A Little Bit About Ana
The film makes a journey across Ana's life. Ana is in quest of falling in love, of having the best possible friends, of finding herself, and of being accepted by others. It is a journey through the dark. A documentary about trafficked women in Romania, one among many tragic issues in post-communist Romania.
A Bar at the Victoria Station
Marek and Piotrek are two friends in their late twenties. They live in Poland, and the prospect of turning thirty, without having a job, forces them to make critical decisions. After exhausting all possibilities to find jobs in their hometown, they turn their hopes towards England. Other people, even some of their friends have made it there, so why shouldn't they give it a try? Their dream is to open a bar at the Victoria station. This goal may be rather hard to attain, especially as neither of them speaks any English. After many efforts, they eventually arrive in London. What they find, however, is far from what they had expected. The two friends soon find themselves easy prey for the local racketeers. They even fall victim to their more experienced compatriots, who have lived in London for some years. The film explores, in an observational manner, the status of immigrants from former communist Western European countries.
A Blooming Business
a BLOOMING BUSINESS is a poetic documentary by TON van ZANTVOORT about people in Kenya who feel imprisoned by the power of the global flower industry.
The dilemmas of the industry grow painfully clear and there is only one conclusion possible: the smell of the imported rose is not sweet, but bitter. The film combines pure observation with direct comments of the main characters. The camera is absent and present at the same time. With great humanism, Van Zantvoort shows us a different world where all human life is valuable.
A Fancy House
Sibiu, Romania, is getting a new EU look. Everything must be gleaming.
"Waiting for the EU." Debates, disclosures and an old vaccum cleaner. Sibiu is one of the richest cities in Romania and European Capital of Culture 2007. In the middle of all this is 70-years-old Ioan Drasovean, an old man trying to keep up with the drastic changes in his country. We follow Ioan in his everyday life: at home or sitting on a bench in the park: in serious discussions with his friend Ilie or with others, discussing Putin, Castro and mobile phone charges. And there is an old vaccum cleaner that needs to be fixed. "We are waiting for the EU." This is a film about Romanian society, its problems and hopes. And about how communism gave up because it was clever.
A Ferry Tale
A ferry travel through the Victoria harbor, witness different changes of the city, also witness the last moment of the clock tower.
A Few Things About Queen Marie
"I was barely seventeen when I came to you. I was young and ignorant, but very proud of my native country, and even now, I am proud to have been born an Englishwoman... but I bless you, dear Romania, country of my joy and my grief, the beautiful country which has lived in my heart" (Queen Marie of Romania). The film is conceived as a personal account. Fragments of the Queen's biography are interpreted by the acclaimed actress Maia Morgenstern, whose profile is projected on a background of archive footage and photographs.
A Godforsaken Place
A community of over 1,800 gypsyes live in the outskirts of the small town Bocşa, not far from Timişoara. They do not speack the gypsy language anymore, these people have lost their ethnic identity. There are many children in the community, adults are unemployed and everybody is struggling to survive from day on nettles, wild fruit and mushrooms they can find in the forrest.
A Hospice in Amsterdam
Western culture is youth-oriented. It is a death-denying culture but even so one dies several times before physiologically expiring, and the process can be stigmatizing for both the dying and his or her family. A nursing home is the place bearing the capacity to absorb the shock of this final rite-of-passage. When family and friends can no longer take care of you, a nursing home remains an option. The film intimately observes the daily routine of volunteers and patients in a nursing home in Amsterdam.
A Kalahary Family: part 1 A Far Country
In 1951, the Marshall family set out to document the life of the Bushmen of the Kalahari. After a week of hard travel in desert-adapted vehicles, they met Toma Tsamkxao and his Ju/'hoan band in Nyae Nyae. In their own words, Toma's extended family describes how they survive by gathering bush foods and hunting game. Thus begins a relationship between the Ju/'hoansi and the Marshalls that will last over half a century. About A Kalahari Family A Kalahari Family is a five-part, six-hour series documenting 50 years in the lives of the Ju/'hoansi of southern Africa, from 1951 to 2000. These once independent hunter-gatherers experience dispossession, confinement to a homeland, and the chaos of war. Then as hope for Namibian independence and the end of apartheid grows, Ju/'hoansi fight to establish farming communities and reclaim their traditional lands. The series challenges stereotypes of "Primitive Bushmen" with images of the development projects Ju/'hoansi are carrying out themselves.
