The International Programme provides an overview of excellent new documentary productions from all over the world.
Whether the culture of art exhibitions in the GDR, Amos Oz, gay conservate politicians, the history of the internet or revelations about the flower industry in Africa - the range of topics is broad.
Responsible for the selection of the films within the International Programme is the Festival's Selection Commitee.
The films:
A Blooming Business by Ton van Zantvoort | The Netherlands 2009 | 52:00 min.
This is where the cheap roses in our flower shops come from: huge farms in Kenya. Images of a disaster illustrate the murderous cost of globalisation and our avarice.
A Place Without People by Andreas Apostolides | Greece 2009 | 52:00 min.
National parks in Africa, wilderness paradises. Driven out of paradise: the Massai and other native tribes. A report about the consequences of our wanderlust and of tourism.
Amos Oz – The Nature of Dreams (Amos Oz – yashar el toch hashemash hakitzit) by Yonathan Zur und Masha Zur | Israel 2009 | 86:00 min.
A portrait of the writer, publicist and all-round intellectual and his home country: inner conflict, doubt and ambivalence towards Europe. An intelligent comment on the Palestinian question.
Artsutanov’s Elevator: With a Hand Camera in Pursuit of a Genius by Daria Emelyanova | Russia 2009 | 14:00 min.
The inventor of the 'space lift' was not the world-famous technology researcher and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. It was Yuriy Artsutanov: impoverished Russian, absent-minded professor and eternal Peter Pan.
Assume Nothing by Kirsty MacDonald | New Zealand 2009 | 81:00 min.
Cross-gender, man, woman, gay, lesbian, straight – New Zealand photographer Rebecca Swan questions our notions. A colourful exploration of gender identity.
BURMA VJ – Reporting from a Closed Country (BURMA VJ - Reporter i et lukket land) by Anders Høgsbro Østergaard | Denmark 2008 | 85:00 min.
Myanmar in 2007, mass demonstrations and state violence against monks. A testimony of a very special kind in the unfiltered, jerky images of a video journalist filming the events illegally.
Babaji, an Indian Love Story by Jiska Rickels | The Netherlands 2008 | 72:00 min.
An Indian miracle healer’s and guru’s love beyond death. The warm-hearted portrait of an unworldly man on the threshold of becoming a legend.
Bassidji by Mehran Tamadon | Iran, Switzerland, France 2009 | 114:30 min.
An attempt to investigate the structure and ideology of the Bassidji, a powerful paramilitary citizens’ militia in Iran. A spectacular insight into the world of fundamentalist thinking.
Birth (Geburt) by Erich Langjahr and Silvia Haselbeck | Switzerland 2009 | 76:00 min.
The natural, human process of creating new life in sober and precise images.
Bloody Mondays & Strawberry Pies by Coco Schrijber | The Netherlands 2008 | 87:00 min.
A filmic meditation about time and life, boredom, work, stress and perfect calm. A hypnotic mental journey.
Boris Ryzhy by Aliona van der Horst | The Netherlands 2008 | 60:00 min.
Poet, friend, father, husband. Life in the age of Perestroika and the disastrous vacuum that followed. The rhythm of the verses informs a world of images. Raw and beautiful.
Cash & Marry by Atanas Georgiev | Croatia, Austria, Macedonia 2009 | 76:00 min.
Two Macedonians desperately looking for a girl with the 'right' passport in Vienna. The whimsical staging of a fake marriage in a boy’s prank set against a serious background.
Chemo (Chemia) by Pawel Lozinski | Poland 2009 | 58:00 min.
There are no more lies here, no pretensions of grandeur or strength, no high and low. Only life and death, laughing and crying. Conversations during chemotherapy, an in-between state.
Claiming of the Space - Ways of Independent Art Exhibitions in the GDR (Behauptung des Raums – Wege unabhängiger Ausstellungskultur in der DDR) by Claus Löser | Germany 2009 | 100:00 min.
"Die neuen Unkonkreten" (The new unspecific ones), the 'Leipzig Autumn Salon' and ultimately an internationally successful gallery: the story EIGEN ART and the independent GDR art scene.
Dealing with Time (Le temps presse) by Xavier Marquis | France 2008 | 52:00 min.
From pedestrian crossings with a fast lane to Buddhist serenity: a clever essay exploring the history, present age and future of our understanding of time.
Disco & Atomic War (Disko ja tuumasõda) by Jaak Kilmi | Estonia, Finland 2009 | 78:00 min.
