In a cabin in the forest, Jean and Mana listen to various animal species and catalogue voice recordings. When they hear unfamiliar sounds, their curiosity to uncover a secret is aroused.
Jean lives as a hermit in a forest. From his cabin, he listens to and records the sounds of the animals that inhabit the surrounding area. One night, he hears the cry of an unknown animal. Along with Mana, a young girl who sings with the birds, he goes in search of the mysterious creature.
The film is a touching and heartfelt exploration of a grandfather and grandson's journey to uncover the truth about their past as refugees from Bessarabia.
77 Years Back follows the grandson, Dan, as he films his grandpa, Victor, recounting memories and seeking information about his birth and his relatives in Moldova. On their journey, they have emotional encounters with the people of Moldova and navigate bureaucratic challenges in their search for answers. Along the way, the bond between Dan and his grandpa grows stronger, and the film captures the significance of listening to and caring for our elders.
We follow as the grandfather comes back home to Romania to his daily life, near his loving wife. He takes his time to think more deeply about what he found in Moldova, accepts his past and bonds even more with his big family.
Frieda, Viola and Jilou are three of the most successful women in the male-dominated breakdance world. At different points in their careers, each of them faces serious challenges.
Who says that women can't break dance? Frieda, Viola and Jilou are three of the most successful women in the male-dominated breaking world. The movie shows their tough training methods, their dance performances at international battles and their personal backgrounds that drive them to fulfil their dreams. The three friends are at different points in their sports careers and thus face new challenges and decisions that will change their lives.
B-girl Jilou is at the height of her career and counts as one of the best in the world. With her extraordinary determination, she is currently winning one battle after the other, whereas Frieda is still grappling with an injury. As a B-girl ever since the emergence of break dancing, she has to come to terms with the fact that her advancing age means she can no longer rely on her body and has to find a life outside of her professional sports career. B-girl Viola is focused on becoming recognised as a dancer and combines breaking with modern dance. For her, every battle is equally a fight for her identity as an artist.
Dancing Heartbeats is an inspiring portrait of courage, endurance, the power of one's passion, and what it means to be a young woman who is fighting for acknowledgement and equal rights.
From their lookout towers, female fire wardens scan Portuguese landscapes for wildfires. An allegorically condensed, wordless study of vigilance and vision.
Looking at the tree line, a question creeps into my mind and, simultaneously, I have a desire.
What if nothing existed?
Extended Presences follows several women in their seasonal work as fire watchers in Portugal. The film comes close to their breathing, to the passing of time and to solitude, from within.
In this “telephone” road movie, Floriane Devigne (Ni d’Ève, ni d’Adam, VdR 2018; La Clé de la Chambre à Lessive, VdR 2013) takes us on a journey through so-called “peripheral” France. From remote villages to deserted areas, guided by telephone conversations collected from the last public telephone boxes, she casts an amused, critical and cutting gaze over our ever-changing society.
In a desert landscape, some children play hide-and-seek. The remains of dry stone walls and a few abandoned objects seem to bear witness to a long-evaporated civilisation.
In a desert landscape, among the ruins, children play hide-and-seek. The remains of walls and a few abandoned objects seem to bear witness to a civilisation that has long since evaporated. Francesca, the youngest of the group, is marked by the discovery of a dead fish which becomes the object of the other children's games. The next day, back at the site, the little girl discovers that other people have been attracted to the remains that the disappearance of this huge artificial lake has revealed.
A woman lives alone with her cat in the city. The small miracles of life can be found in all kinds of everyday moments, and loneliness turns into a happy melody.
Daniel Medina, a Wixárika indigenous musician, embarks on a unique collaboration with composer Philip Glass in which they share their traditional music with eager audiences.
A Place Called Music is a documentary about the peculiar musical encounter between Daniel Medina, a traditional Wixarika violinist from the mountains of Jalisco, Mexico, and Philip Glass, the eminent composer from New York City.
The documentary features live music as rehearsals and performances take place in prominent venues in Mexico and New York – music that has only been heard in ceremonial Wixárika gatherings but this time has an unprecedented addition: a grand piano.
Even though Daniel and Philip come from very different backgrounds and don't even speak the same language, they have created a common place where their spirits can meet and unravel each other – their music.
Cleaning up after a forest fire in the mountains of Portugal: New trees are planted, nature begins to sprout again. But will the fire devour everything one day?
In Portugal, in the mountainous region of Serra da Estrela, guards posted in small towers keep watch over the forest. The cyclical danger of fire hangs over the pine and granite landscape like a ghost. Some inhabitants rely on legends to explain the devastating events, while others show their resilience by rebuilding the recently burnt land with their bare hands. In the heart of this post-apocalyptic landscape, the relationship between man and nature is gradually revealed, oscillating between magic, exploitation and cohabitation.
Tricky Disco traces various forms of spatial and cultural appropriation. The film unmasks the attempted appropriation of the techno and house movement as a “German cultural asset”.
Tricky Disco traces various forms of spatial and cultural appropriation, initially following the traces in the author's biography.
The film focuses on (self-)empowerment through participation in the techno subculture of the late nineties. However, the emancipatory and political potential of this subculture is countered by another dimension in the course of the narrative: using photogrammetric images and analogue video footage, the work draws parallels in the urban development of Berlin and Frankfurt. It unmasks the attempted appropriation of the techno and house movement as a “German cultural asset” and depicts how efforts are made to monetise it through hasty musealisation.
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.