A Kalahary Family: part 2 End of the Road
In 1978, after a twenty year separation, John Marshall is reunited with Toma and !U's family. Like a majority of Ju/'hoansi, they have settled at Tsumkwe, an administrative post established by the South Africans who govern the territory of South West Africa. They came in search for water, employment and what they hoped would be an easier life. But in Tsumkwe, Ju/'hoansi survive on corn meal rations, while the few with money and jobs buy liquor. Drunkenness, violence and the diseases of poverty are rampant and painfully depicted in END OF THE ROAD. The new life also creates inequalities that the Ju/'hoansi never experienced. When the South African Defence Force begins recruiting Ju/'hoansi and paying the large salaries to fight the liberation forces of the South West African People's Organisation, called SWAPO, these disparities become chasms. Marshall and his colleague Claire Ritchie record the decline in the Ju/'hoan society in 1980-81 when Tsumkwe becomes known as “the place of death”. Hoping to re-establish a more stable way of life, the Ju/'hoansi start working with a development foundation founded by Marshall's father. The foundation assists them to begin farming and in 1981, Toma's family leaves Tsumkwe, heading back to their traditional waterhole at Gautcha with axes, shovels and cattle. End of The Road is the second part of the five-part series A Kalahari Family.
A Kalahary Family: part 3 The Real Water
Throughout 1983 Ju/'hoan movement out to Tsumkwe gains momentum. Three farming communities are established and the people are busy milking and managing their cattle. However, the fledgling communities face a new threat. The department of Nature Conservation is planning to establish a game reserve on Ju/'hoan land where people will be forbidden to have livestock or plant crops. They will be encouraged to act like “Bushmen” - dress in skins, gather bush-foods, and hunt for the amusement of tourists. REAL WATER documents a decade of grassroot efforts by the Ju/'hoansi to stake a claim to their traditional lands. As conflict intensifies, John Marshall and the people decide to drill their own boreholes. With more water the reason people can establish more farms and strengthen their claim. Meanwhile, International pressure for South Africa to leave South West Africa escalates. Better relations between Ju/'hoansi and the government become possible. Tsamko, Toma's son leads a delegation to the capitol with a petition protesting the game reserve. Finally, the department of Nature Conservation announces that instead of game reserve, it will promote trophy hunting, definitely the lesser of two evils. Looking forward to a more democratic future, delegates from the farming communities meet for the first all - Ju/'hoansi convention to write down the laws by which they hope to govern their land.
A Kalahary Family: part 4 Standing Tall
In 1989, after twelve decades of colonial rule, South West Africa is about to become independent Namibia. Twenty-eight Ju/'hoan farming communities have been established, but the people's legal claim to their traditional lands in Nyae Nyae remains in question. STANDING TALL documents the efforts of members of the Ju/'hoan farmers' co-op to find their relatives in white ranching districts and black ethnic homelands and help them return to Nyae Nyae and farm. The film depicts the desperate lives of the dispossessed Bushmen-poor, hungry, exploited - among whom the co-op members meet /Qui Chapman. /Qui, a highly skilled Ju/'hoan farmer, works for a white rancher and earns 120 Rand ($80 US) a month. Forced to buy his family needs from the rancher's store, essencially /Qui works for cornmeal.
Political activity heats up as independence approaches. South West African People's Organization, or SWAPO, the Ju/`hoansi believe are most likely to support Ju/`hoan farming and they celebrate SWAPo's victory in the 1991 UN-sponsored national election. UN troops help relocate /Qui Chapman's family to a barehole in Nyae Nyae. With little more than a pump and few tools /Qui dances for joy as his family looks forward finally to farming their own land.
A Kalahary Family: part 5 Death by Myth
By 1992, Namibian independence is attracting unprecedented levels of international aid for the Ju/'hoansi, but people complain that the development foundation no longer services theirs farms. DEATH BY MYTH documents the shift in policy from farming to wildlife management and cultural tourism. As John Marshall and the Ju/'hoansi attempt to rally support for farming, we witness the power of the "Bushman myth". This myth - a belief that Ju/'hoansi are born to hunt and uniquely capable of living in harmony with nature - denies Ju/'hoansi the humanity to change their economy and survive on their own.
