AVFF 2022 – Human Unity Films

avff — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 10:30:39 +0000

Officially selected films of AVFF 2022 in the international category “Films that develop the theme of human unity”

ARAMBH (THE BEGINNING)

2019, India, Hindi, 21min

Screening: Tuesday 18^th Jan, 21:37hrs – Cinema Paradiso

Aarambh (The Beginning) tells a universal story about one of humanity’s fundamental questions: What happens after death? The question is asked by many philosophers, theologians and the like, but in Aarambh the audience is following a child’s search for the answer.

Director, Writer: Sandeep Kumar Verma

Producer: distribucion [at] promofest.org

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm0tAsWAHco

Project Website: http://www.promofest.org/films/aarambh

A LETTER FROM INDIA

2019, India, Documentary, English, 11min 55sec

Screening: Sunday 23^rd Jan, 20:00hrs – Cinema Paradiso

In Mattancherry, a place that is 5sq.km give or take and a stone’s throw away from Fort Kochi in Kerala, live 39 communities from all around the country and a few from across the high seas, who have resided together, side by side, for over 500 years. They came here for different reasons, in different times, but they all stayed for the collective reality that was far better than any dream could convey. This is the story of Mattancherry, a place where the idea of India comes alive like no place else. This is a story told through the eyes of a photographer who has been documenting these communities for the past two years.

Directors: Naveed Mulki, Shaktiraj Singh Jadeja

Writer: Naveed Mulki

Cast: Biju Ibrahim

Contact: naveed.mulki [at] gmail.com

AMUKA

2021, Congo, Documentary, Feature, French, Swahili, 1hr 11min

Screening: Friday 21^st Jan. 16:00hrs – SAIIER

The Democratic Republic of Congo could feed almost 1 in 2 people on Earth. Yet one in six Congolese people suffer from hunger. Yet one in two Congolese suffers from moderate acute malnutrition. Yet agriculture accounts for 70% of the population there. Faced with this paradox, the peasants regroup in agricultural cooperatives. A handful of them share their daily lives with us and that of all those they represent. Even if they don’t know each other, live thousands of hundreds of kilometers from each other, participate in different agricultural sectors, their voices resonate in this powerful, sensitive and sincere documentary.

La République Démocratique du Congo pourrait nourrir près d’1 personne sur 2 sur Terre. Pourtant un congolais sur 6 souffre de la faim. Pourtant un congolais sur 2 souffre de malnutrition aiguëmodérée. Pourtantl’agriculture y représente 70% de la population. Face à ceparadoxe, les paysans se regroup enten cooperatives agricoles. Une poignée d’entreeux nous partag entleur quotidien, celui de tous ceuxqu’ils représentent. Mêmesiils ne se connaissent pas, vivent à des milliers de centaines de kilomètres les uns des autres, participent à des filières agricoles différentes, leurs voix résonnent dansce documentaire puissant, sensible et sincère.

Screening / Awards: Le Grand Bivouac Film Festival Albertville, Golden Tree International Documentary Festival 21 Paris France, Mediterranean Film Festival Bosnian Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ekofilm International Film Festival are a few places where this movie was screened among many other International Festivals around the world.

Director: Antonio Spano

Writer: Virginie Messiaen

Producer: Benjamin Stienon

Cast: Biaba Aba Ramazani, Colette Lungu Bunga, Chantal Mbunba Badianga, Eugenie Bitsibu, Augustin Kaberuka Semunkima

Contact: spano.antonio [at] gmail.com

Link (trailer): https://vimeo.com/467385797

Project Website: http://popiul.be

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Amuka-101099734973040

AWAKENING OF THE GODDESS

2020, India, Animation, English, Hindi, 3min

Screening: Friday 21^st Jan, 16:49hrs – Cinema Paradiso

This animated documentary, titled ‘Awakening of the Goddess’, is a non-narrative based on documentary testimonials of survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) in India. The style is an experimental mixed media animation using stop motion, pixilation, body painting and morphing on high-contrast photographic images.

Director, Writer: Debjani Mukherjee

Producer: Shayok Banerjee

Cast: Bhumika Gopal Dube

Contact: debjani.animate [at] gmail.com

BALUJI

2020, India, United Kingdom, Documentary, English, 22min

Screening: Friday 21^st Jan, 17:18hrs – SAIIER

An award-winning Indian blind sitarist at the peak of his career reflects on how he overcame social stigma and transformed his relationship to music, forging his incredible path to love and success.

Director: Marie-Cécile Embleton

Producer: Seeemab Gul

Contact: marie.cecile.embleton [at] gmail.com

Website: http://coloursofsound.co.uk

BARRICADE

2021, Germany, Documentary, German, 1hr 23min 1sec

Screening: Tuesday 18^th Jan, 21:08hrs – Outdoor

Barricade is a documentary on the occupation of the Dannenrod Forest in Hessen, which was evicted in Dec 2020. It shows the life of the activists in the forest and the tree houses, they´ve build up to 30 meter high in the branches, but mainly their fight for a better climate in the future. With their hearts and guts.