How disco rhythms, Knight Rider and Star Trek conquered Estonian schoolyards. A comedy about Finnish television as the spearhead of imperialism and the Soviets’ desperate counter measures.
Gaza Hospital by Marco Pasquini | Italy 2009 | 84:00 min.
A hospital in Beirut – in the early 1980s the medical centre for the refugee camps of Shatila and Sabra, today a shelter for the homeless. Memories of great events and their victims.
Gerhold Selle - Retiree (Gerhold Selle – Rentner) by Aron Lehmann | Germany 2009 | 14:54 min.
A spry pensioner looking for a task – the rest of his life is long, after all.
Goodbye, How Are You? (Dovidjenja, kako ste?) by Boris Mitic | Serbia 2009 | 60:00 min.
The fine arts of misanthropy and black humour in a Serbian docu-satirical fairytale about a hero of our age. Naughty, naughty.
H for Hunger by Neil Hollander | Thailand, Great Britain, USA 2009 | 91:00 min.
A spoken word slam performance by Henry Rollins about the hunger in our world and its cause: all of us. Flaming agitation, furious pamphlet, in-your-face audience bashing.
Happy Jews (Szczesliwi Zydzi) by Jonathan Rozenbaum | Poland, Israel 2008 | 6:00 min.
Angry, thoroughly un-PC comment on anti-Semitism, in the tradition of Jewish humour.
In Search of the Riyal by Kesang Tseten Lama | Nepal 2009 | 89:30 min.
Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East: modern slaves, exploited to the maximum. A shocking report about a fiercely capitalist Asia beyond all romantic clichés.
Kalandia – A Checkpoint Story by Neta Efrony | Israel 2009 | 60:00 min.
How a checkpoint between east and west Jerusalem became a massive border apparatus that no Palestinian may simply pass. The record of a never-ending humiliation.
Lao Wang's Bed by Yu Yan | China 2008 | 31:00 min.
An earthquake victim’s path from the ruins to the emergency shelter with a mattress on his back. An individual and his immense effort as a symbol.
Limited Home (Heimat auf Zeit) by Peter Benedix | Germany 2009 | 92:26 min.
A Lusatian village fights against Vattenfall and its destruction by excavators. Concerned inhabitants, environmental activists, politicians and mining representatives in an unequal struggle.
Lockerbie revisited by Gideon Levi | The Netherlands 2009 | 52:00 min.
20 years after the bombing of the Pan Am carrier, high-ranking representatives of the CIA and the FBI, participants of the trial and the UN observer talk about it. A game of confusion.
My Father. My Uncle. (Mein Vater. Mein Onkel.) by Christoph Heller | Germany 2009 | 80:00 min.
Born in Iraq, raised by his adopted mother in Germany. Young actor Sinan takes a trip to his unknown family who expect a lot from him. An emotional roller coaster ride.
Nemesis (Sannhetsjegeren) by Erlend E. Mo | Norway 2009 | 80:00 min.
A double murder in the 1970s, a condemned deaf-mute man and the greatest miscarriage of justice in Norwegian criminal history. A thrilling documentary crime film and a must for fans of Wallander & Co.
Notes on the Other by Sergio Oksman | Spain 2009 | 13:00 min.
Florida, Key West and Spain, Pamplona. Two Ernest Hemingways and a game of confusion involving doppelgangers and deceptions.
Nuclear NTR, Nothing to Report (RAS Nucléaire, Rien à signaler) by Alain De Halleux | Belgium, France 2009 | 58:00 min.
The privatisation of energy production, outsourcing of jobs in nuclear power plants, employees subjected to a ‘management by fear’ and their impact on our security. Terrifying.
Nyarma by Edgar Bartenev | Russia 2008 | 42:00 min.
Picturesque images of the reindeer nomad Gosha’s life in Siberia. Happiness, calmness, harmony – until the advent of uranium mining. The testimony of a landscape and culture that are almost lost.
Old Partner (Wyo-nang So-ri) by Chung-ryoul LEE | South Korea 2008 | 77:00 min.
An old Korean couple and their ox, who shared a life of hardship, drudgery and privation. A great and tender ode to love and life at the age of frailty.
On the Border of Desperation (Förtvivlans Gräns) by Nima Sarvestani | Sweden 2008 | 58:00 min.
Fuel smugglers between Iran and Iraq, the most gruesome slog and a life at the limits of humane existence. Life in Iran beyond spectacular headlines.
Osadné by Marko Skop | Slovakia, Czech Republic 2009 | 65:00 min.
