A MI LADO (BY MY SIDE)

by Jean-Cosme Delaloye
JCDE Productions
| 95’ - 55’ | USA | 2012 | HD
Some mothers put their children first. Some don’t. To survive in the trash of the Chureca, Central America’s largest dump located in Nicaragua, three young women will have to determine whether their mothers are their best allies or unexpected foes.




A RIVER CHANGES COURSE

by Kalyanee Mam |
Migrant Films, Documentation Center of Cambodia
| 83’ | Cambodia - USA | 2013
Twice a year in Cambodia, the Tonle Sap River changes course, while the river of life flows in a perpetual cycle of death and rebirth and of creation and destruction. Working in an intimate, verite style, Kalyanee Mam, spent two years in her native homeland following three young Cambodians struggling to overcome the crushing effects of deforestation, overfishing, and overwhelming debt.





CHAR...THE NO-MAN'S ISLAND

by Sourav Sarangi
Son & Lumière | 88’ - 52' | India - Italy - Denmark - Norway | 2012 | HD
Meet Rubel, a fourteen years old boy smuggling rice from India to Bangladesh. He has to cross the river Ganga acting as the international border. The same river eroded his home in mainland India when he was just four. Years later a fragile island called Char was formed within the large river. With his family and a herd of homeless people, Rubel decided to settle in this barren expanse controlled by the border police from both the countries.




Dharavi, Slum for sale

by Rob Appleby, Lutz Konermann
Hugofilm, Tradewind Pictures GmbH, Germany
| 59’- 79’/35mm | Switzerland | 2010 | HD 16:9 |
Dharavi, India's biggest slum is to be knocked down and its profitable real estate to be turned into billions of Dollars. The film follows the struggle of the underprivileged to defend their homes and livelihoods against mounting globalisation.





Dreamland

by Thorfinnur Gudnason, Andri Snaer Magnason
Ground Control Productions
| 89’ - 56’ | Iceland | 2009 | 35mm |
How much unspoiled nature should we preserve and what do we sacrifice for clean, renewable energy? Dreamland gradually turns into a disturbing picture of corporate power taking over nature and small communities. It’s the dark side of green energy.





Dust. The great Asbestros Trial

by Niccolo Bruna, Andrea Prandstraller
GraffitiDoc, Iota Production - Isabelle Truc (Bruxelles), Amka Films - Tiziana Soudani (Lugano)
| 84’- 52’ | Italy | 2011 | HD CAM |
The great asbestos trial recounts the first degree criminal trial of Turin, which should decide of the responsibilities of the biggest leaders in the social aftermath of the company's activities, related to both his own employees and the community.





EMPIRE OF DUST

by Bram Van Paesschen
Savage Film
| 77’ | Belgium | 2011 | HD Loa Yang and Eddy both work for the Chinese Railway Engineering Company in charge of rebuilding the 300km-long road that connects Kolwezi to the capital of the province Lubumbashi. Loa Yang is head of logistics for the group but when he sees that none of the necessary material arrives, he has no option but to leave the camp with Eddy, a Congolese man who speaks fluent Mandarin, and head out to deal with local Congolese entrepreneurs. The result is an endless, harsh but absurdly funny roller coaster of negotiations and misunderstandings, as Lao Yang learns about the Congolese ways.





FALLEN CITY

by Qi Zhao
Qi Films
| 90’ - 55' | China | 2012 | HD
When an earthquake struck the Chinese mountain city of Beichuan on May 12, 2008, it was completely destroyed. Twenty thousand people died, leaving their families devastated. Fallen City zooms in on the family lives of three survivors, who are marked by painful memories and deep sadness. Mr. Peng is a devoted father who lost his daughter in the rubble. The trauma that he and his wife are suffering stands in the way of rebuilding their life.




Good Things Await

by Phie Ambo
Danish Documentary Production, Vintage Pictures
| 58’ - 95' | Denmark | 2014 | HD |
Niels is 79 years old and one of the last idealistic farmers in the agricultural country of Denmark. He makes some of the world’s finest products, praised by the consumers, prized by the world’s best restaurant, NOMA in Copenhagen, and nursed in harmony with the universe. But Niels’ ways of farming in accordance with the planets and the primal instincts of the animals are not too popular with the authorities. They are threatening to withdraw his license to keep cattle, the buildings are deteriorating, and with no successor to take over, Niels risks seeing his life fall apart. Is Niels’ way of pre-industrial farming actually the most modern way of farming? He produces healthy and tasteful products but is fighting against rules set by the industrial farming culture. What effect will these rules have in the long term on our crop, food and animals? And what effect will it have on planet Earth and the universe? Farmer Niels has an idea about this, and with his stubbornness and insight he will fight every day to pass this knowledge onto us.





Herman’s House

by Angad Singh Bhalla
Storyline Entertainment
| 81’ - 55' | Canada | 2012 | |
Herman Wallace has spent 40 years imprisoned in solitary confinement in a six-by-nine-foot cell for a crime many believe he never committed. The injustice of solitary confinement and the transformative power of art are explored in Herman's House, a feature documentary from first-time director Angad Singh Bhalla, that follows the unlikely friendship between Jackie Sumell a New York artist, and Herman Wallace, one of America's most famous inmates, as they collaborate on an acclaimed art project.





HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE


by Stephen T. Maing
Mud Horse Pictures LLC
| 88’ - 58’ | USA | 2012 | HD
>HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE follows the journey of two of China’s first citizen reporters as they travel the country - chronicling underreported news and social issues stories. Armed with laptops, cell phones, and digital cameras they develop skills as independent one-man news stations while learning to navigate China’s evolving censorship regulations and avoiding the risk of political persecution.