Director, Writer, Producer: David Klammer

Email: info [at] davidklammer.com

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/538406591

Website: https://www.davidklammer.com

BODY AND SOUL

2020, France, Documentary, French, 1hr 14 min

Screening: Wednesday 19^th Jan, 16:58hrs – Cinema Paradiso

PE is the only school subject that has different grading scales for girls and boys. Zoé, 22, is a university student preparing to become a sports teacher. She realizes that she has a central role to play in combating gender inequality, which is often learned by default in childhood. She addresses her ideals directly on the sports fields, as her views are shaped by seeing the bodies of sportswomen in the heat of action, doing somersaults, tackles and scrums.

L’EPS est la seule matière à l’école, où le barème de notation est différent pour les filles et les garçons. Sur les bancs de l’université, Zoé 22 ans, se prépare à devenir professeure de sport. Elle réalise que sa place est centrale pour combattre les inégalités de sexe, qui souvents’ apprennent par corps dès l’enfance. Des idéaux qu’elle confronte directement sur les terrains de sport, se frayant un point de vue face aux corps en action des sportives dans la sueur des sauts périlleux, placages et mêlées.

Director, Writer: Magali Chapelan

Producer: Docks Films

Contact: magalichapelan [at] gmail.com

COLOMBIA IN MY ARMS

2020, Colombia, Documentary, English, Spanish, 1hr 31min

Screening: Thursday 20^th Jan, 16:00hrs – Cinema Paradiso

FARC guerrilla Ernesto, poverty-stricken coca farmers, a mysterious aristocrat and a passionate right-wing politician balance at the edge of their morals, while the much-celebrated peace tries to take its first steps in Colombia.

Screening / Awards: Göteborg Film Festival 2020 Gothenburg, World Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary 2020 Sweden, DocPoint Helsinki 2020 Helsinki Domestic Finland, Naples Human Rights Film Festival 2020 Naples, are a few places where this movie was screened among many other International Festivals and awarded, around the world.

Directors/ Writers: Jenni Kivistö, Jussi Rastas, Markku Tuurna

Cast: Andrew Maritta Norton

Contact: info [at] rainafilms.com

Link: https://vimeo.com/387420295

EYELASHES OF THE EXODUS

2021, France, Short, French, 10min 43sec

Screening: Wednesday 19^th Jan, 17:04hrs – SAIIER

One winter evening in Briancon (France), Cécile asks her sister and her sister’s partner to host a family of migrants for one night. When one says yes, the other says no.

Directors: Zoé Simpson, Victor Picard

Writers: Caroline Rochefort

Cast: Cécile Lasserre, Caroline Rochefort, Zoé Simpson

Contact: collectif.lesmillemains [at] gmail.com

Link (Trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMaA5DoNPZU

EYES IN THE FOREST

2019-10-05 Colombia, United States, Documentary, English, Spanish, 18min 49sec

Screening: Saturday 22^nd Jan, 17:15hrs – Cinema Paradiso

The Amazon was the first victim of the peace process in Colombia. Since the demobilization of the FARC guerilla group in 2017, deforestation rates have spiked by more than 40% as illegal loggers exploit the power vacuum left behind by the rebels. Today the country is losing approximately 32 soccer fields of virgin forest every hour. “Eyes in the Forest” follows an expedition into these contested territories with Angélica Diaz-Pulido, a camera trap expert from Instituto Humboldt and Jorge Ahumada, Director of Wildlife Insights, a revolutionary new platform for analyzing camera trap data. Angélica and the Wildlife Insights team are racing against the dark forces behind Colombia’s deforestation to understand and protect the country’s incredible biodiversity— before it is too late.

Screening / Awards: World Premiere at Smithsonian Castle Washington DC October 7, 2019 World Premiere United States.

Director, Producer: Ryan Ffrench

Cast: Angélica Pulido-Diaz, Instituto Humboldt, Jorge Ahumada, Conservation International, Thomas Lovejoy, UN Foundation, Jose Manuel Ochoa, Instituto Humboldt

Contact: ryanffrenchwork [at] gmail.com

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/409983306

Website: https://soundcloud.com/version-nine/sets/eyes-in-the-forest-ost

FROM DURBAN TO TOMORROW

2020, Guinea, Hungary, India, South Africa, Spain, Documentary, English, French, Hindi, Hungarian, Marathi, Spanish, Xhosa, 39min 58sec

Screening: Friday 21^st Jan, 20:10hrs – Outdoor

Five frontline health advocates from different parts of the world work through victories and defeats forging a path toward a meaningful, universal human right to health.

With the inequities of global health more evident and stark today than at any point in history, “FROM DURBAN TO TOMORROW” recalls the mass protests led by people living with HIV in Durban, South Africa, which radically transformed the global landscape for human rights in health some two decades ago. These events in the year 2000 gave rise to a series of major advances in public health for marginalized people the world over, yet recent years have seen many of these hard-won gains severely eroded, putting tens of millions of lives at risk and compounding the threat posed by a deadly global pandemic. In “FROM DURBAN TO TOMORROW”, the stories of five frontline health advocates from different parts of the world underscore this rapidly worsening crisis and herald the impending battle for a meaningful, universal human right to health.

