A box of film material from Tito-era Yugoslavia becomes a narrative engine. With dry wit and philosophical verve, this essay burrows through family and contemporary history.
The sixties and the seventies of the 20th century in our former country, a country that ceased to be. A young family moves from a rural environment to a small Slovenian town, where factories are being built and the need for a workforce is increasing. The brothers are growing up in that shaky but magical in-between, soaked in the everyday rhythms of the community, infused with the ideology of the time. Then, it happens: the sudden spectrum of film; the mystique of time itself.
Vasyl is a former ski jumper who now works as a coach at the ski jumping school for children in the Carpathians. He is a loner, and sports is his whole life. Zhenya is Vasyl's favourite trainee. In the last 5 years, he spends a lot of energy making her a champion. With her success, his dreams can come true. When the girl grows up, she decides to try in another area of life not connected to sports. Vasyl's work seems to no longer make sense. But he finds the strength to start all over again.
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.
Tyrano and Brachi want to play tennis. The match doesn’t quite work out because Brachi keeps falling over. Tyrano tries everything so that Brachi doesn’t hurt himself.
Tyrano, who was playing tennis alone, meets Brachi. They try to play tennis together, but Brachi keeps falling while attempting to hit the ball. Tyrano tries everything he can to prevent Brachi from getting hurt. But the more Tyrano struggles, the less interested Brachi is in playing tennis. Will they be a good partner to each other?
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.
Universe Department Store existed in Cheonho-dong, Seoul in the 1980s. There was a spaceship ride in front that unfolded a vast universe for me when I rode it. The universe I saw at the time merged with places in my childhood and would appear in my dreams as strange shapes. What is the source of these strange dreams that make sudden visits even to this day? In order to solve this lingering question, I began to dig into my memories of the Universe Department Store and the places from my childhood.
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.