Ju/'hoansi endure their cattle being killed by lions and their water pumps destroyed by elephants. In 1994, Ju/'hoansi vote unanimously to dismiss the directors of the foundation, but their actions do little to stop natural resources development or the money pouring in to implement it. In 1996, with promises of great wealth, Ju/'hoansi vote to establish a nature conservancy. What did they really understand about the policy they were endorsing? The film ends in the year 2000 when the Ju/'hoansi conservancy members receive a meager 75 Namibian dollars (approximately $ 10.50 US) each - their profit from two years of trophy hunting. As more farms fail, many people are forced to return to the squalor and disease of Tsumkwe.
A Minister Backtracks
A Danish minister decides to give up her comfortable office and start a private pursuit of a war criminal from Bosnia. As the Minister for Refugees she had witnessed the exhuming of bodies from a mass grave in Bosnia in 1996. Haunted by these images, she decides to expose the massacre that had forced so many people to seek refuge in Western Europe. Her investigation reveals that the massacre was lead by the local school principal. In the summer of 1999, the Minister began an intense pursuit through former Yugoslavia for this man whose name is on the War Crimes Tribunal's secret list of war criminals. A camera team followed her journey, and captured the moment when, after fourteen days of search, she suddenly stood face to face with the man who had inflicted so much pain on so many people. She had been chasing the essence of evil, but when she met up with her nemesis, he turned out to be merely another politician.
A Month in the Life of Ephtim D.
Ephtim D., 73 years old, a retired postman, lives in Sofia with his wife in a three-room suburban apartment. As a socialist, he feels confused by the "crazy" democracy and the uncertainties of the transition period. The couple's combined pensions amount to 66$. Ephtim experiences constant difficulties in balancing the family budget. Free medical care and lunches at a subsidized canteen are essential to his survival strategy. This portrait of a Bulgarian pensioner is presented in the context of a global hopelessness and a clearly felt nostalgia for the communist past.
A Shepherder's Homecoming
Mexican migrant worker Thomas Ballato, lives his job on a Nevada sheepranch after shearing, lambing and trailing his 2000 head flock to summer pasture and returns to his family in the steel industry town of Lazaro Cardenas. Michoacan, to recapture his years "lost" on the other side, that is in the USA.
A Story of An Old Castle
In a canyon of Liangshan Nationality Autonomous Region, there is an old castle whose declining walls have witnessed, like an old person, the changes of history. It keeps together the 30 households of the Han and the Yi people. The hostile nature and the everyday problems of life require collaboration and solidarity among the inhabitants. Generation after generation have been farming herding and living here. What are these people’s ambitions and dreams like? This film wants to spy out the forgotten corners of life and tell a common yet thrilling story. RO: In Regiunea Autonoma Liangshan se înalta, într-un canion un vechi castel. Zidurile sale surpate au fost martore ale schimbarilor istorice de aici, aidoma unui om batrân. Acum, ele adapostesc 30 gospodarii ale unor familii din nationalitatile Han si Yi. Natura ostila si problemele de fiecare zi îi obliga pe locuitori la colaborare si solidaritate. Generatii dupa generatii, ei au trait aici si si-au crescut turmele. Care le sunt visele si nazuintele? Filmul doreste sa spioneze colturile cele mai ascunse ale vietii acestor oameni si sa spuna o poveste obisnuita, dar tulburatoare.
A Student Village
High on the Hengduan Mountain Range, in the western part of the Yunnan Province, there is a school village unknown and inaccessible to outsiders. The place is called Tian Deng, and it is the location of the only school in an area of over 160 square km of steep mountains terrain and abrupt roads. Thus, it is impossible for the children living in the region to go back and forth to school, so they must live in Tian Deng permanently. Since the school cannot afford to build dorms and a canteen for its students, their parents have made small wooden cabins around the school. In time, eighty such cabins crowded the area. These cabins are home for more than 300 children between six and fourteen years of age. After classes, they have to run their little households to make a fire, cook, wash clothes, and fetch water. No matter how young they are, they have to take care of themselves. From the day they arrive in the students' village, they are invested with the responsibilities of adults.