Screening / Awards: 2020 Mumbai International Film Festival Mumbai, World Premiere International Competition India, Social Justice Film Festival Seattle, United States, Global Health Film Days Copenhagen, Mannheim Arts and Film Festival Mannheim July 13, 2021 Best Documentary, Honourable Mention Germany, New York Independent Cinema Awards New York, are a few places where this movie was screened and awarded among many other International Festivals around the world.

Director, Writer: Dylan Mohan Gray

Producer: Dylan Mohan Gray, Brett Davidson (Executive Producer)

Contact: dylangprivate [at] gmail.com

Website: http://fdtt.page

FROM TRASH TO TREASURE: TURNING NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES IN LESOTHO

2020, Lesotho, Documentary, English, 24 min 30secs

Screening: Friday 21^st Jan, 17:41hrs – SAIIER

From erosion to overgrazing to enduring poverty, the people of Lesotho—a highland country surrounded by South Africa—face a variety of difficult challenges. Yet grassroots communities in the country also exhibit tremendous resourcefulness and creativity. In particular, wealth of artists has mastered a talent for resurrection, developing the skill to creatively turn negatives into positives: Designers who turn discarded trash into beautiful jewelry, clothes and rugs. Film makers who turn tragedy into artistic expressions of resilience and compassion. And Musicians who write songs to save the environment. In this short, Cultures of Resistance Films profiles a variety of these inventive creators, introducing viewers to a fascinating cast of local residents who are using art as a means of communicating a communal desire for positive change.

Director, Writer, Producer: Iara Lee

Contact: info [at] culturesofresistancefilms.com

Project Website: https://culturesofresistancefilms.com/trash-to-treasure#trailer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trashtotreasurelesotho

HEARTS AND BONES

Australia, Feature, English, 1hr 51min

Screening: Wednesday 19^th Jan, 20:00hrs – Outdoor

Dan, a renowned war photographer struggling with PTSD, forms an unexpected bond with Sebastian, a Sudanese refugee, until one of his photographs unearths a dark secret from Sebastian’s past.

Screening / Awards: Toronto International Film Festival Toronto September 7, 2019 North American Premiere Canada

Director: Ben Lawrence

Writer: Matt Reeder

Cast: Hugo Weaving, Andrew Luri, Hayley McElhinney, Bolude Watson

Contact: ts [at] visitfilms.com

Link: https://visitfilms.com/hearts-and-bones/

IN YOUR EYES

2019, Israel, Documentary, Amharic, Arabic, English, Hebrew, 56min

Screening: Wednesday 19^th Jan, 16:00hrs – Cinema Paradiso

The film follows the less-known aspects of the lives of four “web stars” – Israeli YouTubers: Moti Taka, one of the busiest singers in Israel today, who visits Ethiopia for the first time with his mother Dalia. Suzi Boum, aka LiorIsraelov, a successful, well-known drag queen, who was born and raised in a religious family in southern Tel Aviv. Chen Halfon, a 25-year old mother of three, who is one of the few orthodox YouTubers in Israel. And Hannah Ziad, an Arab YouTuber with about half a million followers, who reveals a complex family story about her father’s death.

Screenings / Awards: Festival Internacional de Cine Invisible “Film Sozialak” Bilbao Bilbao “Best Human Rights Award” Spain Israeli Documentary Award Israeli Documentary Award Israel

Director, Producer: Barak Heymann

Contact: festivals [at] heymannfilms.com

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcfV-QW6QgQ

Project website: http://www.heymannfilms.com

KANYA

2020, Czech Republic, India, Drama, Tamil, 15min 42sec

Screening: Thursday 20^th Jan, 17:43hrs – Cinema Paradiso

A coming-of-age drama about an adolescent girl growing up between the values of occidental and traditional culture, whose aspirations of becoming a competitive swimmer takes an unexpected turn when she gets her first period.

Screening /Awards: Student Academy Awards Los Angeles, United States, Magnesia Award for Best Student Film Prague Official Shortlist Czech Republic, Busan International Film Festival Busan, World Premiere Nomination – Sonje Award / Asian Short Film Competition Korea, International Short Film Festival Berlin November 10, 2020 German Premiere Best Sound Design are a few places where this movie was screened and awarded among many other International Festivals around the world.

