For the second time, we will present the Grand Jury Documentary Award. Nine documentaries will be selected from the full film programme of the festival. These are films where cinematography and content go hand in hand. An international jury presents the award with a prize money of € 5,000 to the winner.
Fascinating portrait of the modern Chinese Dream. From a job market where aspiring factory workers hope to find employment, to the growing middle class and the extremely rich. Told in sharply observed scenes which are in turn mesmerizingly beautiful and extremely stifling. A brilliant look at contemporary China, shot i...
The thrilling and emotional story of a group of Falun Gong practitioners who managed to shortly take over Chinese state TV. A story of immense bravery and life under totalitarian rule. Animation and documentary ingenuously combined with breathtaking result. ‘History has taught Chinese people a lesson,’ we hear at the b...
A hybrid collective film about life in the aftermath of the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar. Short films by ten young anonymous filmmakers, combined with footage by brave citizen journalists filming on the Myanmar streets. Courageous and very impressive. In February 2021, a military coup destroyed ten years of f...
After the failed attempt on his life, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny sets out to find the perpetrators. It places him even firmer against the highest levels of Russian state power. Meanwhile, he’s preparing his dangerous return to Russia from exile. Crucial documentary, packed with stunning moments. On 20 Aug...
In a box with her grandmother’s diaries, letters, photographs and Super 8 footage, Sylvie Bianchi discovers a beautiful, tender and heroic love story that was hidden for decades. Nelly and Nadine’s story began in concentration camp Ravensbrück on Christmas Eve 1944, and continued in Venezuela after the war. Truly heart...
The small and shrinking indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people in the Amazon are threatened by land grabbers. They choose 18-year-old Bitaté as their leader, and together with activist Neidinha he is determined not to roll over. But when Jair Bolsonaro becomes president, the forces attacking them get free reign. The Uru-eu-w...
A first look inside Israeli ‘conversion therapy’. Lev is an Orthodox Jew, determined to overcome his gay feelings. Ben is a student and has been in conversion therapy for years. Now, he’s beginning to doubt the practice. Open, vulnerable portrait of two men struggling to be who they want to be. After his wife divorced ...
Wij praten niet (trans. We Don't Talk) is an intriguing documentary of in-depth conversations between therapists and youngsters who are entangled in the complex network of sexual violence and exploitation. It takes us into the inner struggle of four characters in their process to break free from this world while they a...
Independence and bravery personified in the all-female staff of Khabar Lahariya, a newspaper run entirely by Dalit women. Journalists Meera, Suneeta and Shyamkali defy resistance, suspicion and patronising as they report on India’s news from a feminist and Dalit perspective. ‘In our region, being a journalist meant you...