Papa

yaya/ayat

yaya/ayat explores identities, being lost in translation and distance. But at its core it's about the filmmaker longing for a relationship with her geographically distant grandma and her journey to Greece to find her. This is an experimental documentary about how being a part of any diaspora shapes a person's identity.

Mama Rosa

Rosa is from Croatia and lives in Switzerland, with her husband who depends on her care. She takes care of everything. Her children have grown up and want to leave home. Rosa stays behind alone.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.

Buzz One Four

Buzz One Four chronicles the ill-fated flight of a Cold War B-52 Stratofortress loaded with two 3-4-megaton nuclear bombs that crashed 90 miles from Washington DC in 1961. Information suggests that detonation came closer than official reports indicated. The full details of the crash have remained classified and otherwise repressed by the Air Force, but the filmmaker, Portlander Matt McCormick, grew up with this story because the pilot was his grandfather. As McCormick recounts the history of the era, aspects of this crash, and other little-know nuclear-weapons accidents, he leaves us wondering if the U.S. was in greater danger of nuking itself than of being attacked by the Russians.

Es gibt kein zurück

The documentary film "There is no turning back" by Stéphane Kleeb tells the story of the Tibetan siblings Losang and Dechen Barshee, who came to Switzerland as refugee children in 1964. After a difficult childhood in various foster families, they return to Tibet with their mother 40 years later. This journey confronts them with the alienation from their mother and their changed homeland. The film addresses homelessness, uprooting and lost dreams.

La bisabuela tiene Alzheimer

A meeting between the daughter and the grandmother of the director, Iván Mora Manzano, at a time when the memories of one, the girl’s, were taking shape, and the other’s the grandmother’s, were vanishing. This starting point is used as a pretext to talk about other topics such as the importance of family memories and the search for memory.

I'm Breathing All the Time

In this autobiographical documentary, Rosa explores her anxiety, derealisation, and a mother-daughter bond shaped by shared trauma.

The Boy of The Fish

"The Boy Of The Fish" follows Noon, a young boy living in a Syrian refugee camp, who finds solace and a sense of freedom in a whale-shaped doll he names "Bahr." Set against the challenging realities of camp life, Noon’s journey is both a story of resilience and a testament to the boundless imagination of childhood. Through vivid symbolism and a unique soundscape, the film explores themes of loss, hope, and the longing for freedom amidst confinement. Shot entirely on an iPhone due to restrictions in the conflict zone, the film combines raw authenticity with poetic depth to capture the emotional landscape of a young soul navigating adversity.

Reading You

A filmmaker attempts to piece together memories of her mother after the discovery of diaries she left behind 16 years ago.

Tout le temps, tout le temps, tout le temps...?

2 or 3 Things I Know About Him

What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)

The Bridge

The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.

De Wolkenfietsers - erfenis van een droom

On the outskirts of Den Helder lies De Nollen, an inland dune area where nature, sculpture, and painting merge into a truly immersive experience. It is the life's work of artist Rudi van de Wint. He died unexpectedly in 2006. His sons, Ruud and Gijs, carried on his dream, out of love for their father and for De Nollen. But plans for a Rudi van de Wint museum in the area led to cracks in their idyllic existence.

Sheher-E-Lucknow

A docu-film about the city Lucknow where the creators ask their family members important questions they have always wanted answers to, while indulging in tomfoolery around town. The film showcases the differences in the way three different generations perceive Lucknow. An ode to the city, and an attempt to provide solace to the social misfits of the creators' hometown.

I'll be your mirror

The artist Johanna Faust is about to leave her children to finally devote herself to her art again. A vague memory comes to her mind: Didn't her grandmother do the same thing, with terrible consequences? The intimate road movie tells of lost mothers and abandoned children, of the temptations and the price of self-fulfilment, of the abysses of motherhood and of the deep longing for another life.

When delusion becomes reality

Jöran has a bipolar disorder, which makes him vulnerable to depression, mania and psychosis. He can sympathize well at the moment, but that has been different in the past. Jöran delves into his dark past and talks to the people who experienced his illness up close. How do you deal with this disorder and the misunderstood behavior that comes with it? And how do you break the taboo that still exists on disease pressure?

Was uns bindet

A documentary about the parents of director Ivette Löcker, who have been living apart in their shared home for 20 years.

Whitney: Can I Be Me

The life and tragic death of Whitney Houston.

Finding Carlos

Brayden Olson has spent his life wondering about the father he never knew. Armed with only a name, a faded photograph, and an improbable lead, he sets out across continents to uncover the mystery of Carlos. But as each revelation brings him closer to the truth, Brayden risks unraveling the life he’s always known — especially the bond with the mother who raised him alone. Raw, intimate, and deeply human, Finding Carlos explores identity, family, and the silent epidemic of fatherlessness.

Back To Africa

An Austrian director followed five successful African music and dance artists with his camera and followed their lives for a year. The artists, from villages in Ghana, Gambia and Congo, were the subjects of Africa! Africa! touring across Europe, but they have unbreakable roots to their homeland and their families. Schmiderer lovingly portrays his heroes, who tell their stories about themselves, their art and what it means to them to be African with captivating honesty. The interviews are interwoven with dance scenes and colourful vignettes set to authentic music.