Director: Apoorva Satish

Writers: Apoorva Satish, Vidhya Iyer

Produers: Apoorva Satish, FAMU International – Prague, Michal Sikora

Cast: Tarunya Satish, Harish Kumar, Mona Kakkade, Balaji Rajashekar

Contact: apoorvasatish [at] hotmail.com

Link: http://lonelypro.cz/projekty/kanya

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kanyashortfilm

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanya__shortfilm/

LISTEN TO HER

2020, India, Drama, English, Hindi, 7min 3sec

Screening: Friday 21^st Jan, 20:30hrs – Cinema Paradiso

“Whisper… Speak… Shout. Your Voice Will Be Heard! ” The film is a spontaneous response to the irony of “STAY HOME, STAY SAFE” for millions of women in India and around the world. The film is adding its voice to a conversation that is much needed in the public space. It reminds us that speaking up is only possible when women know that there is someone listening. This pandemic has taught us that our lives are deeply intertwined, and so we must respond to the realities beyond ours.

Director Writer: Nandita Das

Producers: Nandita Das Initiatives

Cast: Ali Fazal, AmrutaSubhash, Sandesh Kulkarni, Swanand Kirkire, Nandita Das, Vihaan Das Maskara

Contact: nanditadasinitiatives [at] gmail.com

LIVING WITH VOLCANOES – SACRED VOLCANOES

2019, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Documentary, English, French, 51min 32sec

Screening: Tuesday 18^th Jan, 20:15hrs – Outdoor

“LIVING WITH VOLCANOES” explores the world of volcanoes and their interaction with the people.

Vivre avec les volcans explore le monde des volcans et leur interaction avec les populations.

Screenings / Awards: International Nature Film Festival Gödöllő, European Premiere Hungary WCFF – Wildlife Conservation Film Festival New-York City North-America United States, International Documentary Festival (EIDF) Seoul August 17, 2020 Korea, European Cinematography Awards Warsaw Best Nature Film Poland, are a few places where this movie was screened and awarded among many other International Festivals around the world.

Directors: David Perrier, Eden Shavit

Writers: Arnaud Guerin, Thibaut Camurat

Producer: Thibaut Camurat

Cast: Geoffrey Bateman, Pierre-Alain de Garrigues

Contact: adv [at] golemandlinea.com

MBAS MI

2020-07-16 Senegal, Experimental, English, Wolof, 8min

Screening: Saturday 23^rd Jan, 16:00hrs – Cinema Paradiso

In times of social distance and the barrier gesture to protect one’s neighbor, expression becomes an invaluable act to preserve our humanities. In Mbas Mi, the director invites Goo Mamadou Ba to lend his voice to revive an essential text by Albert Camus. In the twilight of memory island, an incantatory voice rises. Carried by the surf, it changes according to a memory. From the alleys dotted with man-lanterns to the tops of sentinel baobabs, the words of “La Peste” resonate.

Producer: Yanis Gaye

Contact: production [at] goreecinema.com

MOTI BAGH

2019, India, Documentary, Hindi, 1hr

Screening: Saturday 22^nd Jan, 16:00hrs – Cinema Paradiso

83 year old Vidyadutt Sharma holds the record for growing the heaviest radish in India, weighing 23 kgs. He now aims to beat the world record of 31kgs. Over the last five decades, he has built up Moti Bagh, his 5 acre farm, in a small Himalayan village in northern India. Around him lie 7000 ghost villages, left to die, with no one to till the land – a chilling testimony to large scale migration by locals in search of employment in the cities. With no manpower at their disposal, the few locals employ Nepali labor. But there is unease because of this dependence and the growing influence of the Nepalis. As market forces exert pressure, family dynamics also change. Vidyadutt’s journalist son, Tribhuvan, lives and works in Pauri, a large town 35kms from Moti Bagh. His two children wish to chase their own dreams in the metros. Vidyadutt Sharma, farmer, activist and poet, chronicles the changing landscape in verses of resistance. As he and Ram Singh, his Nepali farmhand, plough the fields to keep a dream called Moti Bagh alive, we wonder if it will ever return to its old glory.

Screenings/ Awards: Oscar Entry 2019, India Best Long Doc, Idsffk, Kerala 2019 Special Jury Mention, Cms Vatavaran 2019.

Director, Writer: Nirmal Chander Dandriyal

Producer: Psbt / Doordarshan

Cast: Vidyadutt Sharma

Contact: chander.nirmal [at] gmail.com

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/341175326

MRS. F.

2019, Nigeria, Documentary, English, 1hr 17min

Screening: Thursday 20^th Jan, 16:45hrs – SAIIER

In the fishing village of Makoko, the largest slum on water in Nigeria, Mrs. F wants to unite women and perform the play called “Hear Word”; a women empowerment project about gender inequality based on true stories to get women out of their oppressed position, to convince them to speak up and encourage them to connect. But even before she can start, she must overcome the unruly gatekeepers of patriarchy and religion.