A Slovak village in the Carpathian Mountains looks for a connection with Europe and sends a small valiant band to Brussels to work the miracle … sequel to the successful "Other Worlds".
Outrage by Kirby Dick | USA 2009 | 87:00 min.
An investigative report from the centre of the 'holy' family: gay conservative politicians in the United States, their self-denial and anti-gay politics, the role of the media and power games.
PianoMania – In Search of the Perfect Sound (PianoMania - Auf der Suche nach dem perfekten Klang) by Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis | Austria, Germany 2009 | 93:00 min.
Lang Lang, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Alfred Brendel cannot work without him. The portrait of a piano tuner who is a master of his profession. The precision of music, craft and film.
Rapping in Tehran by Hassan Khademi | Iran 2009 | 37:20 min.
Young people’s tough struggle against the rigid rules of a government of old men. Music and a lifestyle that are strictly forbidden but unstoppable.
See You at the Eiffel Tower (Sreshta pri Aifelovata kula) by Valentin Valchev | Bulgaria 2008 | 96:00 min.
Tracing Joris Ivens' "The First Years" in Bulgaria and Poland and time travelling with Marion Michelle, the director’s closest collaborator at the time. A declaration of love to Ivens and cinema.
Sentenced for Life (Wyrok na zycie) by Marcin Koszalka | Poland 2008 | 66:00 min.
Gossip, arguments, fun. Love and jealousy, a wedding and a death ... just like ordinary life – in a women’s prison in Poland.
Sidetrack (Bocznica) by Anna Kazejak | Poland 2009 | 45:00 min.
A vacation paradise for the common man in discarded railway cars somewhere in the Polish forest. Deckchair philosophers, first love, organised volleyball. Shimmering like a summer’s day.
Sporran Makers by Jane McAllister | Great Britain 2009 | 9:20 min.
A small family business in Edinburgh specialised in making sporrans, the fur bags worn over the kilt. Nowadays they are produced much cheaper in Asia – a basic lesson in capitalism.
The Children of the Commune (Die Kinder vom Friedrichshof) by Juliane Großheim | Germany 2009 | 81:00 min.
The children who used to live there come to terms with a dubious artistic and social experiment, Viennese action artist Otto Mühl’s commune. Utopia or abuse?
The Experimental Eskimos by Barry Greenwald | Canada 2009 | 70:00 min.
In the early 1960s, three 12-year-old Inuit were taken from their families in the Canadian Arctic and sent to school in the south. The story of a social experiment and its victims.
The Forgiveness (El perdón) by Ventura Durall | Spain 2009 | 65:00 min.
He killed his father and derailed three trains. The diagnosis: paranoid schizophrenia. What is Andrés Rabadán’s secret? A thriller.
The General (El General) by Natalia Almada | Mexico, USA 2009 | 83:00 min.
'El Bolshevique', 'Priest Killer' and one of the most dazzling protagonists of Mexican politics: General Plutarco Elias Calles, president of the state 1924–1928. His granddaughter’s search for traces.
The House of the Dead (A Casa dos Mortos) by Debora Diniz | Brazil 2009 | 24:00 min.
Preventive detention in the psychiatric ward of the state prison of Salvador, Brazil. A closed world of crime, madness and valium.
The Kingdom of Dead Mice by Viktar Dashuk | Belarus | 88:00 Min.
How dissenters and opposition members in Belarus are villainised, criminalised and physically destroyed. Media performances, propaganda and manipulation at the heart of darkness.
The Lawyers - A German Story (Die Anwälte – Eine deutsche Geschichte) by Birgit Schulz | Germany 2009 | 90:00 min.
Hans-Christian Ströbele, Horst Mahler and Otto Schily – three lawyers, three lives and symbols of German history from the 1968 extra-parliamentary opposition, APO, to the new rightest.
The River (Upe) by Rimantas Gruodis and Julija Gruodiene | Lithuania 2009 | 29:30 min.
A remote Lithuanian village, which can only be reached across the river. Atmospheric images of a landscape and narratives of a hard life.
The Time of Their Lives by Jocelyn Cammack | Great Britain 2009 | 69:43 min.
Politics, art and life: the daily routine of an English journalist, a peace activist and a communist writer, all aged 87 to 102. Wonderful and great.
They Shoot Indians, Don't They? (Corumbiara) by Vincent Carelli | Brazil 2009 | 117:00 min.
The story of a massacre that killed most members of an Indian tribe in Brazil in 1984. A document of a 20-year quest for justice.
