The Mejia family emigrated from Oaxaca to Fresno, California 40 years ago. Filmmaker Trisha ZIff filmed the family in 1996, and returns now to see the changes that have settled over them, and follows the family on their return to Mexico.
The film takes place in three nations: in Switzerland, Cuba and Bosnia. In each of these three countries we accompany persons who dream of a better life elsewhere.
While millions of birds migrate freely in the skies above, Fadia, a Palestinian refugee stranded in Lebanon, yearns for the ancestral homeland she is denied. When a chance meeting introduces her to the director, Sarah, she challenges her to find an ancient mulberry tree that once grew next to her grandfather’s house in historic Palestine, a tree that stands witness to her family’s existence.
The film tells a very personal story from two perspectives: our protagonist is both doctor and patient. As a patient, he has struggled with recurring depression for years, and as a doctor he wants to find out why. The search for the origins of his illness leads him into the realm of his own genes and casts light on the fundamental changes facing modern society as a result of the tremendous progress being made in the field of genetic sequencing. Along the way, he meets a host of people – researchers, artists, visionaries – who have developed their own very individual approach to genetic coding and are drawing attention to the social significance of genetic technology. The film does not restrict itself to a scientific view of the subject but also makes use of artistic visions and more playful approaches to genetic blueprints.
Christmas Island, Australia is home to one of the largest land migrations on earth—that of forty million crabs journeying from jungle to sea. But the jungle holds another secret: a high-security facility that indefinitely detains individuals seeking asylum.
A mixed media film exploring the sweet & tender relationship between a family and their dog, Wandsey. Named after the borough of their home, Wandsworth, the film tenderly explores what home means, and how the presence & relationship of a pet can transform what home can be. With its scrapbook-like form, each memory turns like a page, as Gabby and her dad lovingly revisit the 17 beautiful years they shared with Wandsey. Softly and sweetly, the film asks what it means to love — and shows how the love we give & receive from our pets can truly transform a home.
Andrea shares her memories of her years working at the gay nightclub Enigma. Among memorabilia and photographs emerges Miriam, with whom she forged an intense and forbidden romance interrupted by cancer. Thirty years after Miriam’s passing, Andrea seeks closure to that chapter of her life.
An animated documentary that, through an intimate conversation between a daughter and a mother, searches for understaning and explores family bonds. The film reveals the inner conflict between freedom and sacrifice. Gradually, walls that connect and confine us across generations emerge, shaping who we are to ourselves and to one another.
Shelley is a timid elderly lady who is competing in the Miss Senior USA pageant. Immersion in an extravagant world that also touches on the universal need for visibility, beauty and being included.
Filmmaker Sophie Dros enters into a dialogue with strong women in a powerfull document about being a woman in the Netherlands today. Inspired by Simone de Beauvoir's essay The second sex, filmmaker Sophie Dros (winner of the NFF Debut Competition 2017) talks to four women and a group of young girls. Together they go in search of universal stories; about dealing with expectations, empathy and connection, desires, fear, need for confirmation and losing control.
This feature-length drama explores the changing role of men in today's society by delving into the stories of 4 men and their relationships with women.
A look into the life of a couple and the house they raised their family in.
Former World’s Strongest Man, Eddie Hall, takes on rival ‘Thor’ in one of the heaviest boxing matches in history. With exclusive and intimate access to Eddie and his family in the months leading up to the fight and at the main event itself, Eddie Hall: The Beast vs. The Mountain follows the highs and lows, and all the laughs and tears, as Eddie balances a young family with a punishing and obsessively strict training regime, all the while battling to keep his mental health in check.
A coming-of-age story about a filmmaker and his family as they struggle to adapt to both a changing world and a traditional one. Can the filmmaker's family accept that he is more interested choosing to document a famine that happened 50 years ago than choosing a wife? Will the family continue to farm their land and grow rice as they always have or sell it to developers? How can they adapt to life in modern China when the country itself is in the midst of identity crisis? The film explores these topics and more in a refreshingly original style that bridges the gap between documentary and narrative feature while providing a delightfully intimate portal into family life in modern China.
In this travelogue, actor David Suchet journeys across Europe aboard the world famous Orient Express train, as he prepares to play Poirot in an adaptation of Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express".
An associative collection of visual impressions across fifteen chapters: a seagull in Porto, political posters in New York, an abstract painting in St. Petersburg, an abandoned video shop in Cairo and cats everywhere you look.