Director: Chris van der Vorm

Contact: contact [at] andanafilms.com

Link: https://vimeo.com/368289940

NAZARBAND (CAPTIVE)

2020, India, Feature, Hindi, 1hr 25min

Screening: Tuesday 18^th Jan, 20:11hrs – Cinema Paradiso

Vasanti comes out into the megalopolis of Kolkata from the prison after serving a five-year prison term only to realize that her husband has not come to receive her. She waits in anxiety and despair. Chandu, who has also been released on the same day as her, offers her help in finding her husband. Chandu is a seasoned fraudster and has an ulterior motive as well. Although not very comfortable with this stranger, Vasanti takes his support to find her way to where she used to live, in the slums of Calcutta. But when they reach the place, she finds that a dazzling mall and few multi-storied buildings have replaced the slums. Without any clue about the whereabouts of his husband or her seven-year-old son, Vasanti is in deep anguish, but does not give up. Chandu sticks with this stubborn woman in a journey that goes through the labyrinth of the city in search of her family. Political goons, flesh traders, police, real estate mafia get entangled in the narrative. It reveals the past of these two, who were unknown to each other until today morning. And they delve into the deeper crevices of their emotions and insecurities as they move erratically. It is a strange journey entwined in a plethora of emotions: anxiety, distrust, dependence, hatred, care, greed, frustration, and necessity. They run amok through the city of Kolkata, disappear into the religious carnival, and finally reach the coalfields of Bihar. After fanatical, sometimes fatalistic, turn of events they reach the climactic moment that opens up multiple possibilities in Chandu and Vasanti’s lives.

Director: Suman Mukhopadhyay

Writers: Suman Mukhopadhyay, Asad Hussain, Anustup Basu

Producer: Pawan Kanodia

Cast: Indira Tiwari, Tanmay, Dhanania

Contact: sumanmukhopadhyay [at] gmail.com

OPHIR

2020, 1997, France/United Kingdom/Papua New Guinea, Documentary, English,(with English subtitles) French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Greek, Catalan, Chinese, Italian, Hungarian, Armenian, 1hr 37min 6sec

Screening: Friday 21^st Jan, 21:00hrs – Outdoor

Ophir tells the story of an extraordinary indigenous revolution for life, land and culture, opening up the path for the creation of the world’s newest nation in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. A poetic yet dramatic ode to the indelible thirst for freedom, culture and sovereignty; the film sheds light on the biggest conflict of the Pacific since WWII, revealing the visible and invisible chains of colonization and its enduring cycles of physical and psychological warfare.

Screenings/Awards : Fifo – International Documentary Film Festival Of Oceania Papeete February 4, 2020 World Premiere Winner – Grand Prix French Polynesia 2020 Spanish Premiere Winner Grand Prix + Festival Opening Film Spain Guam International Film Festival Pbs Virtual Screening November 8, 2020 Us Premiere Winner – Grand Jury Prize – Best Documentary Award .Royal Anthropological Institute Biennal London, Winner – Grand Prix (Rigoberta Menchú) 2021 Belgium Premiere Winner Silver Award – Best Film On Sustainable Development Belgium, Winner – Special Jury Prize Martinique 2021 Portuguese Premiere Winner Audience Award + Special Jury Mention Portugal July 30, 2021 Montenegro Premiere Winner – Special Jury Prize Montenegro Fincali Cali, Bolivian Premiere Winner – Best International Feature Award Bolivia, are a few places where this movie was screened and awarded among many other international festivals around the world.

Directors, Writers: Alexandre Berman, Olivier Pollet

Producer: Ilann Girard, Arsam International (France)- Olivier Pollet, Fourth World Films (UK)- Kristian Lasslett

Contact: pollet.olivier [at] protonmail.com

Website: http://ophir-film.com

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH-NbfOYH3s

Facebook: https://facebook.com/OphirDocumentary/

REPORT ON A TERMINATION

2021, Iran, Persian, 15min

Screening: Saturday 23^rd Jan, 16:09hrs – Cinema Paradiso

A young journalist, who tries to cover a report about the dismissal of laborers, faces a dead end and an obstacle, and is fired.

Contact: reportmovie2021 [at] gmail.com

SCHOOL OF HOPE

Morocco, Documentary, Arabic, 1hr 18min

Screening: Thursday 20^th Jan, 20:00hrs – Outdoor

Education in our fast-changing world is essential, especially when climate change is threatening the future of the humanity. School of Hope follows the nomadic Oulad Boukais Tribe, whose children walk miles to a tiny schoolhouse, built by their parents, in the hope that education can prepare the next generation for new ways of life when nomadic lifestyle is becoming impossible.

Screenings / Awards: FIPADOC Tampere Film Festival Tampere Special Prize Finland, Human rights Festival Berlin SILBERSALZ Festival Nordisk Panorama Film Festival Magnificent7 Umundu -Festival Dresden, are a few places where this movie was screened and awarded among many other International Festivals around the world.

Director, Writer: Mohamed El Aboudi

Producers: Pertti Veijalainen, Illume Ltd/Delegate Producer, Hind Saïh, Dominique Barneaud, Bellota films, Aimee Link, Vulcan productions, Lamia Chraibi, La prod

Contact: oona.saari [at] illume.fi

Link: https://vimeo.com/475364354

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SchoolOfHopeDocumentary

SENZA NOME (NAMELESS)

2021, Italy, Italian, 10min

Screening: Thursday 20^th Jan, 17:32hrs – Cinema Paradiso

Nameless – An ordinary school day told through the eyes of a seven-year-old boy: made up of games, fun classes, happy meals, and going home. An ordinary day, that vanishes into the blue like the denied dream of the young protagonist.