A Tale of Two Villages; Modernization and De-modernization of the Romanian Village
The film looks at the extremes of communist interference in the lives of the inhabitants of two rural villages in Romania. In fifty years of totalitarian regime, rural society underwent dramatic changes. The film examines Nucsoara, a mountain village, whose inhabitants opposed the communist regime, and Scornicesti, a village in the plain, which was used as the emblem of collectivization. Nucsoara remained one of the few isles of private property in communist Romania in spite of the fact that many of the inhabitants were arrested, tortured and even executed due to their resistance. By comparison, those in Scornicesti, Ceausescu's birthplace, were subjected to absurd experiments of social engineering. The two villages are representative of the destiny of rural society in Romania. Do authentic peasants still exist? What is their life like in the aftermath of communism? This film follows the story of the two villages since 1946, in search of answers to these questions.
A Village Romance
The village was once settled by a community of lesbians seeking refuge from the city. Only a few families have remained. One of them lives in poverty but in a valuable house. The mistress of the house falls in love with her unfortunate, gypsy neighbor lady, M. Despite the fact that M is heterosexual, alcoholic, beaten regularly by her husband, threatened to have her children taken from her, and scorned by the villagers because of her gypsy descent, she reciprocates her neighbor's affection. "No one's ever loved me for who I am," she says. She can hardly wait for her husband to leave so she can take her three children and move in with the woman she loves.
About Iulian Mihu, As He Was; About Us, The Way We Are
Iulian Mihu, departed from amongst
us for 10 years now, is a great
personality of Romanian cinema.
His films talk could probably say most
about their creator. In spite of that,
the makers of this documentary, due
to the lack of hard evidence preserving
Mihu’s memory, wished that he be
remembered through the testimonies
of some of his colleagues and friends.
Violeta Andrei, Irina Petrescu, Sergiu
Nicolaescu, Julieta Szonyi, Liliana Tudor
Iorgulescu, Radu Boruzescu, assistant
director Adriana Lupu and editor
Gabriela Nasta are only some of the
names of those who, each in their own
manner, contributed their memories to
the making of this film. Thus we catch
a glimpse of a director who was able to
defy rules and orders. The film-makers
try, in this movie, to act a little bit like
him - sincere and unconventional. He
had an enigmatic persona - sometimes
furious, sometimes gentle and his motto
could have been “we film to have fun”. He
was an artist who, despite his career ups
and downs, scandals and great movie,
will always be remembered for his free
spirit and the fact that he was always,
until the very end, true to himself.
Adakale Stories
The amazing and thought provoking story of the tiny island of Adakale, which was known as a fairy land in the River Danube until it sank in the waters of a dam in 1970… Being the source of the most striking experiences of the Turks that may be traced in Europe and along the River Danube until our times, Adakale is being translated into the language of cinema for the first time, being aware of all sources. The documentary named "Adakale Stories" tries to connect the divided memories of the islanders who were dissolved in the lands of Turkey and Romania with their roots through their memories, albums, souvenirs, and dreams. The documentary films in disarranged archives, and accessories, maps, litographs in museums of the Adakale people who were scattered away turn into the sour taste of an incurable homesickness.
Adam and Eve
The film is shot in a remote Romanian mountain village. Here, the men, like biblical Adam, work hard in the field day after day. The women, like Eve, keep the house and have many children. Based on interviews, the film tells stories of the past and talks about hardships of the present. It alternates between splendid mountain scenery and moments in the daily life of the villagers. The filmmaker differentiates between the roles of men and women in village life. While men are observed working in the field, women are filmed in the setting of their homes, where they spend the largest part of their lives. This is a film with touching stories about people living in a dying rural world.
Adela and Agnetha
Adela is a Gypsy married to a Saxon
from Transylvania, while Agnetha is a
Saxon married to a Gypsy. They live in
the same village, Mergideal, are mothers
to many children and life doesn’t go
easy on them. When asked “How did
you meet?” they answer plainly, “It
was love.” In Transylvania, there are
hundreds such families, spread in
the areas where Saxons used to live.
The documentary film maker tells of
how he went into the Transylvanian
Plateau looking for Roma and Saxon
mixed families. He was interested in
these minorities, opposite both in origin
and culture. The Gypsies remember
the times when they came about and
there were many Saxons and only a
few Gypsy. Now it is different. What do
the two ethnic groups have in common
and what differentiate them? What do
they learn from each other? A close look
on interculturalism in Transylvania.
