Waves Turn
A “torrential hormonal cocktail of emotions,” bliss but also strain—the postpartum period shapes the lives and emotions of Judith, Doris, Nina, Ludisis, and Luise, whom Josephine Ahnelt portrays in her observant documentary. In warm, intimate 16mm images she moves close capturing bonding and love, but also depression, worry, and the sense of losing one’s own identity. A film that offers insight into a normality that usually remains hidden.
"A gentle, curious and informative conversational documentary that finds its sublime beauty as well as its intellectual depth in its dedication to the ordinary and its trust in life itself, whatever the challenges one faces on the way" - Int. Film Fest Rotterdam
Out of Sight
On top of the Bürglkopf mountain in Tyrol, far off the beaten track at an altitude of 1,300 meters, a refugee centre accommodates asylum seekers. Under the auspices of providing return counselling, but above all under the pressure of indefinite isolation, the aim is to convince them to leave Austria. The idyllic Alpine landscape becomes the stage for a bizarre encounter between refugees, villagers, and tourists, as the nearest mountains in Kitzbühel are primarily used for winter sports. While state-of-the-art gondolas carry vacationers from around the world to the peaks, the residents of the Bürglkopf must endure a three-hour walk to get from the camp to the valley. The film provides an insight into European border policies, which culminate in return centres and deportation camps.
To rob these men of their time, the only valuable currency they can call their own, is to deny them any kind of future at all" - Guardian
Valentina and the MUOSters
Niscemi, Sicily. A landscape shaped by intensive farming, wildfires, and MUOS: imposing military antennae that disfigure the territory. At almost 30 years old, Valentina still lives with her parents. When her father’s health deteriorates, she is forced to take her fate into her own hands. A delicate tale of emancipation rooted in a ravaged yet beloved land.
"a deeply relatable coming-of-age story and an invitation into another world" - True/False
Atlas of Dissapearance
Over a period of more than twenty years, the Franco regime quietly orchestrated the exhumation and transport of more than 33.000 bodies from mass graves throughout Spain to El Valle de los Caídos, the monumental mausoleum built to glorify the fascist victory. Despite recent legislative progress, exhumation projects remain stalled, leaving families—some now in their third or fourth generation—without answers, without graves, and without closure. Facing legal and bureaucratic obstacles, the film uses new forensic technologies, like digital mapping and forensic reconstruction, to reconstruct what oblivion and oppression sought to conceal.
"On the trail of the earthly remains of the victims of Franco's regime in a film that combines modern technology and paper archives in a historical investigation based on the director's own research through Forensic Architecture" - CPH: DOX
*not available in Spain
This is Ballroom
In Rio de Janeiro City and its outskirts, LGBTQ+ youth of colour recreates Ballroom culture on their own terms. A portrait of the dramas, the voguing performances, and the art of shade, 50 years after its inception in New York. Rio is burning!
"sensational and visually stunning....An immersive vision of the Kiki houses of Rio de Janeiro, as members challenge each other on the floor in dance, beauty and performance categories, blended with discussions on race and gender in a celebration of Black and Brown queer community" - Melbourne Queer Film Fest, Winner Best First Feature
*not available Australia, Brazil