Health - catndocs.com

9-Month Contract

by Ketevan Vashagashvili
1991 Productions LLC, Agitprop (Martichka Bozhilova)
| 80’- 52’ | Georgia, Bulgaria, Germany | 2025 | |
A Georgian mother turns to surrogacy to secure a roof over her daughter’s head. What begins as a quick way to earn cash transforms into a profound sacrifice, questioning how far a mother can go. Nine months of pregnancy for 14,000 dollars?
A long friendship between director and protagonist evolves into a film about surrogate motherhood and dignity in an unregulated industry in Tbilisi. (CPH:Dox)

A Diary of Healing

A STRANGER'S SKIN

by Christophe Hermans
Frakas Productions
51’ | Belgium | 2011

Arnaud is a 20 year old young man. Following the death of his mother three years ago, he has dropped out of his studies and taken refuge in food to fill the void. He now weighs 177 kilos and lives with his father, with whom he quarrels constantly. Arnaud has reached the point where he has decided to undergo a stomach reduction operation....

AT THE PHILOSOPHER'S SCHOOL

by Fernand Melgar
Climage
| 97’ | Switzerland | 2018 | 4K |
The adventure of a small group of children different from the others, who open themselves to life and to the world.

Burning Out

by Jérôme le Maire
AT Production/AT-DOC, Iota Production (Belgium), Louise Productions (Switzerland), Zadig (France)
| 82’ | Belgium-France | 2016 | HD |
Burning out follows a group of doctors and their team crushed by a profitability injunction of our contemporary world. Could they resist ? If the caregivers are suffering who will treat them ?

Compost Me

Dear Mother, I Meant to Write about Death

by Siyi Chen
Introvert Films, Fish+Bear Pictures, CNEX Foundation
| 63’ - 52' | China, USA | 2022 | |
Growing up as the daughter of a physician, Siyi learnt at a very young age about the danger of emotions. Her mother, Dr. Shen would always tell her in the same way she would speak to her patients, “Focus on solving the problem. How does crying help?” Driven by their stoicism, both the mother and daughter end up as overachievers. Dr. Shen was the first woman to go to college from her rural hometown and Siyi graduated from a top university in China. After the mother and daughter have lived apart - sometimes even on different continents - for more than 10 years, destiny brought them back together. They meet at the same hospital where Siyi spent her childhood and where Dr. Shen worked for her whole life. However this time, Dr. Shen is no longer the invincible doctor but a cancer patient, and Siyi raises questions she never got to ask as a kid. As the mother and daughter face old scars and an uncertain future, they build a deeper bond by completely taking off their armors in front of the camera. Their journey is a story about finding power from vulnerability, and love from our deepest fear.

Dear Tomorrow

by Kaspar Astrup Schröder
Good Company Pictures, Momento Film (David Herdies), Moolin Production
| 82’- 58’ | Denmark, Sweden, Japan | 2025 | |
In Japan, where loneliness has become a national crisis, the film follows people battling isolation. Through a volunteer chat service, compassionate connections, and government initiatives, they find paths to reclaim their lives from despair.

Don Juan

by Jerzy Sladkowski
Ginestra Film AB, MADE Oy
| 92’ | Sweden/Finland | 2015 | HD |
A four-sided love triangle, spiced with autism, neuroses and life crises in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod. The 22-year-old autistic young man Oleg is seeking approval and love. He is surrounded by many who wants to help him, but no-one succeeds. Suddenly help comes from an unexpected direction.

Dr. Feelgood

by Eve Marson
Bungalow Pictures
| 83 | USA | 2016 | |
The story of Dr. William Hurwitz a preeminent pain specialist sentenced to 25 years in prison for drug trafficking provides a window into the ethical dilemma of opioid prescriptions. Painkillers give doctors tremendous power to relieve pain, but this power begets trouble when the same drugs lead to addiction, abuse and death..

