Three Women
Somewhere in the Carpathians between Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland lies the village of Stuzhytsia. In Ukrainian the name of the village means something like "cold place". The film tells the stories of three women: the farmer Hanna, the postwoman Maria and the biologist Nelya. The film portrays an unknown place in the middle of Europe, where people have to decide daily between leaving and staying.
"Very few documentary filmmakers today see themselves as a “fly on the wall”. But gifting a pig to a protagonist in front of the camera or letting her cut the camerman’s hair? That’s rather unusual" - DOK Leipzig, Audience Award Winner
Tolyatti Adrift
Tolyatti, once the symbol of socialist pride is today the Russian Detroit, a limbo city where there is no future for the youth. In this hopeless environment, Boyevaya Klassika arises, a movement that rescues iconic old Lada cars from the local factory to turn them into a means of rebelliousness and expression, that explores the conflicts and dreams of the youth in one of the poorest cities in Russia. We follow Slava, Misha & Lera in the year that they have to face for the first time, their adulthood in a place where the future seems to be a dystopia.
"young Lada restorers aim to escape Russia’s post-industrial angst...Laura Sisteró’s dynamic documentary follows Slava, Misha and Lera, three young adults who dare to dream and rebel against all odds." - Guardian
Stuntwomen
Being thrown down a flight of stairs, hit by a car or beaten up is the everyday life for stuntwomen. We follow Virginie, Petra and Estelle during training sessions and on film sets in France and the US. What does all this pretend-violence do to their bodies and minds? There is always a trade-off between the desire to perform as realistically as possible and their own boundaries. Scenes with cars are spectacular, but the roles in which they are beaten up are much harder to watch. Few action movies have female heroes so they usually play the role of victims. Stuntwomen are hired to endure violence, while the task of their male colleagues is to inflict it.
"Elena Avdija’s revelatory and nuanced documentary shines a light on the incredibly brave performers who face physical and emotional battles on and off screen" - Guardian
Calvinia
CALVINIA follows a 40-year-old man who returns to his hometown in rural South Africa to visit his elderly father. His journey oscillates between memories of his childhood on a sheep farm in the 1980s and present-day images of people and places from his past, still familiar but weathered by the passage of time. A journey of self-discovery unfolding in concentric circles, CALVINIA evokes the nostalgia of childhood memories within the complex socio-political realities of a fractured society.
"A generous and elegantly constructed film, made of encounters, moments of solitude and flirting, mixing the past with the present, in a journey that feels like a farewell." - Visions du Reel
Downstream to Kinshasa
For two decades, the victims of the Six-Day War in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been fighting in Kisangani for the recognition of this bloody conflict and demanding compensation. Tired of unsuccessful pleas, they have finally decided to voice their claims in Kinshasa, after a long journey down the Congo River.
“A documentary about Sisyphean persistence in the face of institutional indifference,..riveting.” - New York Times