After the Revolution
This is a film about what happened just after Romania's bloody 1989 revolution. Set in the streets of central Bucharest and filmed in the observational cinema style, After the Revolution follows the furious debates that were taking place on the streets at the time and observes the struggle for power between Ion Iliescu, a former Communist leader who assumed power immediately after Nicolae Ceausescu was deposed, and Ion Ratiu who had spent most of his life living in exile in London.
After the War
South-Western Serbia, an isolated area, whose inhabitants are the former "guardians" of the country, defenders of the Serbian orthodoxy. Since abandoned by Belgrade, they are becoming angry – more and more – with everyone. With Albanians who, in their opinion, are responsible for the war, and with Serbs who thoroughly forgot them… A small zone outside the history and, nowadays, even outside the world.
Agadez nomade FM
Radio Nomad FM is a local radio station serving the Nigerian desert city of Agadez, and some 50 km beyond. The station broadcasts cultural and educational programs and news. Quite popular with the locals, it has some influence on people. Contrary to the title, the main focus of the film is not the radio station, but the people and their stories. Agadez used to be a major trade center. Blacks, Tuaregs, nomads and sedentaries, Muslims and animists have always lived together more or less peacefully. The result is an open-minded city, and a self-conscious community. In Agadez, there is competition between conservatism and adaptation. There is tradition and there is change. The film explores people's concerns related to social change, the role of women, religion, tradition and their relation to the modern world. The authors share with the viewer their personal experience in the process of getting to know the people of Agadez: "They seemed complete strangers to us at first, and then we found them to be quite close to us, having the same concerns as ourselves and our neighbours back home. Only the social rules are different."
Against Blood Justice
In 1991 LuceOs son was murdered in Albania. Exploring the turmoil the country went through along with the personal and spiritual experience of this woman who chose to forgive the man who murdered her son, thus following the OBesaÓ specified in Lek DukagjinOs Kanun, we will move along the historical, religious and social path of todayOs Albania. Today the OforgivenÓ sees Luce as a OmotherÓ: thanks to her he has been totally rehabilitated in the eyes of societyÉ Luce has now become a peace mediator to help other families involved in a process of Oblood justiceÓ.
Al Karamah - Human Dignity
Much has been written and shown about Palestinians and Israelis. Yet, one part has been left out by media, as well as by anthropology, the Palestinian minority in Israel. Over 900,000 Palestinian-Arabs live in Israel as citizens of the Jewish State. This film throws light on their situation. The story is told by Samiyeh, a 20 years old Palestinian and her cousin Nidal. Like all young people in the Arab world, which has been bombarded by Western ideals and values, they have their own hopes and frustrations, sweet dreams and nightmares. However, the Israeli government intrudes into the minutest details of their lives. The Palestinians are prospering in Israel along with the rest of the society. But “money is not everything” as Samiyeh’s father puts it; money comes and goes. But “if al karamah (human dignity) goes, it can never come back”.
Alethea
Since of the year of 1989 multinaational mining companies have been coming to Turkey in order to mine gold with the cyanide leaching process. Eurogold, an Australian and Canadian joint venture is one of them. Their mine is situated in Bergama. The people living in Bergama and the 17 villages in the surroundings started to resist the project. The people won all the instances of their legal struggle. However, the mine still operates. The story in the documentary is about the people and their long struggle. We followed their struggle since 1996.
Alfred Melotu, the Funeral of a Paramount Chief
This film is a testament to the life of Alfred Melotu, the Paramount Chief of the Papua speaking people of Fenoaloa, the largest of the Reef Islands, which belong to the Solomon Islands. In 1994, Danish anthropologist Jens Pinholt visited Fenoaloa , and during this visit, he and the Big Men of the Islands discussed future plans for documenting Kastom, the revival of traditional cultural elements among the people. This discussion resulted in a plan to make a film about the life of the Paramount Chief and his constant endeavor to preserve cultural traditions. Melotu's untimely death during the second visit of the film crew in 1996 changed these plans. What was to be an account on the life of a Paramount Chief became a film about his death and funeral.