For Vagina’s Sake

by Boram Kim
Keam Production
| 84’ & 52’ | South Korea | 2017 | HD |
Women eat, sleep, and bleed. This bleeding has been symbolized as mystery, impurity, and inferiority, but this long-lasting taboo around menstruation started to crack up.

I’m Not Afraid

by Fadi Hindash
The Sound of Applause
| 90'&52' | The Netherlands | 2016 | HD |
71 year-old psychiatrist Frederik Polak is in the final stages of preparing for the assisted suicide of his patient Mrs. L. After 15 years of trying to treat her, he’s finally come to the conclusion that helping her die is the only way to save her. Mrs. L has been suffering from a severe anxiety disorder all her life. She spends her days alone and heavily medicated. 40 years of debilitating mental illness have isolated her completely, leaving her with no family or friends. Mrs. L’s lonely existence is in complete contrast to Frederik’s life which is packed full of friends, grandkids, birthday dinners and colleagues. Despite his life of privilege, Frederik digs deep in himself to find the empathy needed to help Mrs. L and see things from her point of view. But how does he cope with the idea of losing a person he’s known intimately for the last two decades. I’M NOT AFRAID follows the painfully intimate process of physician-assisted suicide and the emotional toll such a journey takes on both doctor and patient. It is as much a story about a woman facing her death as a story about a doctor facing the hard reality that helping his patient die is the only way to end her suffering.

ININNAWA:AN ISLAND CALLING

by Arfan Sabran
Two Islands Digital (PT Dua Pulau Digital)
| 73’- 52’ | Indonesia | 2022 | 2K |
"Ininnawa: An Island Calling" explores the difficulties the world’s largest archipelago faces in providing health care. An out of sight, out of mind approach has failed her people. It is a story of obligation and sacrifice, told through a family dedicating their lives to this pursuit in the remote islands of the Flores Sea.

Little People Big Dreams

by Mak CK
MCN International Pte. Ltd, Wonderland Pictures
| 89’ | Singapore | 2014 | HD |
Travel to the most unlikely kingdom on earth. This is china’s dwarves empire, where little people stand tall. Or do they? This feature documentary chronicles their journey in the pursuit of of happiness and explores the shades of modern-day morality.

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.

Monica & David

by Alexandra Codina
CineMia LLC
| 68’ | USA | 2009 | HD |
Monica & David explores the marriage of two adults with Down syndrome and the family who strives to support their needs. Monica and David embody child-like spirits with adult desires; they are aware of their need for assistance, but also capable beyond traditional expectations. Behind the couple’s blissful love are two mothers who struggled against an intolerant world, and with this wedding, realize a dream.

Numb

by Phil Lawrence
Little Dog Big Bite Films Inc., Frozen Feet Films & Channel Z Films
| 78’ | USA | 2010 | BDIG 16:9 |
What happens when you stop taking antidepressants? A successful suburban dad who is tired of feeling “numb” decides to quit taking antidepressants and documents the drastic effects on his physical and psychological well-being. His wife and kids wonder what happened to man they once knew. “Numb” also reveals startling new information the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t want you to know.

- IDFA 2014 - VPRO Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary
- 2014 European Film Awards - Nominated in the European Documentary category

Of Men and War

by Laurent Bécue-Renard
Alice Films, Louise Productions
| 140' - 82' | France - Switzerland | 2014 | HD |
Years after coming home, a dozen veterans continue to wrestle demons from the war. Will their therapist help them find meaning in their trauma and leave the war behind?

OSCAR NOMINEE OPEN HEART

OPEN HEART

by Kief Davidson
Urban Landscapes | 40’ - 52' | USA | 2012 | HD
An HBO Documentary Film In Co-Production with ARTE
Eight Rwandan children leave their families behind to embark on a life or death journey seeking high-risk heart surgery in Sudan. Their hearts ravaged by a treatable disease from childhood strep throat, the kids have only months to live. Open Heart reveals the intertwined endeavors of Dr. Emmanuel, Rwanda's lone government cardiologist as he fights to save the lives of his young patients and Italian Dr. Gino Strada, the Salam Center’s head surgeon, who must also fight to save his hospital, Africa's only link to life-saving free cardiac surgery for the millions who need it.