Ungiorno di scuolavistoattraversogliocchi di un bimbo di setteanni. Ungiorno di scuolanormale, fatto di giochi, di studio, di pasticonsumati in allegria e poi ilritorno a casa.Ungiornonormale. Ma è ungiornochesvaniscenelblu, come ilsognonegato del piccolo protagonista.

Director, Writer: Gisella Gobbi

Producer: Oz Film

Cast: Luca Salami Bolaki

Contact: premierefilmdistribution [at] gmail.com

SHEER QORMA

2021, India, Drama, LGBTQ, Queer, English, Hindi, Urdu, 30min

Screening: Friday 21^st Jan, 20:00hrs – Cinema Paradiso

Sheer Qorma is a story of belonging and acceptance, identity and family, and how it comes together under one roof, as resilient, queer Muslim women and non-binary characters of color, chooses to embrace love that exists beyond their personal beliefs and social moralities.

Director, Writer: Faraz Arif Ansari

Producer: Marijke de Souza

Cast: Shabana Azmi, Divya Dutta, Swara Bhasker, Kalyanee Mulay, Priya Malik, Jitin Gulati

Contact: farazarifansari [at] gmail.com

Link: https://youtu.be/2yA8NXwL7Ac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sheerqorma.thefilm/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/sheerqorma.thefilm

SHUT UP SONA

2019, India, Documentary, English, Hindi, 1hr 25min

Screening: Saturday 22^nd Jan, 21:28hrs – Outdoor

This is a film about a feisty female artist’s unrelenting fight for an equal space in modern day India, a country, deeply uncomfortable with her emancipation.

लालपरीमस्तानीएकऐसीकलाकाराकीकहानीहै, जिसकाआत्मसम्मान, औरबराबरीकीलड़ाईउसकेअपनेदेशकीबर्दाश्तसेपरेहैǀ

Screenings/Awards: MAMI Film Festival Mumbai November 21, 2019 World Film Critics Guild Award, Jury Special Mention India IFFR Rotterdam Rotterdam January 29, 2020 Europe Scopitone Netherlands.

Director, Writer: Deepti Gupta

Producer: Sona Mohapatra

Cast: Sona Mohapatra

Contact: deeptigupta [at] mac.com

SONGS OF THE WATER SPIRITS

2020, India, Documentary, English, Tibetan, 1hr 40min

Screening: Thursday 20^th Jan, 21:19hrs – Outdoor

The challenge of a society set in the breathtaking mountains of the Himalaya’s against environmental degradation. Can the quest for a “glocal” way of living projected towards an “ancient future” inspire the Western economies of our planet?

Screenings / Awards: Visioni dal Mondo International Film Festival Milan Premiere Jury Prize Italy, Kendal Mountain Festival, European Premiere Official Selection United Kingdom, Terraviva Film Festival Casalecchio di Winner Best Film Italy, Climate Award Germany, Torellò Mountain Film Festival Torellò Best Cinematography Award Spain, are a few places where this movie was screened and awarded among many other International Festivals around the world.

Director, Writer, Producer: Nicolò Bongiorno

Cast: Sonam Wangchuck, Nicolas Tournadre, Stanzin DorjayGya, Deskit Angmo

Contact: nico [at] bongiorno.it

Link: https://vimeo.com/454390935

Project Website: https://allegriafilms.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/songsofthewaterspirits

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolobongiorno_allegria_films/

STREETS OF LAGOS

2020, Nigeria, Documentary, 11min 50sec

Screening: Wednesday 19^th Jan, 16:52hrs – SAIIER

Shot on location in West Africa, ‘Streets of Lagos’ provides a rare insight into the lives of Nigeria’s first generation of rollerblades. What was once a niche sport that saw widespread participation across the globe in the late 90’s has emerged in 2020 as a fringe subculture in the streets of Lagos. Originally used as a way to navigate the city’s dense traffic, today, a select few use their skates as a form of self-expression, something which can be hard to find in one of the toughest cities in the world.

Director: Dom West

Cast: Daniel Ogbogu, Brian Freeman.

Contact: dominicwest [at] gmail.com

SURVIVING SEX TRAFFICKING

2021, Ethiopia, Hungary, India, Philippines, United States, Documentary, English, 1hr 12min

Screening: Friday 21^st Jan, 16:52hrs – Cinema Paradiso, Adults Only

Brave and resilient sex trafficking survivors around the world share their struggles to break free from their past and find hope for the future. With 45 million sex trafficking victims worldwide, only 1% manage to escape. SURVIVING SEX TRAFFICKING examines the ongoing struggles of survivors as they fight to break free of their past, heal their bodies and minds and find hope for the future. It’s a travel across US, India and Ethiopia to hear these powerful stories and shine a light on this horrific epidemic.