Al-Halqa - In the Storyteller's Circle
'Al-Halqa - In the Storyteller's Circle addresses this fading culture of Morocco's itinerant story-tellers: the public square is the place where the 'Halaiqi' improvise or reinterpret for their circles of onlookers stories which have never been written down before, being orally transmitted from generation to generation. In Marrakech, Abderahim El Maqori tells stories that he has been collecting in his mind and heart since he was a child. As he is growing older, he starts teaching his son Zoheir - who got his name from a story that Abherahim told the day he was born - the tricks of his dying trade. Exquisitely shot, with a great sense for both the revealing close-up and for the atmospheric wide shot, Al-Halqa follows the teaching and learning process and, following on to that, the trip taken by the father and son to Fez, Morocco's intellectual capital, for the ultimate storytelling test in the city square.
All About Eve
What can a woman do when she is desperate to have children, and it just does not happen? Artificial insemination could be an answer. From a medical point of view, artificial insemination it is a relatively simple procedure. Few people realize, though, what an immense pressure it puts on the couple, and especially on the prospective mother. The film is about a woman, who decides that having a baby would be the most important thing in her life. There are repeated unsuccessful attempts. There is hope, despair, and then hope again. The film offers quite an intimate view on the personal drama of the characters, as the couple in question are the director himself and his wife. Shot during an extensive period of time, the film follows all the stages of the medical procedure and its emotional implication. The director goes beyond his personal story to explore the differences between men and women's reactions to fertility treatments.
All that Glitters
The small village Olympos on the Karpathos Island in Greece has been almost isolated from the rest of the world until a quarter of a century ago. Since construction of the road that crosses the island from north to south, the locals can travel more easily. At the same time, Olympos has become an accessible place for tourists, who are attracted by the archaic atmosphere. The film observes the impact on traditional life within the "opening to the world." Although preserved in its appearances - after all, tourists come to Olympos to experience the picturesque village life, and, take pictures of the local women wearing traditional costumes with heavy gold coin necklaces - the elders feel tradition is no longer preserved in spirit. Transmigrants, who return to their home village every summer for the great St. Mary Festival, also deplore the recent changes in the village life. For the villagers, tradition has always been a cultural pride, and more recently, a source of income.
Alo!?
An isolated village, not far from Bucharest. Most of its young people have left the village for the city. They could not communicate with the families they left behind, so they bought them mobile phones. How did the villagers adapt to this new type of communication?
Alyosha
Monuments serve the purpose to estabilish memory and create identity. Most monuments erected during the Soviet regime were taken away after Estonia regained its independence in 1991. The Bronze Soldier "Alyosha", located in the centre of Tallinn, remaind in its place. For Estonian nationalists this monument was the symbol for Soviet occupation and marked the beginning of Stalinist repressions. However, for many Russians the monument was one of the few remaining symbols that connected them to Russia and Russian identity. Documentary Alyosha brings us the people who gathered to the Bronze Soldier and whose bahaviour created a new line in our cultural memory. What mattered were the rituals around the monument, not the monument itself. Differences of opinion about history resulted in tragic conflicts and relocating the monument.
Am I Lucky?
Would you have been lucky if your
parents, if they wished to punish you,
would have forbidden you to go to
school? Would you have been lucky
if you had to marry at 13 years? The
questions are asked by two young
men, a Romanian and a Roma, turned
into reporters, during their ten-day-
long journey through several different
Roma communities from Romania.
Every stop reaches a new question: in
Seaca, few remember the slaves who
founded the village, in Fetesti the topic
is made by the orphans returned after
the deportation in Transnistria, and in
Brateiu, Sibiu county, the Roma make
kettles which they sell in museums
and fairs, and their children already
have dowry and marry on the parents’
command and only wear traditional
clothing. In Dumbraveni, the Roma go
to the school for children with special
needs if they repeat the class for three
years, while students on the special
places from the student dormitories in
Bucharest tell their success stories. A
voyage about ignorance and stereotypes
on music by Shukar Collective.
Ambassadors
The film explores the life of modern nomads: the diplomats, a tribe sharing common rituals, beliefs and even a common language. Following the routine of the Ambassador of Finland in New Delhi, the filmmaker reveals a glimpse of the diplomats and their families, which is unknown to the public. Beyond the glamorous parties and the official meetings, there is plenty of hard work, and worries. Encountering a new world and culture is also an issue, especially for the ambassador's children. Conflicts between India and Pakistan, merely news items for most of us, directly affect the every day life of this family. After years of anthropological field research with nomads in Siberia, in Tuva and in India, Jouko Aaltonen turns his camera towards Western "nomads" who are exposed to non-Western cultures. "For me" declares the filmmaker "it is a film about facing another culture. And about nomadism. After all, aren't we all a little bit nomad?"
