The 35th edition of International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) running from November 9 to 20 in Amsterdam announced its first competition lineups: the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary and the IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary, in addition to the Masters and Best of Fests selections.
The festival also revealed the international premiere of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s Personality Crisis: One Night Only, and a special tribute to the late Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius.
19 are selected for the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary, including Martín Benchimol, winner of IDFA’s Mid-Length Competition in 2017, who peers into the souls of Argentine slaughterhouse workers in A Robust Heart. Ruslan Fedotow, one year after winning Best First Feature and Best Cinematography at IDFA, returns with Away, a poignant portrait of two teenage Ukrainian refugees at a school in Budapest. Arun Bhattarai, known from his breakout feature The Next Guardian, is back with Mountain Man, a sensitive look at the world of Bhutan’s only glaciologist through the eyes of his daughter.
The Youth Competition showcases 14 films that challenge the definition of youth documentary. For the first time, the selected titles are presented for two distinct age groups: 9- to 13-year-olds, and 14-year-olds all the way to adulthood.
Masters welcomes the international premieres of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s new music film Personality Crisis: One Night Only and Barbara Kopple’s Gumbo Coalition, as well as the world premiere of Coco Schrijber’s Look What You Made Me Do.
Patricio Guzmán breaks from his poetic trilogy to adapt a more direct, political form of filmmaking with My Imaginary Country, on the October 2019 protests in Santiago. Gianfranco Rosi directs his first archive-based film In viaggio, looking to Pope Francis’ travels as a map of the human condition. Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed co-direct a film together for the first time with Music for Black Pigeons, a reflection on aging through jazz music. Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher, on the other hand, takes an unprecedented look at a controversial erotic novel through an elaborate casting call.
Sergei Loznitsa provocatively offers a missing link in history with The Kiev Trial, and Adirley Queirós and Joana Pimenta shine a spotlight on an all-women gang of oil bandits in their explosive hybrid feature Dry Ground Burning.
The Best of Fests section presents the best films from Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance, Visions du Réel, and CPH:DOX among others.
Ukraine is ever-present in the selection, with several courageous filmmakers delivering urgent perspectives on war, art, and humanity. Simon Lereng Wilmont’s A House Made of Splinters enters into a Ukrainian children’s home near the frontlines, exploring the characters’ sorrows, expectations, and resiliency. In Fragile Memory, Igor Ivanko resurrects the personal stories from behind the Iron Curtain via his grandfather’s old camerawork. In The Hamlet Syndrome, Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski bring together a Ukrainian theater group to recreate the Shakespearean play in dialogue with their own traumatic reality.
Other films travel the world to pursue heartfelt stories rich in song and dance, as in Cesária Évora, Ana Sofia Fonseca’s tribute to the Cape Verde icon, and Bobi Wine: The People’s President, Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo’s shocking portrait of the rising Ugandan pop star-turned-politician. Meanwhile, Beba, the breakout hit by Afro-Latinx New Yorker Rebecca Huntt and Alis by Clare Weiskopf and Nicolás van Hemelryck bring forward their own musicality, electrifying the screen through young women artists and storytellers who defy all expectations.
In honor of Mantas Kvedaravičius, the Lithuanian filmmaker who was killed earlier this year during the Mariupol siege, IDFA will present a special tribute event during the festival in which the late director’s films Mariupolis (2016) and Mariupolis 2 (2022) will be screened.
Masters
A Compassionate Spy
- Steve James
- 2022
In 1951, at the height of the Cold War, physicist Ted Hall risked his life by sharing US atomic secrets with the Soviet Union. Seventy years on, his wife explains what possessed him to do it.
Dry Ground Burning
- Adirley Queirós, Joana Pimenta
- 2022
Oil is rebellion in a sprawling favela on the outskirts of Brasilia. A group of self-assured women illegally tap it and sell gasoline through a motorcycle gang. This is the heart of a broad panorama of a Brazil we rarely see.
