Bismuna - Ein Abenteuerfilm

When the revolution in Nicaragua won its victory nearly 40 years ago, the world began to dream. A young generation was taking the reins in a country of grand utopias. From West Germany alone, 15,000 “brigadists” travelled to help rebuild the war-torn country: liberals, greens, unionists, social democrats, leftists and church representatives harvested coffee and cotton, built schools, kindergartens and hospital wards. No movement has mobilised so many people. What became of the hopes and dreams of the revolutionaries and their supporters?

At a public hospital in Nicaragua, Ob/Gyn Dr. Carla Cerrato must choose between following a law that bans all abortions and endangers her patients or taking a risk and providing the care that she knows can save a woman's life. In 2007, Dr. Cerrato’s daily routine took a detour. The newly elected government of Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist revolutionary who converted to Catholicism to win votes, overturned a 130-year-old law protecting therapeutic abortion. The new law entirely prohibits abortion, even in cases of rape, incest, or when a woman’s life is at stake. As Carla and her colleagues navigate this dangerous dilemma, the impact of this law emerges—illuminating the tangible reality of prohibition against the backdrop of a political, religious, and historically complex national identity. The emotional core of the story—the experiences and situations of the young women and girls who are seeking care—illustrate the ethical implications of one doctor's response.

Sixteen female sex workers have been named judicial aides by Nicaragua’s Supreme Court to facilitate the resolution of conflicts that come up in their work. It is the first time in the world that sex workers have had access to this function. The film accompanies some of these women in their mediation work and in the actions they promote through their association, Girasoles (Sunflowers) of Nicaragua, to gain recognition and regulations for autonomous sex work.

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This third opus will take us into the homes of some of the Adamant and Averroes & Rosa Parks’ protagonists, during the visits led by their caregivers.

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Portrait of a group of 150 U.S. citizens who spent two weeks participating in the cotton harvest in a remote village in Nicaragua, seeing for themselves the impact of the U.S.-backed Contra war.

How can a country survive when its jungle borders hold 4000 hostile troops?

Plastic artist Aparicio Arthola talks with his student about the catarsis in his creative process, the loss, death and uncertainty of art life in Nicaragua

On the morning of February 9th, 2023, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo exiled 222 political prisoners to the United States, in a plane provided by President Joe Biden's administration. It was an unprecedented operation for Nicaragua and put diplomacy and international solidarity with the victims of the Sandinista regime to the test.

A documentary about Monimbo, a town in Nicaragua.

Solentime (2020), directed by Carlos Henríquez Consalvi and Camilo Henríquez, revisits the memory of poet-priest Ernesto Cardenal and the Christian community he founded in the Solentiname archipelago, where art, faith, and revolutionary consciousness converged. The film reconstructs a failed 1973 documentary project, when a young Consalvi traveled from Venezuela to film Cardenal with a 16mm Bolex, only to discover the footage was ruined. Nearly five decades later, during the COVID-19 lockdown and after Cardenal’s death, father and son assemble photographs, archival images, and sound to evoke that encounter and the fragile persistence of memory, turning loss, decay, and time into the material of the film itself.

American resort developers bear down on the wild west coast of Nicaragua, hoping to build the next tourist paradise. With lax labour and environmental regulations, some of the developers take full advantage of the situation, and the local fishermen start accusing them of exploitation and land thievery. Unexpectedly, in the midst of this conflict, firebrand Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas sweep back into government, boldly empowering the local fishermen. The tables turn viciously on the American developers, who get much more than they bargained for. But when the local fishermen, corrupted by new found power, begin acting in the same manner as the American developers, questions are posed about human nature, morality, and ethics on a much larger scale.

Juan “Accidentes” Dominguez is on his biggest case ever. On behalf of twelve Nicaraguan banana workers he is tackling Dole Food in a ground-breaking legal battle for their use of a banned pesticide that was known by the company to cause sterility. Can he beat the giant, or will the corporation get away with it?

¡Las Sandinistas! uncovers the disappearing stories of women who shattered barriers to lead combat and social reform during Nicaragua’s 1979 Sandinista Revolution, and who continue to lead Nicaragua’s current struggle for democracy and equality.

A short documentary, inspired by Eduardo Galeano: a short trip in rhythms, sounds and atmospheres in a cuban cigar factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

The filmmaker delves into her family's past and the seemingly intact world of childhood begins to fall apart. Here, the private sphere reflects the helplessness and excessive demands of German society in the 1970s - between the shadows of the National Socialist past and new utopias.

The film is about aftermaths and reckonings. Revisiting material for his earlier 4-part series, Karlin returns to Nicaragua to examine the history of the Sandinista government, consider its achievements, and assess the prospects for democracy following its defeat in the general election of 1990.

Composed of stills by renowned Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas taken in 1978 and 1979 during the overthrow of the fifty-year dictatorship of the Somoza family. Written in the form of a letter from Meiselas to Karlin, it is a ruminative and often profound exploration of the ethics of witnessing, the responsibilities of war photography and the politics of the still image.

Shot in 1983–84 and focusing on the work of the Historical Institute, this film witnesses how Nicaraguans are recovering their history, the memory of Sandino’s struggle, to transform their sense of identity.