Place of Love

by Liuba Zemtsova
Liuba Zemtsova Production | 55’ | Belarus | 2019 h

The “Place of Love” unites under its roof 4 dramatic stealories of very distinctive characters.Every day they visit a social centre for people with light mental disabilities and turn this place into a "Place of Love".

Scarlet Road. A Sex Worker's Journey

by Pat Fiske, Catherine Scott, Catherine Scott
Paradigm Pictures
| 70’ - 54’ | Australia | 2011 | HDCAM |
Scarlet Road follows the extraordinary work of Australian sex worker, Rachel Wotton. Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the rights of sex workers, she specializes in a long over-looked clientele - people with disability.

Smog Town

by Meng Han
DuGood Productions, SonaFilm, MF Production
| 89’&52’ | China, South Korea, Netherlands | 2019 | HD |
Langfang is one of the most air-polluted cities in China. There, the interests of the local environmental protection bureau, which is under political pressure, clash with those of industry. A case study on China’s fight against pollution.

The Grown Ups

by Maite Alberdi
Micromundo Producciones, Volya Films
| 80’ - 52’ | Chile - The Netherlands | 2016 | HD |
They keep hoping for an independent life that inevitably eludes them, since no grown-up really wants them to achieve it. Now that they desires clash with their premature aging process, we see them as kids who only wanted to grow up and suddenly grew old.

The Happy Worker or How Work was sabotaged

by John Webster
Yellow Film and TV, Aldeles Film Production
| 79'&57' | Finland, Norway | 2022 | |
THE HAPPY WORKER takes us behind the shiny corporate facades to reveal the systemic problems that plague the workplace: from a culture of silence, fake change and incompetent managers, to how we educate our children.
The film is laced with humour and irony, but without losing sight of the very real consequences the toxic workplace has for the health and happiness of the people who work there.

The Night

by Steffan Strandberg
Indie Film as, Walking the Dog, Fasad Produktion
| 63' & 58' | Norway | 2017 | HD |
When Steffan's mother died, he felt nothing. No sadness, no sense of relief. How did it come to this?

The Optimists

by Gunhild Westhagen Magnor
Skofteland Film AS, Mantaray Film
| 90’ & 52’ & 3x39' | Norway | 2013 | HD |
The volleyball ladies THE OPTIMISTS (66-98) haven’t played a proper match in 30 years. Until now. Fearing age? Queen of the team Goro (98) might change your ideas. Many of us fear age. Youth is our modern world's ideal. These ballplaying ladies might change our ideas, and possibly make us realize that those who do get to experience old age are actually the lucky ones.

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.

Twilight of a Life

by Sylvain Biegeleisen
Zen Production Ltd, Take Five
| 70’ - 52’ | Belgium / Israel | 2015 | HD |
How a son and a mother aged 94 deals with aging in an optimistic way full of humor, sensitivity and hope. When the doctor announced me that my mother, aged 94 had just a few weeks to live, I left my home and came back to Belgium to say her goodbye. But my mother decided that the time to pass away has not yet come. We shared together weeks and months of uncertainty and mystery. I found myself filming hours of incredible conversations, humoristic situations, poetic moments. "Au Crepuscule d'une Vie" is an Ode to Life !

Until Cancer Do Us Part

by Jan-Olof Svarvar
Pampas Production
| 86’ - 52' | Finland | 2016 | HD |
A man in his prime learns that he suffers from the most aggressive form of brain cancer, also known as "the terminator". The mortality rate is 100%. The doctors gave him a year to live. He has a large family and his youngest daughter was only 4 years old. This documentary closely follow him, his wife and the children, trough the hard road filled with despair and love - from diagnosis to death. But most of all this is a story about the power of love.