum, set to “We’ll Meet Again.”
"these stories of exploitation, loss and Indigenous pain might not find a home in the official records, but they live on in this passionate documentary." - Guardian