FILMREIHE 2018 at Weltmuseum Wien
PROGRAMME
02.02.2018
SAVAGE MEMORY
Zachary Stuart and Kelly Thomson | USA, Papua New Guinea, Australia 2011 I 75 Min. I OmeU
In 1915 Bronislaw Malinowski set out to document the ‘exotic’ practices of a small group of islanders of the coast of New Guinea. With extensive data on sex, magic and spirits of the dead, his work would set the stage for anthropologists for decades and bring him fame as one of the founding fathers of anthropology. Almost one hundred years later, his great-grandson returns to New Guinea and looks at the very controversial legacy he left behind within Anthropology, within his own family and among the descendants of the people he studied.
09.02.2018
OUR MISSIONARIES
Martin Gruber | Guinea 2013 | 8 Min. | OmeU
A small village on the coast of Guinea, West Africa. Missionaries settled here in their effort to bring Christianity to this Muslim dominated area. The villagers still speak warmly about their visitors. Nevertheless, the missionaries left after some years – seemingly in a rush, leaving behind many of their belongings. The film “Our Missionaries” tells the story of a misconceived intercultural encounter throgh the villagers’ memories and images of the missionaries’ material legacy.
FRAMING THE OTHER
Ilja Kok and Willem Timmers | Ethophia, Netherlands 2011 | 25 Min. | OmeU
The Mursi tribe resides in the basin of the Omo River, in the east African state of Ethiopia. Mursi women are known for placing large plates in their lower lips and wearing enormous, richly decorated earrings, which has become a subject of tourist attraction in recent years. Each year, hundreds of Western tourists come to see the unusually adorned Mursi; posing for camera-toting visitors has become the main source of income for them. To make more money, they embellish their “costumes” and finery to appear more exotic to those outsiders. However, by exaggerating their habits and lifestyle in such a manner they are beginning to cause their traditional culture to disintegrate. Framing the Otherportrays these complex relationships between tourism and indigenous communities.
16.02.2018
DEVIL’S ROPE
Sophie Bruneau | USA, Belgium 2014 | 88 Min. | OmeU
It is the story of a universal and familiar tool: barbed wire. It dates back to the first settlers, the spirit of conquest and the control of the wilds. It is rooted into the American West’s development. It is the story of a small farming tool that became integrated into political history with the help of growing capitalism. It is the history of the evolution of surveillance and control techniques. The reversal of a relationship between man and animals. It is the story of the world of fencing in and the fencing in of the world.
23.02.2018
GODS AND KINGS
Robin Blotnick | Guatemala, USA 2012 | 87 Min. | OmeU
In the muddy market square of Momostenango, Guatemala, where shamans burn offerings in the shadow of the Catholic Church, a bizarre spectacle is arriving. Horror movie monsters jostle through the crowd, followed by Mexican pop stars, Japanese game avatars, and dictators from the dark years of the 1980s. Unlike the folkloric performances long studied by anthropologists, the new Disfraz dance won’t show up on any postcard. In some villages, it’s even been banned for frightening tourists. So how did these fiberglass masks of Xena: Warrior Princess come to be blessed in the smoke of Maya altars? In a town where a Hollywood B-movie villain is a real evil spirit, stories can’t be taken lightly and it always matters who’s telling them.
04.03.2018
L’EAU SACRÉE – SACRED WATER
Olivier Jourdain | Rwanda, Belgium 2016 | 56 Min. | OmeU
„A respectful ode to the female orgasm in Rwanda from the perspective of Vestine Dusabe, a radio deejay with a mission.“ Guided by Vestine, an extravagant star of radio nights, the film discovers Rwandan sexuality in search of the water that gushes out the female body and reveals with humour and spontaneity the mystery of female ejaculation. Sacred Waterconfronts the western viewer with its own intimacy and immerses you into a modern Rwanda rediscovering its heritage in the most secret way: female pleasure.
11.03.2018
THE FRUITLESS TREE
Aicha Macky | Niger, France 2016 | 52 Min. | OmeU
As a married but childless woman, Aicha finds herself in a situation that is totally “out of the ordinary” in her country, Niger, where women are expected to have children. But just like everywhere else in the world today, Niger also experiences problems with infertility. Based on her personal story, Aicha Macki explores the private suffering of women in her situation with great sensitivity. Speaking openly as a childless woman among mothers, she breaks a taboo in Nigerien society.
