A Life Like Any Other
My father immortalised the most beautiful moments of his life in family films, while my mother’s difficulties hit the blind spot in his images. Today, I revisit these films to tell another story: the one about a woman who sees her role as a mother gradually taking away her freedom.
"A searching and honest recalibration of one family’s narrative, as the director reinterprets her father’s obsessive home movies from her mother’s perspective of domestic un-fulfillment." - The Film Verdict
Adam Ondra: Pushing the Limits
Adam Ondra is one of the best climbers today and a true virtuoso, who has tackled the world’s most difficult rocks and walls. A shy introvert, turned famous sports icon, his desire to climb has changed into an obligation to win. As Adam prepares for sport climbing’s debut at the Olympics in Tokyo, we observe the influence of commercial pressure, mass media and the audience longing for a spectacle, on both his personal life and the sport itself.
"Great observational storytelling about the complexities of failure and success and what it takes to get there." - Letterboxd
Broca's Aphasia
In Broca’s Aphasia, 23-year-old Cheng leads five employees of his own age to run a sex doll service in a hotel, a business with a monthly turnover of more than one million Taiwan dollars. They started working and setting up the company at a young age. Inevitably, their relationships with their family, girlfriends and children become the difficulties or the unspeakable secrets in their lives.
"turning the camera to the places you least expect for this subject matter...Director SU Ming-Yen humanises the inanimate object’s life to offer a reflection on sex work and the workforce hidden behind closed doors." - True/False
Fragile Memory
Soviet cinematographer Leonid Burlaka worked at Odessa Film Studio in the 60s on dozens of films that have travelled the world. Today he’s in his 80s and diagnosed with Alzheimer's. As his memory fades away, his grandson and young filmmaker, Igor follows the tracks that Leonid left behind via film rolls, homemade videos, letters and forgotten friends.
"Each photograph is an unforgettable picture of life, imbued with incredible intimacy and anchored in a historical time capsule" - Modern Times Review
How to Save a Dead Friend
Marusya and Kimi are inseparable lovers coming-of-age as Russia’s authoritarian dreams take hold. Turning Marusya’s camera on themselves, the two capture the euphoric anxiety of their youth, burning the candle at both ends -- but as one light burns brighter, the other may be extinguished forever. A message from a silenced generation.
"a truly exceptional film. Marusya Syroechkovskaya’s first-person tale of punk love in Putin’s Russia shines an urgent spotlight on a forsaken generation condemned to a seemingly endless cycle of drug addiction, mental health crisis, and suicide by the repressive structures of the regime." - DOC NYC