Director: Sadhvi Siddhali Shree

Producers: Alyssa Milano, Jeannie Mai and Jeezy

Contact: siddhali [at] stoppingtraffic.org

Project Website: https://survivingsextraffickingfilm.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/stoppingtrafficfilm

Instagram: https://instagram.com/stoppingtrafficfilm

THE CHURCH FORESTS OF ETHIOPIA

2019, Ethiopia, Documentary, 9min 23sec

Screening: Tuesday 18^th Jan, 20:00hrs – Cinema Paradiso

Over the past century, nearly all of Ethiopia’s native forests have been cleared for farming and grazing. Now it is up to the Orthodox Churches—who for centuries have safeguarded pockets of primary forest that grow around them—to preserve Ethiopia’s quick shrinking biodiversity and to teach people how to live with forests.

Director: Jeremy Seifert

Writer: Jeremy Seifert, Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

Contact: devin [at] globalonenessproject.org

Link: http://www.globalonenessproject.org

THE FORUM

2019, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Netherlands, Rwanda, Switzerland, United States, Vietnam, Documentary, English, German, Portuguese, Swiss German, 1hr 32min

Screening: Saturday 22^nd Jan, 20:00hrs – Cinema Paradiso

In times of rampant populism and growing mistrust of the elite, director Marcus Vetter accompanies the 81-year-old founder of the controversial World Economic Forum over a period of two years, as he works to achieve his mission: to improve the state of the world. When Klaus Schwab writes a letter to climate activist Greta Thunberg after her appearance at the WEF 2019, a dialogue begins between the generations that give hope. Can Klaus Schwab‘s vision bear fruit and can the WEF contribute to solving global problems? Or is it just another part of the problem and does it ultimately serve the interests of the global elite alone?

Screenings / Awards- DOK Leipzig, Leipzig World Premiere Germany IDFA Amsterdam November 24, 2019 International Premiere Netherlands Hotdocs Canada arte Strasbourg January 14, 2020 TV Premiere France.

Director: Marcus Vetter

Writer: Christian Beetz, Georg Tschurtschenthaler

Producer: Georg Tschurtschenthaler, Caroline Schaper, Karin Koch (Co-Producer)

Contact: festival [at] gebrueder-beetz.de

Link: https://vimeo.com/367205894

Project Website: https://theforum-movie.com/

THE INVISIBLE MONSTER

2020, Spain, Short, Tagalog, 29min

Screening: Sunday 23^rd Jan, 16:24hrs – Cinema Paradiso

Aminodin’s father always smiles because he says “happy people live longer”. That’s why, at eight years old, Aminodin puts his best smile while working at the Papandayan dump, where he lives with his family. Her cousin Aliman, on the other hand, lost his family when bombs started falling from the sky in the city of Marawi.

Directors: Guillermo Fesser Perez de Petinto, Javier Fesser Perez de Petinto

Writers: Javier Fesser, Guillermo Fesser

Producer: Luis Manso

Contact: info [at] ismaelmartin.com

Project Website: https://selectedfilms.com/

THE PATH – PARVATHI BAUL IN JAPAN 2018

2019, Japan, Documentary, Japanese, 1hr 16min 9sec

Screening: Wednesday 19^th Jan, 20:07hrs – Cinema Paradiso

Inscrutable People live in West Bengal, to the east of India. They are called “Baul”. Caste and religions count for nothing. Baul travel, singing and dancing in June 2018, with the world renowned Parvathy Baul, arrived in Japan. What is Baul? What path has brought Parvathy to her soul stirring vocal?

Director, Writer, Producer: Sakurako Abe

Cast: Parvathy Das Baul, Toshiyuki Tsuchitori

Contact: zeewee3618 [at] gmail.com

Link: https://sakhipro.jimdofree.com/watch-movies/

THE PEOPLE OF WASTE. LIVING PLASTIC

2020, India, Documentary, English, Hindi, 18min 3sec

Screening: Sunday 23^rd Jan, 20:20hrs – Cinema Paradiso

What happens to our garbage after it is dumped? Through the example of Delhi, the film explores the transformation of a piece of plastic waste into a resource, through filmed interviews with diverse “people of waste” living in the shadow of consumer society. It aims at making visible the myriad of professions that specialize in the collection, sorting, reselling, cleaning, shredding and transformation of waste, from the stigmatized garbage picker at the bottom of the chain until the industrialist at the top of the pyramid who re-injects the recovered materials into the formal economy. Beyond the Indian case, it reminds the spectators of their responsibility as a producer of waste and their relation with this waste recovery system, putting into question the ambivalent discourses on recycling which tend to legitimize an endless mass consumption. This short documentary film (20min), has been co-directed by Rémi de Bercegol (CNRS), together with Grant Davis and Shankare Gowda; it has been shot in February 2019 in and around Delhi. It relies on a scientific understanding of the on-going scenario and aims at opening the debate to a broader non-academic audience about the relationship between societies and waste. It has received financial support from Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

Director: De Bercegol Rémi, Gowda, Sankare, Davis, Grant

Contact: remi.debercegol [at] gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecityofwaste

THE UNDEFEATED

2021, France, India, Animation, English, 12min 34sec

Screening: Saturday 22^nd Jan, 17:00hrs – Cinema Paradiso

“THE UNDEFEATED” narrates the hurdles and joys of five vulnerable children in contemporary India. Each story is fictional but heavily inspired by the real life of the children sheltered and protected by the NGO TARA in New Delhi.