Everything Will Be OK
- Rithy Panh
- 2022
A dystopian vision by Rithy Panh à la Animal Farm and Planet of the Apes. Inspired by 20th-century dictators and the horrors of factory farming, animals—represented by clay figures—maintain totalitarian rule over humans.
Gumbo Coalition
- Barbara Kopple
- 2022
Multiple Oscar winner Barbara Kopple tracks Marc Morial and Janet Murguía, two heavyweights in the battle for equal rights in the US. A portrait of a tireless warrior duo, and of an America in extremely turbulent times.
How Do You Measure a Year?
- Jay Rosenblatt
- 2021
Year after year, a father asks his growing daughter the same questions: What are your dreams? What are you afraid of? The camera captures this gradual becoming of a human being, revealing the leaps we all make on the way to adulthood.
In viaggio
- Gianfranco Rosi
- 2022
Gianfranco Rosi presents a chaotic and unjust world, as seen through the eyes of Pope Francis. The director draws from archive material, news reports and footage from his own work in this film about the many journeys made by the church head.
The Kiev Trial
- Sergei Loznitsa
- 2022
In January 1946, 15 Nazis were put on trial in Kiev for their role in the murder of 10,000 civilians in Ukraine. Sergei Loznitsa draws on recovered archive footage of the trial to assemble a shocking and urgent documentary.
The Land
- Ivars Seleckis
- 2022
Measured observations of the annual cycles in a rural Latvian community. Seleckis presents the full variety of modern farming life and opens up a highly topical discussion about the future of agriculture.
The March on Rome
- Mark Cousins
- 2022
To this day, Benito Mussolini’s style of fascism continues to inspire authoritarian leaders. The March on Rome shows how Mussolini used intimidation and violence to seize power, and how he used propaganda to mythologize events.
Matter Out of Place
- Nikolaus Geyrhalter
- 2022
Hypnotic observations of the shocking quantities of waste humanity is accumulating on Earth—and a glint of hope. People produce waste, but people can clean it up as well. From the maker of Our Daily Bread.
Music for Black Pigeons
- Jørgen Leth, Andreas Koefoed
- 2022
Fourteen years of musical encounters between Danish composer-guitarist Jakob Bro and various heroes of contemporary jazz. When the stars are asked what it means to be a musician, they answer in music.
Mutzenbacher
- Ruth Beckermann
- 2022
A hundred men audition for the film version of a controversial pornographic novel. The filmmaker seats them on a casting couch and reverses the roles. Now the men are objectified, in this film packed with discomfort, disgust and lust.
My Imaginary Country
- Patricio Guzmán
- 2022
In October 2019, 1.5 million Chileans took to the streets to fight for a more just society. Legendary filmmaker Patricio Guzmán was there to see a completion of the Chilean freedom struggle of his youth.
The Natural History of Destruction
- Sergei Loznitsa
- 2022
A painfully topical archive documentary mainly featuring footage of Allied bombing during the Second World War. Following in the footsteps of W.G. Sebald, Loznitsa asks whether mass destruction can ever be morally justified.
The Oil Machine
- Emma Davie
- 2022
Almost no one would dare to call it “liquid gold” any more, but oil is still the fuel that drives our society. Activists, investors and most of all the planet itself are demanding change. But how to dismantle a machine that we are so dependent on?
Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot
- William Kentridge
- 2022
In his studio, the celebrated South African artist William Kentridge treats us to his playful philosophical thoughts on the impossibility of knowing oneself. A brilliant, witty self-portrait, with a key role for the coffee pot.
Best of Fests
African Moot
- Shameela Seedat
- 2022
A side of Africa we rarely see: spirited law students argue cases in simulated court hearings, to win the title of best mooter in the African Human Rights Moot Court Competition. We meet a new generation committed to the future of the continent.
Alis
- Clare Weiskopf, Nicolas van Hemelryck
- 2022
The teenage girls who live in a shelter in Bogotá have already been through a lot in their young lives. They talk about it through the perspective of a fictional friend: Alis. Their soulful narrative reveals an amazing strength to embrace a brighter future.
