Sara Mardini - Gegen den Strom

One of the rooms inside the legendary Barba Azul Cabaret has become a shelter for the girls working there: the women's bathroom. Every night La Mami, who's in charge of the bathrooms, offers them the warmth and the advice they need to take on the challenge they face in the dance hall.

How does a machine learn to read the world? Testimonies and screen recordings introduce the experience of online micro-workers from the Global South: their job is to teach the AI of self-driving cars to navigate the streets of the Global North.

220 years after its "birth", 40 years after its theft, 22 years after its reappearance and 18 years after its second disappearance, two filmmakers follow the trail of the "unspeakable" Unspunnenstein.

Punk rock, B-movies, and Jehovah’s Witnesses unite in this heartfelt documentary. As members of Jehovah’s Witness start to explore culture outside of their religion, they have to wrestle with the possibility of being excommunicated from friends and family. Featuring in-depth interviews and extensive home video footage, Witness Underground tells the story of punk rocker Witnesses pushing against the highly controlling Jehovah’s Witnesses religion as they build their own community through music and art. This prolific community of Witness musicians create their own record label, Nuclear Gopher, and become early adopters of promoting their music through the internet, including what may have been the first album to ever be livestreamed. This community’s history is well documented through archival footage of their home movies and self-produced music videos, all with a very charming energy.

Immigrant workers build a shopping mall for the upcoming 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. In 2016, nine people with migrant backgrounds are killed in a racist attack at the same mall.

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Anaben Pawar is an elderly tribal woman accused of witchcraft in rural India. Through Ana's story, we delve into a deep-rooted culture of patriarchy and examine one of the most monstrous attacks on women's bodies in modern India: the witch-hunt.

A video to commemorate the victims of the disaster that occurred on October 3, 2013, off the coast of Lampedusa. Its intention is to force the institutions and civil society, in the words of the director, to “name each and every one, to make us aware of how many names lost their bodies on one single day, in the Mediterranean sea”.

"letters to eleanore" is a poignant feature-length documentary that explores the intertwined journeys of two remarkable girls, Keith from Canto Grande in Lima, Peru, who bravely navigates life with cerebral palsy alongside her devoted mother, and Olivia from Litchfield, Minnesota, whose experiences highlight the stark contrasts in societal attitudes towards disability in their respective countries. As their narratives unfold, they are beautifully interwoven with the legacy of Eleanore and her family, whose life, untimely death, and the impact of her wheelchair ignited a powerful movement of hope for countless children and their families facing similar challenges. This film is not just a story of perseverance and love; it is a testament to the strength of community, brought to life through the collaborative efforts of volunteers, students, and communities across Peru and the United States, embodying a true grassroots style of storytelling that resonates with authenticity and compassion.

Jesus 'Chuy' Aceves and a dozen living members of his extended family suffer from the very rare condition of congenital hypertrichosis, meaning they were born with excessive hair on their faces and bodies. Due to their appearance, they suffer from discrimination in all areas of their lives: the children are made fun of at school and abandoned by their 'non-hairy' parents, and the adults cannot find work unless they choose to exhibit themselves as freaks in circuses. This moving and visually arresting documentary is a portrait of Chuy and his family members. It examines their day-to-day lives and their struggle to find love, acceptance and employment.

An exodus of migrants settled in Tijuana and they hope to cross each day regardless of the consequences, the children tell us what they see, want and what they are willing to pay.

Directed by Peter Casaer and narrated by Daniel Day-Lewis, this documentary provides a harrowing look at the challenges of delivering humanitarian aid in armed conflicts. “Access to the Danger Zone” explores the strategies that Doctors Without Borders has employed to save lives in the world’s worst war zones, including Afghanistan, Somalia, and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo—strategies that are tested each and every day. Interviews with key experts from Doctors Without Borders, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the United Nations are accompanied by dramatic footage shot in these countries in 2011 and 2012.

Through testimonies and images, the crude reality of human rights in Argentina in democracy is portrayed and the role of the hegemonic means of communication to make causes and protests invisible ...

An urgent and powerful documentary, shot in a detention centre where asylum seekers trying to reach Australian shores are indefinitely detained. Secretly shot on a mobile phone by Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani while detained on Manus, in Papua New Guinea, the film is a collaboration with Dutch-Iranian filmmaker Arash Kamali Sarvestani. Boochani recounts, via the testimonies of fellow inmates, the abuse and violence inflicted and the precarious state of limbo they find themselves in. Chauka, the name of the dreaded solitary confinement unit within the detention centre, was originally the name of a beautiful bird and symbol of the Manus Island. By interweaving dialogue with two Manusian men and shots of daily life on the island, the film gives a much-needed voice to Manus inhabitants, understandably distressed by the current situation. With marked restraint, the film exposes lives broken by shocking immigration policies.

The challenges of the present, expectations for the future, and the dreams of those who experience the reality of public high school in Brazil. Through the voices of students, principals, teachers and experts, "Not Even In a Wildest Dream" offers a reflection on the value of education.

What is possible when we have guaranteed money to meet our basic needs? No requirements. No stipulations. No paybacks. We look to the village of Busibi to discover what’s possible when we give money directly to people. No strings attached. The answer lies in the residents’ personal stories. Their successes and tribulations illustrate the impact of one of the most daring projects in contemporary development cooperation. Their life stories unexpectedly prove to be all too familiar. They make us laugh. They move us. Blending in together, they create a colorful and poetic reality portrait, illustrating the big consequences of a small sum of money …

Kat, a wheelchair user, navigates a city where access is improvised and progress remains uneven. Para-Paraan (Finding a Way Through) turns silence into protest, revealing how every workaround conceals a larger truth. Kat’s silence is not defeat but defiance, a quiet hope that someday, resilience will no longer be the only way forward.

Part travelogue and part sensitive investigation, the movie tells the universal story of people who refuse to be erased, reminding us that defending the Earth means defending life.

We accompanied an 8 months pregnant Yuri, who migrates with her partner Mike and her son Santi with one objective, to give birth in USA

This film tells the struggle of Armenian families migrated to Turkey/Istanbul who try to provide education for their children despite all the circumstances. In the core of this struggle, which started in 2003, there stands a dining hall centered school, located in a basement of a church where migrant children receive education from volunteer educators. During the film, the struggle of children living in a foreign land, their daily lives, their former habits and longings are told through the eyes of migrant children.