18.03.2018
WHERE TO, MISS?
Manuela Bastian | India, Germany 2015 | 83 Min. | OmeU
Devki finds herself in a continuous conflict between her wish to be emancipated and the deeply rooted traditions of Indian society. Her biggest wish is to become a taxi driver. To reach this goal, Devki has to stand up first against her father, then against her husband and at the end even against her father-in-law. Devki’s story in Where to, Miss?illustrates why it is so difficult for Indian women, to step out of their deep embedded roles.
25.03.2018
FEST OF DUTY
Firouzeh Khosrovani | Iran 2014 | 60 Min. | OmeU
The Fest of Duty is a religious ceremony designed to instil Islamic beliefs and values in girls when they reach the age of nine. The film follows two adolescent cousins as they transition into adulthood eight years after their official Fest of Duty and observes the divergent impact of religious doctrine on the public and private lives of two teenage girls who come to symbolize the conflicting cultural values in Iran today. In the intimate confines of their own surroundings, the two young women talk about their past and present, and how they see their future. Maryam wears her hijab with full conviction and shares her existential doubts with God. Melika dreams of a career as an actress, paints her nails, and posts selfies on Instagram.
01.04.2018
NOWHERE LINE: VOICES FROM MANUS ISLAND
Lukas Schrank | Australia, Great Britain 2015 | 15 Min. | OmeU
Nowhere Line: Voices from Manus Islandis an animated documentary narrated by two asylum-seeking men detained in Australia’s Manus Island Offshore Processing Centre, recounting the dangerous journeys that brought them to the island and their memories of the riot that erupted in 2014.
LA BESTIA
Gisela Carbajal Rodríguez and Konstantin Steinbichler | Mexico, Germany 2015 | 29 Min. | OmeU
Thousands of migrants put their lives at risk to board ‘La Bestia’ in search of the American dream. La Bestia is a train that gets its name from its brutally as it crosses Mexico from Central America to the USA. For many it is their only real chance of crossing the border, but it comes at a great price. Many never make it to the end destination. This film accompanies Francisco, Lupe, Maribel, Josue and Oman, through a part of their journey. With leaving their families, friends and home behind, they give us an insight into their hopes and fears.
08.04.2018
THERE THEY CALL US HINDUS, HERE WE ARE PAKISTANIS
Jürgen Schaflechner | India, Germany 2014 | 53 Min. | OmeU
Because of alienation, unemployment and religious prosecution many Hindus who live in Pakistan emigrate to India. Against their hope they are not as welcomed in the Hindu community, in contrary they are stigmatized as intruders from Pakistan. Through the everyday problems the protagonists have to face, deeply rooted political and societal tensions between Pakistan and India come to surface.
15.04.2018
LOOKING FOR NORTH KOREANS
Jéro Yun | South Korea, China, France 2012 | 61 Min. | OmeU
South Korean artist and filmmaker, Jéro Yun chooses not to obey these rules of rejection and non-communication between North and South Korea. He sets out Looking for North Koreanswho live illegally in Northeast China. To meet them himself, with no filter, and hear what they have to say. His quest leads him to Shanghai, Tsingtao, and Dandong in China. Along his journey, risking his own life, and hiding from the Chinese police, he meets North Korean refugees who agree to tell him their heartbreaking stories.
22.04.2018
KOROPA
Laura Henno | Comoros, France 2016 | 19:09 Min. | OmeU
Accompanied by an adult man Patron navigates a boat through the darkness of the night. The young boy who lost his parents is becoming a “Commandant” to transport refugees over the sea to Mayotte. Away from political debates Koropaexamines the role of the traffickers, who are moving towards an uncertain future in the dark night – alike their passengers later on.