All That Breathes
- Shaunak Sen
- 2022
Two Muslim brothers living in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, try their best to run a sanctuary for birds of prey. In a film that swings between hope and despair, the two central figures remain determined to never give up.
Anhell69
- Theo Montoya
- 2022
When the young queer actor he cast to star in a vampire film dies of an overdose, filmmaker Theo Montoya dives deeper into the no-future generation of Medellín, in this “trans film” about all the people who don’t belong to anything or anyone.
Aurora’s Sunrise
- Inna Sahakyan
- 2022
A captivating animated documentary about the remarkable and tragic life of Aurora Mardiganian. As a teenager she escaped the Armenian genocide, and later was made famous in a Hollywood film about her life.
Balls
- Gorana Jovanović
- 2022
Riots at the 1990 soccer match between Hajduk Split and Partizan Belgrade presaged the Yugoslavian Civil War. Thirty years on, army teams from the six now-independent nations are competing in a soccer tournament. Are the tensions a thing of the past?
Beba
- Rebeca Huntt
- 2021
Dazzling self-portrait of a New York filmmaker who explores her Latin and African-American heritage in this revealing glimpse into her turbulent youth and family history.
Black Mambas
- Lena Karbe
- 2022
The Black Mambas combat poaching in Kruger National Park. It’s a dream job that empowers women, or so it seems. A multilayered observational portrait about post-colonialism and the shady side of tourism and nature conservation.
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
- Christopher Sharp, Moses Bwayo
- 2022
Running for president in Uganda can be deadly dangerous, even if you are a democratically elected member of parliament. Charismatic ghetto pop star Bobi Wine decides to chance it anyway, but meets daunting opposition.
Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power
- Nina Menkes
- 2022
This essay documentary built around Nina Menkes’s lecture “Sex and Power: The Visual Language of Oppression” draws on a selection of classic and cult film images to deconstruct the ubiquitous objectification of women in film.
Camouflage
- Jonathan Perel
- 2022
Do those who live near the Argentinian army base Campo de Mayo still remember its dark past? Writer Félix Bruzzone’s mother was murdered there during the dictatorship. Now he travels this emotionally charged landscape and meets the local people.
Cesária Évora
- Ana Sofia Fonseca
- 2022
An affectionate portrait of this Cape Verdean singer with a deep, melancholic voice, using archived footage, live recordings, and interviews to capture the life of a woman who never betrayed her humble origins and always held on to her independence.
Cosmic Chant. Niño de Elche
- Marc Sempere-Moya, Leire Apellaniz
- 2021
Singer, performer and artist Niño de Elche is renowned for his groundbreaking vision of flamenco. Playfully provoking his audience, he invites them to consider a question: What can flamenco be?
De Humani Corporis Fabrica
- Véréna Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
- 2022
Following in the footsteps of Andreas Vesalius, who five centuries ago was the first to map human anatomy, this sensorial film explores the bodies of men and women during operations on various parts of the body. Intimate, at a microscopic level.
Devil’s Peak
- Simon Liu
- 2022
A dynamic impression of life under Chinese pressure in Hong Kong, with flashes of repression and protest among the barrage of scenes from the big city. The unsettling soundtrack accentuates the nightmarish atmosphere.
Dreaming Walls
- Amélie van Elmbt, Maya Duverdier
- 2022
The legendary Chelsea Hotel in New York is being turned into a boutique hotel, and its permanent residents have been living in the mess for the last nine years. Dreaming Walls captures the last visible remnants of the hotel’s dark and glorious past.
The Eclipse
- Nataša Urban
- 2022
Framed by the solar eclipses of 1961 and 1999, this essayistic documentary examines how a Serbian family—and taking a wider perspective, an entire country—relates to a turbulent history.
The Exiles
- Ben Klein, Violet Columbus
- 2021
In 1989, Christine Choy interviewed three Chinese men who had fled to the US after the Tiananmen Square student protest was violently crushed. Thirty years later, their optimism has turned to disillusionment.