European Film Awards Shortlist

HOW TO MEET A MERMAID

by Coco Schrijber
Zeppers Film &TV, House of Real (Denmark), Off World (Belgium)
| 90’ | The Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium | 2016 | HD |
In 'HOW TO MEET A MERMAID', the sea is the thread that binds the lives of Lex, Rebecca, and Miguel together. Will they find the paradise they so anxiously seek underneath the water?





In the Name of the Animals

by Sabine Kueckelmann
Sabine Kueckelmann
| 104’ - 52’ | Germany | 2015 | HD |
“The film powerfully explores how people say they “love” animals (cats and dogs) but see others just as a food source or byproduct. This film explores the deplorable and inhumane treatment this creates as a result. It makes us take a hard look at ourselves and how we so easily close our eyes to their suffering, unwilling to confront the endless pain and cruelty at our own hands.” (Jury Accolade Award)





Last Harvest

by Hui Wang
Redbean Productions
| 78’ - 52' | Canada | 2015 | |
Last Harvest follows the remarkable journey of Mr. and Mrs. Xu, an elderly Chinese farming couple, on a forced relocation by the government’s mammoth South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Lyrical and intimate, the film brings us into the life of two compelling peasants facing major disruption late in life. It continues the story where other documentaries left off – after the people have been relocated and have to re-build their lives, and offers a direct experience of the collision between traditional culture and modernization, through which we see the imminent extinction of Old China as New China emerge.





Let there be Light

by Mila Aung-Thwin
EyeSteelFilm
| 80’&52’ | Canada | 2017 | 4K |
The world’s most complex science experiment is humanity’s greatest hope for the future of clean energy.





LoveMEATender

by Manu Coeman
AT Production/AT-DOC, Planète Vie
| 52' - 63' | Belgium | 2011 | HD |
This documentary is a fierce indictment of the industrialized meat industry. The objective is to demonstrate the consequences of our excessive meat consumption: for the animals, for the earth, but also for our own bodies.





My Thai Bride

by David Tucker
Showreal Films Pty Ltd
| 55’ | Australia | 2011 | |
In Wales, Ted doesn't exist. This 46-year-old single man feels lonely in a society where only young people count. In Thailand he marries Tip. His new wife starts running the finances before long he leaves penniless.





Pennies

by Badran Badran
Yoad Earon Films
| 52’ - 72’ | Israel | 2015 | HD |
Two young Palestinian brothers, Yichia (14-years-old) and Hamam (8-years-old), living in Tul Karem are forced to grow-up too fast, to give up going to school and children’s play and instead work as street beggars in Wadi Arah Israel to support their family. Hamam, the youngest, tries to avoid the hard work and play while his elder brother Yichia, dreams of a better future.





POWERLESS

by Fahad Mustafa & Deepti Kakkar Globalistan Films
| India | 80' - 52' | India | 2013 | HD
Shariq, a 22-year-old electrician living in Kanpur, is renowned for his prowess in stealing electricity. In the face of day-long power-cuts, he runs illegal connections from one neighborhood to another so that homes, factories and business are not left in the dark. Meanwhile, the city administration is renewing its efforts to clamp down on power-theft, which costs them millions of rupees in losses each year.





Semper Fi: Always Faithful

by Tony Hardmon, Rachel Libert
Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc.
| 76’ - 60' | USA | 2011 | HDCam |
When Jerry’s nine-year old daughter Janey died of a rare type of leukemia, his world collapsed. As a grief-stricken father, he struggled for years to make sense of what happened. His search for answers led to the shocking discovery of a Marine Corps cover-up of one of the largest water contamination incidents in U.S. history.





South to North

by Antoine Boutet
Les Films du Présent, Sister Productions
| 109' | France | 2014 | DCP, dvd blu ray, video, hd, quicktime |
The Nan Shui Bei Diao (South Water North Move), designed to move water from the south to the north of China, is the biggest water transfer project the world has ever seen. Charting the path of this national construction project, the film maps the turbulent cartography of a territory where cement defeats the plains, rivers are deviated from their natural course, deserts become forests and where gradually people are becoming vocal, demanding justice and the right to speak out. While matter decomposes and individuals are becoming alarmed, a science-fiction landscape, against nature, is reconstituted.




 

SUSHI : THE GLOBAL CATCH

by Mark S. Hall
Sakana Film Productions - Cactus Three
| 75’ - 52' | USA | 2011
Sushi began as simple street food in Tokyo but has developed into a worldwide phenomenon. From restaurants in New York and Warsaw to grocery stores and football games, sushi is on the menu. Can this growth continue without consequence? Sushi: The Global Catch is a call to action that cannot be ignored.




TOXIC PLAYGROUND

by Willliam Johansson & Lars Edman
Laïka Film
| Sweden | 70’ - 58’ | 2009 | Children in Arica in the North of Chile are falling badly ill because of toxic waste dumped by a Swedish company in the 80’s. The young filmmaker Lars find Rolf, head of environment at the company who was responsible for the waste going to Chile and who decides to deal with his wrongdoings in the past. He agrees to go back to Chile to take the consequenses.





WAITING FOR GIRAFFES

by Marco de Stefanis
Volya Films - Cassette for timescapes | 84’ - 55’ | Netherlands - Belgium | 2016 | HD
Who is more restrained in Qalqilya, its citizens or the zoo animals? The village is for the most part surrounded by Israel’s wall. A lot of the zoo animals were killed during the intifadas, and most recently a giraffe couple.