The 15 films from the most different countries, the best ones selected out of more than 2 000 entries submitted, promise cinema par excellence.

Personal stories about love and death, diaries, talks about religion and art, the anatomy of institutions, war and kitchen recipes, people in their living rooms, environmental destruction and the quite normal vanities of age. Famous names and newcomers.

All of them hot favourites for a prize, because we talk about the much-treasured Silver and Golden Doves which are awarded by the International Jury for Documentary Film.

The films:

17 August (17 awgusta) by Aleksandr Gutman | Russia, Poland, Finland 2009 | 62:30 min.
A view through the peephole in a prison cell door, time stands still, marching back and forth in the cell, conversations with God. Tough survival, slow death – a lifer’s day in Russia.


Actors (Aktorzy) by Tomasz Wolski | Poland 2009 | 28:00 min.
Shooting a feature film in a Polish home for old actors. You’re never too old for intrigue, plotting murder and minor vanities. A masterpiece about the immortality of evil and art.


Altzaney by Nino Orjonikidze and Vano Arsenishvili | Georgia 2009 | 30:40 min.
Portrait of a village elder in the Georgian mountains. Patriarchal clan structures, common law, wisdom and dignity set against a background of enchanting old songs and dances.


Berlin-Stettin by Volker Koepp | Germany 2009 | min.
A biographical journey through the countryside east of the river Elbe and the history of a century. Reunions in Wittstock and Zehdenick, old and new faces. Volker Koepp reloaded.


Cooking History by Peter Kerekes | Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic 2009 | 88:00 min.
13 military chefs, 6 wars, 10 recipes and 60,325,061 victims of war. Cooking for the army as a subtle and ironic metaphor for battle.


Disorder (Xianshi shi guoqu de weilai) by Weikai Huang | China 2009 | 58:00 min.
Miscellaneous news from the everyday life of a Chinese metropolis: accidents, floods, fires, cynicism and indifference. An in-your-face version of St. Vitus’ dance disguised as unfiltered reality.


Ito – A Diary of an Urban Priest (Seitti – kilvoittelijan päiväkirja) by Pirjo Honkasalo | Finland, Japan 2009 | 117:00 min.
A young Buddhist priest in Tokyo, owner of a bar and former boxer, in nocturnal conversations about life and death. A statuesque work of sparkling seriousness.


Jolly Old Farts (Emumäe Eedi ja lobi küla Kristjan) by Manfred Vainokivi | Estonia 2009 | 28:00 min.
Two ageing Estonian filmmakers in a dialogue of the disappointed. Resignation, irony, a hint of old turf wars and copious amounts of vodka.


October Country by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher | USA 2009 | 80:00 min.
White trash beautiful – an American family saga in the vicious circle of early pregnancy, violent husbands and false expectations. Life’s horror party, in time for Halloween.


Petropolis – Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands by Peter Mettler | Canada 2009 | 43:00 min.
Aerial images of a giant oil sand mining area in Canada. Graphic structures and the bizarre beauty of a landscape bleeding from all wounds. Destruction, aesthetics, guilt.


The Arrivals (Les arrivants) by Claudine Bories and Patrice Chagnard | France 2009 | 111:00 min.
Everyday routine in a centre for asylum seeking families in Paris. Social workers and new arrivals on the edge of a nervous breakdown. A daily tour de force on both sides, precisely observed.


The Genome Chronicles by John Akomfrah | Great Britain 2008 | 30:00 min.
An impressive elegy in ten stanzas between pain, memory and identity. Rough Super 8 impressions, post-punk soundscapes and texts by Blanchot, Derrida and Foucault.


The House (La Casa) by Tayo Cortés | Colombia, Spain 2009 | 70:00 min.
Sisyphos in Bogotá: a garbage collector’s family caught in a cycle of poverty and misery and a fatal ménage à trois. A narrative as powerful as a Greek tragedy.


The Living Room of the Nation (Kansakunnan olohuone) by Jukka Kärkkäinen | Finland 2008 | 74:00 min.
Insights into six living rooms between Helsinki and Lapland. Filmic and Finnish blues: rough, grungy, deeply human. Aki Kaurismäki meets Ulrich Seidl.


Tying Your Own Shoes by Shira Avni | Canada 2009 | 16:10 min.
Young people with Down’s syndrome paint their lives. Documentary and animated elements tumble together, wild, colourful and infinitely fantastic. Art as usual.