A ghost ride through Finnish TV archives of the 1960s grazes the moon landing, American TV shows, a war in Africa. But how to connect with the world when dancing is forbidden?!
The anonymous narrator is a kind of web-adventurous flâneuse, neurotic and endlessly curious. A disturbance in the proprioception, which is the ability to sense the position, movement and location of the body and its parts, makes her perceive the world in a new way. Seemingly random anecdotes found on the internet and instructions from her cryptic physiotherapist start to come together in surprising ways. The found material forms a mosaic that reflects a world full of gazes, rules and technologies that separate us. Lines from the present and the distant past take our narrator to the 1960s, where medieval dance bans, televised wars, lost bones, space utopias and American TV stars collide. This film reflects how we can be and live in the world within ourselves and with each other. With those who are near and with those who are far. Along with all this, the film recommends dancing to everyone.
Despite the lack of infrastructure, Mamy, from Guinea, builds up the first coffee washing station in all of West Africa and, through his vision, gives local people back their pride.
“I have seen many of my family members fail when trying. (...) I want to try too, but differently!”
Mamy Dioubaté is the founder of Macenta Beans and a visionary. He has been building West Africa's first coffee washing station for three years. In the rainforest of Guinea, not far from the Liberian border, the coffee is processed to high quality and thus saved from exploitative middlemen.
Mamy doesn't eat, he sleeps a maximum of 4 hours a day, pulls his own tooth and gets malaria 3 times in one season. Why does he do this?
At first glance, Macenta lacks roads, electricity and water supply, but if you ask Mamy, it is trust and hope that is missing. Hardly anyone here believes in a self-determined future – but he does. In First Taste, we see Mamy in his life's work to change the entire agricultural system of a country. He visits 131 villages in Macenta and hands each farmer his coffee. For the first time, the local people are transformed from producers to consumers. We experience surprise. Disappointment. Pleasure. Disgust. Shame. And above all pride. Mamy puts all his eggs in one basket – especially his own hope. What would it mean for him if he fails with this vision?
In Burkina Faso, in the gold-digging site of Bantara, 16-year-old Rasmané descends more than 100 meters deep in artisanal mines to extract gold. Anxious about accidents, Rasmané makes his way in this world of fierce adults in the hope of one day becoming emancipated…
The little beetle tries unsuccessfully to get out of the sink. When the tap is opened, the watery whirlpool takes him into the wide world. The beginning of a wonderful journey.
Little Beetle's attempt to escape from the sink has been unsuccessful, but the trouble that comes in the form of water will prove to be the beginning of a wonderful journey.
News anchor Randi Isaksen struggles to help her sister navigate a broken mental health system in Recovery Channel. Told through the duelling prism of documentary and narrative storytelling, filmmaker Ellen Ugelstad exposes an oppressive system designed to control instead of heal the human condition. Informed by her own family experiences, Ugelstad creates a fictional TV channel to explore the injustices faced by those with mental health challenges and exposes the use of coercion in contemporary therapy.
Through a humanistic lens, she explores the negative impact of an oppressive system, while advocating for the recognition of mental health as a human right rather than an illness.
Who, If Not Us? The Fight for Democracy in Belarus
Juliane Tutein
The political climate in Belarus is growing more restrictive every day, activists are constantly facing imprisonment. This film is dedicated to three courageous rebels.
Who, If Not Us? The Fight for Democracy in Belarus
Wer, wenn nicht wir? Der Kampf für Demokratie in Belarus
Juliane Tutein
Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe
Documentary Film
Germany
2023
77 minutes
,
Belarusian,
Russian,
Ukrainian
World premiere
Trailer
Synopsis
The documentary Who, If Not Us? chronicles the fight for democracy in Belarus through the experiences of three women from different generations. The film captures the spirit and determination of the Belarusian opposition as they struggle against Lukashenko's authoritarian regime that has held power for decades.
The film follows three women: Nina Baginskaya, who lived through the Soviet era and was already active in the fight for independence in the 1980s, becoming an icon of the Belarusian opposition protests; Tanya Hatsura-Yavorskaya, a human rights activist and founder of the human rights film festival “Watch Docs Belarus”; and Darya Rublevskaya, a young activist who works for Viasna, the NGO founded by Ales Bialiatski, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
The film offers a singular glimpse into the daily lives of three women in the aftermath of the 2020 protests, which were the largest in Belarusian history and brutally repressed by the Lukashenko regime. By concluding amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine, the film powerfully illustrates the intertwined destiny of Belarus and Ukraine. Many Belarusians share the belief that without a free Ukraine, there will be no democratic future for Belarus.
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.