Directors: Dorothée Adam, Arnaud Chichery, Pauline Fuchs, Sébastien Huertas, Filipe Oudot Choy, Bettina Drumond, Hortense Brassart, Laurelyne Leneutre, Emilie Leboucq, Charlotte Jean-William, Haemin Kim

Writer: Dorothée Adam

Producer: TARA Child Protection & Empowerment, Inua Prod, Gobelins, école de l’image

Contact: axel [at] taraindia.org

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QbQkbUHOik&t=6s

Project Website: https://www.taraindia.org/en/the-undefeated

THE WISDOM OF TRAUMA

2021, Canada, United States, Documentary, English, 1hr 28min

Screening: Sunday 23^rd Jan, 20:55hrs – Outdoor

Trauma is the invisible force that shapes our lives. It shapes the way we live, the way we love and the way we make sense of the world. It is the root of our deepest wounds. Dr. Maté gives us a new vision: a trauma-informed society in which parents, teachers, physicians, policy-makers and legal personnel are not concerned with fixing behaviors, making diagnoses, suppressing symptoms and judging, but seek instead to understand the sources from which troubling behaviors and diseases spring in the wounded human soul.

Directors: Maurizio Benazzo, Zaya Benazzo

Producers: Zaya Benazzo, Maurizio Benazzo

Cast: Dr. Gabor Mate, Russell Brand, Tim Ferriss, James Doty, Fritzi Hostman

Contact: maurizio [at] scienceandnonduality.com

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70HNmSsJvVU

Project Website: https://www.thewisdomoftrauma.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScienceAndNonduality/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scienceandnonduality_/

TUÃ INGUGU (WATER EYES )

2019, Brazil, Documentary, Portuguese, 11min

Screening: Wednesday 19^th Jan, 16:40hrs – SAIIER

In the Kalapalo cosmogony (an ethnic group that lives in the Xingú Indigenous Park), water is as old as humans and is the source of life. That is where all their sustenance comes from, their food, their drink and their joy. The idea of using water as a dumpster, of poisoning water is a dystopia. In TuãIngugu (Water Eyes) Chief Faremá – from Caramujo village on the banks of the Kuluene River – tells us about the birth of water and warns us about the consequences of disrespecting it.

Screenings / Awards: Festival Curta Cinema – Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Rome Film Festival Roma Italy, are a few places where this movie was screened among other International Festivals around the world.

Director, Writer: Daniela Thomas

Producer: Daniel van Hoogstraten

Cast: Faremá Kalapalo, Kanho Matipu

Contact: daniel [at] syndromefilms.com

Link: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt11048212/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/syndromefilms

WANDERING, A ROHINGYA STORY

2020, Bangladesh, Documentary, 1hr 27min 52sec

Screening: Thursday 20^th Jan, 20:05hrs – Cinema Paradiso

Within a few months, the Kutupalong refugee camp has become the biggest in the world. Out of sight, 700,000 people of the Rohingya Muslim minority fled Myanmar in 2017 to escape genocide and seek asylum in Bangladesh. Prisoners of a major yet little publicized humanitarian crisis, Kalam, Mohammad, Montas and other exiles want to make their voice heard. Between poetry and nightmares, food distribution and soccer games, they testify to their daily realities and the ghosts of their past memories. Around them, the specter of wandering, waiting, disappearing, in this place almost out of space and time, is it still possible to exist?

En quelques mois, le camp de réfugiés de Kutupalongest devenu le plus peuplé au monde, abritant plus de 700 000 réfugiés Rohingya senexilluttant pour leur survie. Dansce labyrinth d’abris de fortune, presque hors du temps et de l’espace, est-il encore possible d’exister ?

Writer, Director, Producer: Mélanie Carrier, Olivier Higgins

Cast: Kala Miya (Kalam), Mohammed Haras and his family, Montas

Contact: projets [at] spira.quebec

Link: https://vimeo.com/440673964

Project Website: https://www.wandering-themovie.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ErranceSansRetour.WanderingARohingyaStory

WHITE EYE

Israel, Hebrew, 21min

Screening: Wednesday 19^th Jan, 17:16hrs – SAIIER

A man finds his stolen bicycle and it now belongs to a stranger. In his attempts to retrieve the bicycle, he struggles to remain a human.

Director, Writer: Tomer Shushan

Producer: SHIRA Hochman, Kobi Mizrahi

Contact: distribucion [at] promofest.org

Link: http://www.promofest.org/films/white-eye

human unity – Auroville Film Festival

Jury for Human Unity Films

AVFF 2022 – Human Unity Films

looking for films on human unity