Foragers
- Jumana Manna
- 2022
Israel has banned plucking za’atar and akoub, two plants essential to Palestinian cuisine. Officially, it’s to preserve nature, but Palestinian wild pickers see it differently. A subtle but powerful film on how politics can reach into the kitchen.
Fragile Memory
- Igor Ivanko
- 2022
Igor Ivanko discovers piles of old negatives belonging to his grandfather Leonid Burlaka, and delves into the life of this retired Soviet cameraman. Ivanko gets the pictures developed, only to discover they are damaged—just like Burlaka’s memory.
Geographies of Solitude
- Jacquelyn Mills
- 2022
A poetic 16mm portrait of Sable Island and its sole human inhabitant Zoe Lucas, who is studying and conserving its flora and fauna. The inspiring bond that develops between Lucas and the filmmaker leads to some remarkable experiments.
Gigi la Legge
- Alessandro Comodin
- 2022
A sun-soaked portrait of Gigi, a police officer investigating a worrying series of suicides in a charming small Italian town. Fortunately, there’s enough time left for flirting, chatting with colleagues or daydreaming in his overgrown jungle garden.
The Hamlet Syndrome
- Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski
- 2022
Theater maker Roza Sarkisian is united with five young Ukrainians to create a performance in which Shakespeare’s Hamlet and their reality come together. The depiction of this intense process is complemented by impressive portraits of the protagonists.
A House Made of Splinters
- Simon Lereng Wilmont
- 2022
Winter and war mean this Ukrainian children’s home near the front is fuller than ever. A group of resolute, no-nonsense women have created an almost magical place where they watch over children who are waiting for the government to decide their fate.
How to Save a Dead Friend
- Marusya Syroechkovskaya
- 2022
The love between like-minded millennials Marusya and Kimi turns to agony as Kimi gradually disappears into serious drug addiction. A portrait of a generation gripped by despair and hopelessness.
Innocence
- Guy Davidi
- 2022
When young Israelis turn 18, they have to join the army. Narrated diary excerpts of young people who died while in service illustrate their shattered dreams and desires in an increasingly militaristic society.
Jaime
- Francisco Javier Rodriguez
- 2022
With originality and subtlety, director Francisco Javier Rodriguez portrays the inner life of a 33-year-old psychiatric patient. The boundaries between reality and imagination fall away.
Katanga Nation
- Hiwot Getaneh, Beza Hailu Lemma
- 2022
A better life seems so close here, among the skyscrapers of Addis Ababa. But the people living in the Katanga district know how difficult it is to get ahead—and that only strengthens their resilience, and their love-thy-neighbor take on life.
Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles
- Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
- 2022
What are artists to do in wartime? Instead of producing religious statues, the Ukrainian sculptors in this short film make anti-tank obstacles. The need for these is more urgent at the moment.
Meet Me in the Bathroom
- Will Lovelace, Dylan Southern
- 2022
A portrait of the New York music scene around the dawn of the 21st century. Stories told by the front men and one front woman paint a picture of a generation of bands such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Strokes, Moldy Peaches and LCD Soundsystem.
Midwives
- Hnin Ei Hlaing
- 2022
Two women, a Buddhist and a Muslim, work together at a maternity clinic in Myanmar. The oppression of Rohingya Muslims in the country means it’s dangerous to treat Muslim women—but neither of these obstetricians take any notice of that.
My Paper Life
- Vida Dena
- 2022
Iranian filmmaker Vida Dena follows an immigrant Syrian family in Brussels in this, her debut film. She brings their memories and experiences to life by animating the cutout drawings they make together.
Nothing Compares
- Kathryn Ferguson
- 2022
Contemporary, feminist take on Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor’s words and deeds in the period from 1987 to 1993. O’Connor’s unique voice and appearance made her a sensation. But she was brutally punished for her political statements.