American Gipsy: A Stranger In Everybody’s Land
There are one million Gypsies in America, who most people know nothing about. They continue to live according to traditions that remain mysterious to outsiders. This is at least in part because a central aspect of Gypsy culture is the limiting of contact with non-Gypsies. The film tells the story of one Romani family in the American Northwest that has defied the wall of silence surrounding their people. Jimmy Marks, a flamboyant community leader, and his family struggle to regain reputation and property after a racially motivated police raid in their Spokane, Washington home. "American Gypsy" unravels the history and culture of the Roma and the prejudices about their way of life that have arisen over the centuries.
Amji-Kin: The Run of the World
Log-races for men and women are an almost daily sport activity for the Canela, strongly conected with their mythology and ritual life. The film introduces Canela culture and then focuses on ritual and running events, explaining Canela ideas of "The Run of the World".
An Only Voice
The film describes the situation of the indians in the Northern region of Argentina. They struggle to get the restitution of their land, to complement their culture. It was for the first time thet they accepted the “blancs” to film their discussion.
And the roof is called "Home"
The Maramureş village is the eye of the sky for those who guard the mystery of the warm and perfumed wood which lasts a life-time. Its shadow is the everlasting nature of the church.
And Then, Who Are We?
Three and a half million Jews used to live in Poland before 1939. 350,000 of them survived the Holocaust. How many Jews are living in Poland today? Nobody knows for sure. Directed as a personal journey, the film attempts to discover the life of Poland's so-called "new Jews", sixty years after the Holocaust and fifteen years after the fall of communism. Since 2001, when the Polish President officially acknowledged the pogroms thus taking the first step towards reconciliation, the Jewish community has tried to renew Jewish life. What does this renewal mean for the few thousands - or maybe even less - Polish Jews? The film looks for answers to these questions and reveals what it means to be a Jew in today's Poland.
And We Shall Soon Reach Heaven
The film approaches questions of religious and ethnic identity through the subject of the motorcycle taxi riders of Calabar, Nigeria. The far from mundane experience of a taxi ride provides a focus around which daily encounters with danger, risk-taking and the search for spiritual “protection” can be explored.
Andre and Nandi
Hungarian-born Andre Reinitz only discovered his Jewish heritage when he moved to Brussels at the age of ten. Since then, in spite of the silence of his parents, he has become involved in the Jewish community as a Klezmer musician. This film follows Andre, torn between Brussels and Budapest, as he tries to learn more about his cultural and familial roots.
Anton Pann - Dealer in Words
A film reconstructing the moment of transformation from an oral folk-culture, from the folklore of the city and slums to cultivated literature inspired by such folklore. It is about the passage from the old period to the new which new meet in a unique, fascinating character, Anton Pann. His life and work emanate a special atmosphere - that of Bucharest at that time.
Anything But Black
''You're born and you will die" confidently declares an eighty year old woman trying on the outfit she has prepared for her future death. Still widely practiced amongst the elderly population in rural Lithuania, the ancient custom of preparing your own burial clothes seems much less acceptable to the younger generation. „Anything But Black" explores this unique tradition through encounters with those who still maintain it - proudly showing off the dresses as their sacred possession; those who express their disapproval and also those to whom this practice is completely unheard of. The film proposes a rather unconventional attitude towards death - that of acceptance. From this perspective, death is less sinister, and can get even humorous.
Apocalypse On Wheels
This is not a film about the how the roads or the cars look like, but about what the traffic turns us into. I chose 5 different people whom I accompanied all over town, in their every day journeys. For 5 months, I have been with them in their car, sitting on the right seat and lidtening to them. They are all ordinary people: - a delivery boy who has been driving about 14 hours a day around the capital; - a half paralyzed man who not only drives a car, but he also helps other people to avail themselves of cars; - a Peru born eoman, who was raised in a city with an equally crazed traffic; - a father who has recently lost his daughter in a traffic accident; - a policeman who, before December '89, was beaten up by militia.
Art of The Dictatorship , The Dictators of Art
The author makes his documentary round the idea of the influence of the dictatorship on plastic, film, literary and architectural arts.For his commentary he used the words of some well-known figures in these fields.
