Marionette master U Sein Aye Myint has practised his art for more than forty years, continuing the traditional skills passed down from his father. But the Covid pandemic and the military coup have prevented him and his puppets from performing. When the roof of his small workshop in Yangon’s North Dagon starts leaking in the monsoon, he has to clamber up to fix it himself to ensure his beloved puppets do not get wet. Observing him with age-old wisdom in their eyes, his puppets seem to sense all the things that are weighing heavily on his mind: his lack of income, his precarious future – and just how much he misses his audience.
A young Burmese woman who was trafficked to China and sold into marriage tells her story. Based on the real-life protagonist’s words and beautifully rendered in pen-and-ink, this animation portrays a woman torn between her love for the child she was forced to bear and her longing for the country to which she may never be able to return.
Srećko, Mirza and Mejra are survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Their fates are revealed in the contrast between innocent everyday moments today and archive images from that period.
This desktop video essay examines how the media illustrate the issue of abortion. Clicking through photo databases and magazines reveals the consequences of suggestive images.
What do abortions look like? What kind of images shape our view on them? And where do these images come from? The desktop video essay getty abortions examines how German and Austrian media illustrate the topic of abortion, browsing through stock photo databases, teen magazines and personal documents of a real abortion experience. It jumps from the early 2000s to the late 19th century, seeks out feminist knowledge and chats with fictional characters. But one question remains: Why does no one look into the camera?
I grew up in Yangon. In February 2021, my dreams came to an end. My mother said: “Son, wake up. The military has taken over the country”. The days got darker. The window in my narrow room and the piece of sky I watched seemed to be the only freedom I had left. I wanted to say something about this new undercurrent in my life. I wrote things down, recorded my voice, and searched for images that might reflect my feelings and those of other young people. And now there is a film which conveys what it's like to lose the ground beneath your feet.
Everything in Edgar’s life is well-ordered. His favourite food is meat. A trip to the slaughterhouse makes him think and he takes in a calf. Will Edgar have to make more changes?
The life of 18-year-old Johana revolves around her sister’s mental disability. In her last year of high school she must face her inner conflicts and choose between love for her sister and love for herself.
Eighteen-year-old Johana enters the critical year of her teenage life. She wants to leave her small Czech hometown – but there’s more than high school graduation that stands between her and her aspirations. Johana’s life is largely defined by her younger sister’s atypical autism and mental disability which shape the everyday life for the whole family. Her decision to leave the town slowly crumbles under the feeling of guilt and responsibility. Can her sister understand, given Johana is her only friend? Can Mum and Dad manage without her help? Johana must figure out how to leave so she can return with love. A coming-of-age documentary about responsibility, sisterhood, and loving not only others, but also yourself.
When the war starts, 12-year-old Niki finds refuge in a Kharkiv underground station. Monotonous, oppressive days – until Vika enters his life. The tender connection gives new courage.
On a cold February morning, 12-year-old Niki and his family arrive at the Kharkiv metro station to take shelter from the terrifying war raging outside. For Niki's family, daylight is synonymous with mortal danger, and the boy is not allowed to leave the station premises, living under the constant glow of their neon lights. While aimlessly wandering around the abandoned cars and full platforms, Niki meets Vika (11), and a new world opens up to him. As their bond strengthens, the children find the courage once again to feel the sun on their faces.
Built in the 19th century, this Tamil Hindu temple in Thanlyin, across the Bago River from Yangon, is unique in the largely Buddhist Myanmar: this is a place where people from different religious backgrounds come to pray in the hope that their wishes will be fulfilled. Fortune-teller “Yellow Mother” is one of four inhabitants of Pilikan village who – in between lively spectacles of leaping cows and cow-catching – explain what the temple and its rituals mean to them.
A documentary film about the development of relations between the majority of society and the non-heteronormative part of the population in Poland during the last decade.
Polish Rainbow is a documentary film about the 10-year development of relations between the majority of society and the non-heteronormative part of the population in Poland. It captures the far-right scene in the public space, which gradually transforms into the main political influence in the country. The effort of the LGBT community to equalise same-sex relationships is becoming an active political tool of conservative and far-right parties for the polarisation of opinion and culture in society. Dehumanisation and the spread of hatred cause traumatic experiences that often end tragically for people from rainbow communities. Against the backdrop of the fight for basic human rights of the LGBTIQA+ community, we get to know Bart Staszewski. As an LGBT activist, Bart travels to Polish cities and towns that have declared themselves "LGBT-free" zones in order to change this dehumanising homophobic campaign.
Shan folk singer Nan Mya was a star when she was young. Her metaphorical verses reflect the deep sense of loss that pervades a people battered by Myanmar's ruinous politics.
Shan State in Myanmar is home to a rich culture filled with ancient songs, traditional dances and beliefs. It is also a place where civil war has been raging for over sixty years. Shan folk singer Nan Mya Han was a star when she was young. Now she is older, her metaphorical verses reflect the deep sense of loss that pervades a people battered by Myanmar's ruinous politics. Interweaving her songs with compelling scenes of rituals around healing, death and birth, the film transcends the purely observational to become a multilayered, elliptical exploration of decay and impermanence that is both moving and totally mesmerising.
The Lisu people's bond with nature is a profoundly spiritual one. The harvest season may have come to an end but the souls of villagers have a habit of lingering in the fields.
The Lisu people's bond with nature is a profoundly spiritual one. Theirs is a world that is filled with the spirits of the forests and mountains where they live and farm. The harvest season may have come to an end but the souls of many a villager have a habit of lingering in the fields of the uplands where they can cause all kinds of mischief. This richly atmospheric exploration of Lisu animism brings us closer to the mellifluous-voiced shaman Byar Wu, whose job it is to summon these lost souls back into the bodies of his community in Chaung Gyi village in Shan State and by doing so prevent sickness and disease.
Jiri, a Czech physicist and a visionary handyman, has an idea of how to save the planet. But no one will listen to him. His daughter, Marta, a musician and mother of two, is annoyed at this. She takes her camera and goes “out into the world” with her dad. She wants to see if the world could work just as Jiri had envisioned it. Humour is brought to the film as they showcase their combined and inventive strategies on how they should present their idea and to whom. They meet with ecologists, activists, experts, and politicians to get to the World Climate Summit as they attempt to infiltrate public structures and expose the characters behind the powers that decide who can enter where and with what issues. Although those who were addressed agree that Jiri's vision of the world would be the most ideal, after four years of wandering around with his idea of a Uniform Global Carbon Tax and Dividend for all, they find themselves in an anti-everyone situation. Had they come up with the idea much too late? Or too soon?
A strong personal story: Jiri's humour and charisma, Marta's original songs, raw film material, and an inspiring idea to save the planet will make for an unmissable film with the potential for planetary social impact.
DOK Industry is realised with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media upon a Decision of the German Bundestag.