Nothing Lasts Forever
- Jason Kohn
- 2022
A revealing film about the growing market for synthetic diamonds produced in factories. When the difference between man-made and mined gems disappears, revaluation will be inevitable. What is it we’re being sold?
Polaris
- Ainara Vera
- 2022
While Hayat captains a boat sailing over the Arctic Ocean, her younger sister Leila gives birth to a baby daughter. Perhaps this new life has the power to break the cycle of neglect and absence in their family.
Pornomelancholia
Riotsville, USA
- Sierra Pettengill
- 2022
From the late 1960s, the US authorities’ response to social protest movements has increasingly tilted towards repression. This essay film shows the development through disconcerting archive material.
The River Is Not a Border
- Alassane Diago
- 2022
Atrocities were carried out on both sides of the Senegal–Mauritania border in 1989. Senegalese filmmaker Alassane Diago gives victims and witnesses the opportunity to speak movingly about their experiences, as a first step towards reconciliation.
Scala
- Ananta Thitanat
- 2022
Ananta Thitanat documents the dismantling of Scala, Thailand’s last standalone movie theater. From there, a bigger story emerges about working conditions, political upheaval and the filmmaker’s personal history.
Silent Love
- Marek Kozakiewicz
- 2022
A subtle coming-of-age film about changing roles in a Polish family. When 35-year-old Aga starts caring for her teenage brother following their mother’s death, can she tell him—and the deeply conservative world outside—that she is a lesbian?
A Sound of My Own
- Rebecca Zehr
- 2021
After the death of krautrock legend Christian Burchard, his band Embryo continues, led by his daughter Marja. Is it possible to build musical autonomy on top of such a rich heritage?
The Spiral
- María Silvia Esteve
- 2022
A woman talks about how she sometimes sinks into a downward spiral of fear and emotion. With the addition of pulsating 80s sounds and gorgeous explosions of animated color, the story becomes as hypnotic as it is empathetic.
Steel Life
- Manuel Bauer
- 2022
Breathtaking landscapes alternate with scenes of somber small-town life on a train trip across Peru. This contemplative journey takes us along a railroad route of almost 300 kilometers.
Subtotals
- Mohammadreza Farzad
- 2022
A poetic essay in which a contemplative voice-over accompanies 8mm home videos from bygone days in Iran. Lists of number-based facts evoke a sense of life’s intangible nature.
The Super 8 Years
- Annie Ernaux, David Ernaux-Briot
- 2022
Writer Annie Ernaux looks back at her and her family’s home movies, shot with a Super 8 camera in the 1970s and 1980s. What do the films have to say about who they were then, and about the times in which they were living?
Things I Could Never Tell My Mother
- Humaira Bilkis
- 2022
The mother of filmmaker Humaira Bilkis became a devout Muslim after a pilgrimage to Mecca. Free-spirited Humaira is her polar opposite, but in this film she goes in search of what binds them.
We, Students!
- Rafiki Fariala
- 2021
A nimble portrait following the lives of students Aaron, Benjamin, Nestor, and Rafiki in the Central African Republic. In this poverty-stricken country, the friends focus their hopes on the future. An award winner at IndieLisboa and Cinéma du Réel.
When the Mountain Rumbles
- Alba Bresolí Aliberch
- 2022
An observational portrait of three aging brothers living together, isolated in a Spanish village that many decades ago was emptied by government order. But now new political and economic decisions are threatening their way of life again.
Will You Look at Me
- Shuli Huang
- 2022
As filmmaker Shuli Huang returns to his Chinese hometown in search for himself, a long due conversation with his mother plunges the two of them into a quest for acceptance and love in this Cannes award-winning film.
IDFA Competition for Short Documentary
Mountain Man
- Arun Bhattarai
- 2022
Eleven-year-old Yangchen’s father is Bhutan’s glacier specialist. He spends months on end away from home measuring the ice thickness, which is rapidly diminishing due to climate change. But local people fear that he will disturb the mythical snow lion.