As Far As Makó From Jerusalim: We Came Back
WE CAME BACK, the last part of the series of AS FAR AS MAKÓ FROM JERUSALIM, shows a meeting of orthodox Jews from all parts of the World in Makó to commemorate at their -or their parents- native town the 50th anniversary 1994 of the Holocaust and the death of the last Rabbi of Makó. This is not only an opportunity to meet old friends and exchange memories of the past. It also shows that Jewish life and tradition almost ceased to exist in Makó. how little has remained can be seen from the visit of the Jewish cemetery, the synagogue, which will be restored with financial support of the visitors, and the former house of the Rabbi.
At Home Anywhere
Documentary about the lives of a Frisian family of skippers struggling with modernity. Their daily lives are lonely and they seldom meet, loading and unloading cargo in different places. But they still celebrate the old traditions: every summer they meet and compete in their ancestor's ships during 'skutsjesilen', a famous sailing competition in the Dutch province of Friesland.
At The Feet Of Castle Régéc
This student film is an attempt to document the villagers' mental images and beliefs regarding an 18th century castle near the small village of Regéc in Northern Hungary. In the summer of 1999, a team of seven students from the Cultural and Visual Anthropology Department of Miskolc University embarked on a complex four year culture research project to excavate the castle. During that excavation, the usually insular, slightly suspicious locals started telling the stories of their grandparents and great-grandparents. This film records in moving pictures the sayings connected to their castle and the fairytale-like stories that occupy such an important place in the cultural memory of the people of Regéc.
Auctioned Souls
Antiquity shops in Bucharest are saturated with objects of art. You can find anything there, from paintings, clocks of Chinato pieces of jewlery. These places have an aesthetics of their own. Who brings in all these objects for sale and who buys them? In a changing society, there are parallel worlds living simultaneously. Some are dying out, others are just emerging. The film observes the transfer of objects of art from one world to another.
Australia
How do seven young men, former street
children in Romanian get to see the Pacific?
On December 1st, 2008, a national team
from Romania participates for the first time
in the Homeless World Cup, in Melbourne,
Australia. The film focuses on the members
of the team, from selection to the end of
the championship. The young men come
from Timisoara and Arad, ran away from
home and living now in derelict houses,
or working and paying rent after having
passed through orphanages or prisons.
After being defeated by many teams, the
young Romanians manage to beat the
USA team. They are happy. They are all
considering staying and never returning
“home”. It is well here, nice weather and
people are kind. “In case I never return,
a kiss for you all”, cautiously says one of
them. But after having photos taken of
them on the beach with pretty girls next
to them and the ocean behind, the seven
return to Romanian to go on with their lives.
Autumn on Ob River
Near the Ob River mouth in northwest Siberia, the Khanty are struggling to make a living. The arctic climate is harsh. Their economic situation is unpredictable, due to the confusion of the post-Soviet era. The salaries are low, and payments are often delayed for months. Under such circumstances, the fishing brigade turns to the traditional arctic occupations: hunting and reindeer herding. The film follows the autumnal activities of a Khanty fisherman family. After the main fishing season ends, they move to the winter settlement, where they hunt and tend reindeer. The film tells the story of a Khanty family, who must balance between their work with the fishing brigade and their indigenous occupations in order to survive.
Awara soup
The Awara Soup is a kind of stew containing all sorts of ingredients coming from the different cultures of Guyanese society. If you eat that dish on Easter, you are sure never to leave Guyana, they say. Using the cooking of this dish as a starting point, the film explores the different realities composing this French overseas region. American Indians, Europeans, Slave descendents, Laotians, Chinese, Brazilians, Surinamese, tell us how they’re bringing new flavours to the Guyanese stew of identities.
Awareness
Filmed in South India at Rishi Valley School, founded by the 20th Century Indian thinker Krishnamurti, "Awareness" explores the sensibilities of two groups of young Indian teen-agers - a group of girls in their dormitory, and a group of boys in theirs - as they live out their daily experiences at the school. The two groups were filmed separately by David and Judith MacDougall over a period of several months' stay at the school. The film highlights gender differences at this critical stage of adolescence and demonstrates how Krishnamurti's encouragement of individuals' awareness and sensitivity to their surroundings is played out at the school. The film provides an insight into education at one of the leading progressive schools of the Indian Subcontinent.