The Department

THE DEPARTMENT is a feature documentary which takes us inside the never-before-seen child protection system at work in NSW. Filmed in an observational style, it follows caseworkers across the state as they navigate the complexities of keeping children safe in families experiencing domestic violence, addiction, poverty, mental health issues and intergenerational trauma.

Resurrecting Hassan

Traces the lives of the Hartings, a blind Montreal family of three who make their living singing in the city's subway stations. The Hartings lost their only sighted child Hassan in a tragic drowning accident, and have since turned to the teachings of Russian mystic Grigori Grabovoi, hoping to resurrect their son. Resurrecting Hassan is an exploration of this family's legacy of grief, tragedy and abuse; the film will follow them on their path to redemption.

Waiting for the Sun

In China more people are on death row than the rest of the world combined. The children of the convicts are often left alone, stigmatized and living in the streets. Grandma Zhang, as the kids call her, is a former prison guard who has founded an orphanage in Nanzhao.

სანამ მამა დაბრუნდება

In a darkened classroom, the white cracked walls serve as a movie screen. We are in a remote mountain village in Georgia. The light from the projector breaks the darkness: the children's first cinematic experience is about to begin. Among the kids are Iman and Eva, two Muslim girls, for whom the experience becomes a turning point and inspires them to pick up a camera and start filming their daily lives. The girls are growing up in a valley infested by radicalism, where most people live in constant fear that their relatives will sacrifice their lives in the name of God.

Tribu

Ruben and Gio have been recently adopted by Evelyn and Memo. The four of them try to create a home where the past, the bad and good stories, and the dreams in common for the future blend all together.

血琥珀

Somewhere in Myanmar is a forest rich in amber and controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Most of its inhabitants work in a mine, digging the earth night and days in the hope of finding the precious ore that will get them out of poverty. But on top of the excruciating hardship of the work, they also have to fear an attack from the army.

Merna in de Spotlight

Taking part in The Voice Kids is already quite something, but for 11-year-old Merna it’s really something special. Her parents had to flee Iraq because they are part of the Christian minority, and IS was threatening to kidnap Merna. They now live in Lebanon, where one in three people is a refugee. The family has been waiting for two years for permission to move on. FaceTiming with her older sister, who stayed behind in Iraq, and cooking her favorite dishes with her mother make the situation more bearable. But what also really helps is singing – this calms Merna and makes her less afraid. She used to sing only in church, but since The Voice her beautiful, melancholy voice touches everyone. Because of her status as a refugee, Merna isn’t allowed to attend the foreign performances with the other finalists, but she’s now a national celebrity in Lebanon.

Fosterfamiljen

Julia always said that her upbringing as a biological child in a foster family was a happy time. But something is wrong. In The Foster Family, we follow director Julia's journey back in time, where she, together with her parents Ewa and Lennart and the foster child Patrik, recollect the shocking events that changed their lives over thirty years ago. The children are at the center of this strong, touching and warm documentary about a system where you can love, but not too much.

Земля блакитна, ніби апельсин

Single mother Anna and her four children live in the front-line war zone of Donbas, Ukraine. While the outside world is made up of bombings and chaos, the family is managing to keep their home a safe haven, full of life and full of light. Every member of the family has a passion for cinema, motivating them to shoot a film inspired by their own life during a time of war. The creative process raises the question of what kind of power the magical world of cinema could have during times of disaster. How to picture war through fiction? For Anna and the children, transforming trauma into a work of art is the ultimate way to stay human.

The Metalldetektor

Georg is an Austrian retiree whose mother witnessed the crash of an Allied B-17 near their home during World War II. When he takes up metal detecting to find the wreckage, a growing fascination leads him to embark on a heartfelt mission, not only to research the backgrounds of the American crewmembers who parachuted off the plane into enemy territory, but to locate their descendants, to bring them to his Austrian town on the 75th anniversary of the crash, to introduce them to the townspeople who helped their fathers, and to unite his town in remembrance. It’s a story of empathy, resilience, and the enduring power of human connection.

DPJ

A direct, uncompromising look into the complex machinery of Quebec’s youth protection services (known as the DPJ). https://lustitia.com/en/productions/dpj/

COMPLEXion

"COMPLEXion is a documentary that aims to unpack the hegemony of skin color globally and challenge the archaic notions that exist surrounding it. Our mission is to defy toxic beauty standards through raw human stories."

Dag Ma

Chronique d'un été (Paris 1960)

Paris, summer 1960. Anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch and sociologist and film critic Edgar Morin wander through the crowded streets asking passersby how they cope with life's misfortunes.

Foster

With one in eight American children suffering a confirmed case of neglect or abuse by age 18, there are currently more than 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S., a number that continues to grow each year. Drawing on unprecedented access, FOSTER explores the often-misunderstood world of foster care through compelling stories from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, the largest county child welfare agency in the country.

Emprise numérique, 5 femmes contre les Big 5

American states and parents in both Europe and the United States are engaging in a joint fight against digital giants to ensure their responsibility in the addiction of young people to screens and social media is recognized. Among them, five women have chosen to disrupt their daily lives: Alexis, Kathleen, Elisabet, Laure, and Socheata.

In mijn Hoofd is Alles Leuker

A Life on the Farm

A strange story from Somerset, England about a filmmaking farmer and the inspiring legacy of his long-lost home movies.

First Circle

Filmmaker Heather Rae trains her lens on America's foster care system and the plight of children whose families can no longer provide proper support.

Obrazy starého sveta

A raw and telling portrait of a people left behind by the modern world, inspired by the work of photographer Martin Martinček - whose pictures of the inhabitants of the Liptov region in central Slovakia, encompassed by the Tatra mountains, distilled entire lifetimes into luminous and intransient images. Dušan Hanák's continuation of these photographs takes the shape of a poetic visual essay, capturing more comprehensive vignettes of their isolated human experiences.