My Courtyard
- Shrutiman Deori
- 2021
On a boarding school in a city in the far northeast of India, 14-year-old Gautam is helplessly confined to his dorm during the Covid-19 lockdown. Back home in the village, his mother worries. An atmospheric, poetic short film about inequality.
The Porters
- Sarah Vanagt
- 2022
What happens when you get young people in Brussels to play a verbal memory game based on a list of objects from a colonial expedition in the former Belgian Congo? As you might guess: surprise turns to anger, discussions and raised awareness.
A Robust Heart
- Martín Benchimol
- 2022
A simple, effective film about butchers working at an Argentine abattoir. They talk about their work and their personal lives, motivations and fears. The director also reveals something of himself.
The Silence of the Banana Trees
- Eneos Çarka
- 2022
The documentary maker becomes a go-between in an attempt to unite a father and his terminally ill daughter. Abstract imagery and patient observations take the viewer on a journey into the father’s pain, to arrive at a heartwarming dénouement.
Solmatalua
- Rodrigo Ribeiro-Andrade
- 2022
If collective memory exists, this may be what it looks like. An intuitive collage of people, landscapes, performances and impressionistic scenes emanate directly from the African diaspora in Brazil. Poetic and experimental, between ritual and activism.
Still Static
- Adam Kaplan
- 2022
A woman and a man reflect on an unspecified harrowing event that they both lived through. However, they have very different ways of dealing with their horrific memories.
This Was Your Nicest Auntie Ria
- Anneke de Lind van Wijngaarden
- 2022
An intimate personal portrait of “Auntie Ria,” a feisty, independent woman who must face the reality that her dementia is gradually getting worse. Her niece Anneke tenderly captures the last seven years of her life.
Till the End
- Beatrice Perego
- 2022
Martina is fascinated by death. In this poetic film she even stages her own dream funeral. This parting ritual helps director Beatrice Perego, a dear friend, to process her own major loss.
Violet Gave Willingly
- Claire Sanford
- 2022
An intimate portrait of Canadian textile artist Deborah Dumka, whose daughter, filmmaker Claire Sanford, captures Dumka’s skillful work and artistic process, occasionally posing painful questions about traumas borne in silence.
Wild Wounded Animals
- Jakob Pagel Andersen
- 2022
Love and panic compete for precedence when Jakob holds his newborn in his arms. Hoping to gain insight into his feelings, the filmmaker visits his taciturn father in this moving, powerful and mutedly poetic self-examination.
Achewiq, the Song of the Brave Women
- Elina Kastler
- 2022
The traditional improvisational song of the Northern Algerian Berbers is called achewiq. It is a vehicle for women to express their feelings and deal with disaster—such as the recent forest fires, which were unprecedented in their intensity.
Away
- Ruslan Fedotow
- 2022
A heartbreaking portrait of two 16-year-old Ukrainian refugees in Budapest. They help out at a school for refugee children and make protest art on the streets—triggering political discussions among the Hungarian passersby.
Budapest Silo
- Zsófia Paczolay
- 2022
A powerfully visual film, with stunning cinematography, about a worker at an old grain silo in Budapest. His work is like that of a scuba diver: each day he is lowered into the 25-meters-deep silos, where he performs a dazzling dance.
A Country in a Corner
- Neema Ngelime
- 2021
A visit to Matonge, the African quarter in Brussels, evokes mixed feelings for filmmaker Neema Ngelime. She would like to be part of the community, but at the same time struggles with its stifling morality.
Dust Away
- Tanita Rahmani, Dea Gjinovci
- 2022
The dirtiest jobs in the clean-up after the 9/11 attacks were given to undocumented immigrants, at the cost of their health. Creatively edited images and animations accompany their testimonials.
Is There a Pine on the Mountain
- Chongyan Liu
- 2022
An intimate account of a highly toxic relationship: during a lengthy visit from her boyfriend’s mother, the filmmaker documents the arguments between mother and son. An oppressive and candid study of the transmission of violence through generations.
Mother Earth’s Inner Organs
- Ana Bravo Pérez
- 2022
An experimental film connecting the port of Amsterdam with the territory of the Wayuu people in Colombia. The use of coal in Europe has a major impact on the indigenous people and on Mother Earth. The mine is a stinking, open wound.
Mountain Flesh
- Valentina Shasivari
- 2022
All looks calm in a beautiful Swiss mountain village, but sounds of rustling and crackling rise from deep underground. What are those men doing with their measuring instruments? A meditation in black-and-white about people, nature and religion.
IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary
A Mouthful of Petrol
- Jess Kohl
- 2022
A coming-of-age documentary about 12-year-old JayDee, whose father brought him up on car racing. Now JayDee’s first race is approaching—and he doesn’t want to disappoint his father.
Beyond Our Stars
- Sara van Oostrum
- 2022
In voice-over, children speak candidly about death and exchange ideas about it with elderly people. The visual illustrations include cut-out animations to which the children have clearly contributed.
Elsa
- Julia Jansch
- 2022
An engaging portrait of Instagram celebrity and role model Elsa from Kenya, who attracted attention during the pandemic with her feisty, plain-speaking videos. But always “being yourself” also takes its toll.
Fatima
- Lucia Chicos, Alexandra Diaconu
- 2022
The video diary of 18-year-old Fatima, who fled Afghanistan with her family and now lives in Bucharest. With increasing frankness, the young Muslim woman records her life in the Romanian capital.
The Garbage Man
- Laura Gonçalves
- 2022
Drawn in flowing lines, this short animated documentary tells the story of Manel Botão, the filmmaker’s uncle. Conversations around the table with relatives paint a portrait of an extraordinary man during a dark period in Portuguese history.
Girl Gang
- Susanne Regina Meures
- 2022
A portrait of 14-year-old Leonie, a successful teenage influencer from Berlin. It seems like a fairy tale, all the followers, attention and free products, but the continuous pressure to produce content threatens to overwhelm her family.
Home Is Somewhere Else
- Carlos Hagerman, Jorge Villalobos
- 2022
This animated documentary takes you inside their hearts and minds of three young undocumented immigrants and their families in the United States. Their stories tell of painful experiences, vibrant dreams and living under constant threat of deportation.
Insight
- Emma Braun
- 2022
An atmospheric black-and-white documentary about Sophie, a chimney sweep in Germany. Over images of her working day, she speaks of her experiences as a woman in this male profession, ranging from undisguised sexism to meaningful conversation.
Jasmin’s Two Homes
- Inka Achté, Hanna Karppinen
- 2022
Finland is home to Jasmin and everything is familiar: the winters are cold, the playground is just around the corner and her best friend is called Maryam. But one day her parents decide to return to Somaliland.
The Longest Wait
- Lisa Meyer
- 2022
An intimate portrait of two Swedish girls on the brink of adulthood. In an atmospheric winter landscape, the friends hunt game for the first time without parental supervision.
Oasis
- Justine Martin
- 2022
Camping together in the woods is what the twins Raphaël and Rémi like doing best. But Raphaël has an intellectual disability, and their paths will soon diverge. During this one last summer, time seems to stand still for a while.
Ramboy
- Matthias Joulaud, Lucien Roux
- 2022
A calm and sensitive portrait of the bond between a grandfather and his grandson on the Irish island of Achill. During the summer, sheep farmer Martin teaches the teenager Cian the ins and outs of farming—and that means hard work for the boy.
Sezer’s Summer
- Marina Meijer
- 2022
Fourteen-year-old Sezer spends a long, languid summer in Rotterdam—swimming and fishing, but also stealing bikes. His mother desperately tries to keep him under control, while youth services threaten to intervene.
Waters of Pastaza
- Inês Alves
- 2022
A group of children from the Achuar community, the original inhabitants of the region along the Pastaza River bordering Ecuador and Peru, move through the jungle independently—playing and working, in harmony with nature.