NACHT GRENZE MORGEN
Tuna Kaptan, Felicitas Sonvilla | Turkey, Germany 2013 | 30 Min. | OmeU
Ali and Naser are two young Arabs, a Syrian and a Palestinian, respectively. European authorities are working hard to patrol the border, part of which runs along a river. And because more and more manpower and means are being employed to stop the flow of refugees, this human trafficking is growing more dangerous and complicated. Filmmakers Tuna Kaptan and Felicitas Sonvilla follow the two men as they hang out in their hotel room, smoke, chat about their families at home, and prepare their missions to get their clients out of Turkey. The camera also accompanies them on a trip to the border.
29.04.2018
THE LAND BETWEEN
David Fedele | Morocco, Australia 2014 | 78 Min. | OmeU
The Land Between offers an intimate insight into the hidden and desperate lives of Sub-Saharan African migrants living in the mountains of northern Morocco. For most, their dream is to enter Europe by jumping a highly militarized barrier into Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the African continent. With unique and unprecedented access, this film documents the everyday life of these migrants trapped in limbo, as well as the extreme violence and constant mistreatment they face from both the Moroccan and Spanish authorities. It also explores many universal questions, including how and why people are prepared to risk everything, including their life, to leave their country, their family and friends, in search of a new and better life.
13.05.2018
KOMIAN
Jordi Esteva | Ivory Coast, Spain 2014 | 74 Min. | OmeU
An anthropologist comes back to the Ivory Coast in search of a priestess possessed by the spirit of a panther. A spirit that manifests itself rarely and it is only invoked when the power from the other spirits is not strong enough to confront sickness or other difficult situations. The narrator travels to Ghana, with the priestess and her entourage, to look for the only drummers who are able to invoke the powerful spirit. Komian is a film about strong women, old traditions and their power in the present and also about the relation between researcher and the people, who are explored. Filmed in black and white and with many closeup views, the film has a fascinating and captivating effect on the viewers from the beginning to the end.
20.05.2018
SPIRITS OF ENVY
Helene Basu | India, Germany 2013 | 83 Min. | OmeU
The idea that feelings of envy constitute moral threats to human bonds and personal well-being is widely shared across cultures, religions and historical periods. In contemporary India, people live in a competitive environment of a booming economy which produces winners and losers. Hindu and Islamic notions converge in translating envy into an aggressive, evil power enacted in practices of sorcery targeting at the ruin of success and a good life by attacking minds, bodies and persons’ wealth. The Sufi shrine of Mira Datar in Gujarat provides ritual healing and a refuge to those who became victims of black magic and subsequently suffer from madness or other illnesses, experience financial losses, homelessness, social ostracism and the breaking up of domestic and kinship relationships. The film presents an ethnography of ritual healing through prayer and possession-trance.
27.05.2018
THE NIGHTMARE OF A BELIEF
Samuel Loe | Camerooon, Germany 2012 | 62 Min. | OmeU
The director Samuel Loe undertakes a journey into the nightmare of his childhood: a world full of fear, darkness, worries, magic and doom – the world of black magic. After five years of studying film in Europe, he returned to his country with the aim to unveil the mysteries and secrets of witchcraft. Based on his personal experience the film tells a true story and shows ritual practices and victims of witchcraft in the Cameroon society.
03.06.2018
FATUMA AND ASYA – TWO AFAR GIRLS IN ETHIOPIA
Francesco Sincich | Ethiopia, Italy 2014 | 59 Min. | OmeU
Fatuma und Asyatells the story of two young girls and how they are facing hard challenges in their young lives: avoiding the mandatory marriage for Fatuma, and the conflict with the Somali Issa and the livestock’s theft for Asya. Fatuma (10) and Asya (13) grow up in two different Afar Communities – nomadic families in northeast Ethiopia. The film shows without the usual traditionalism the reality of two Teenager, who introduce us to their everyday life with their own naïve and childish view. An insight into Ethiopia we have not often seen.
10.06.2018
SINCE I WAS BORN
Laura Delle Piane | Palestine, France 2013 | 54 Min. | OmeU
Dheisheh refugee camp, West Bank. Over 13,000 people live in 1.5 square km. One of them is eleven year old Tamer. Like all the children from this camp, Tamer dreams of liberating his country and plays at being a member of the resistance. His father, Nader, a former fighter, tries to protect his son from the dangers of life under Israeli occupation. But he also wants to help him fulfil his dream of seeing the sea.
17.06.2018
COMING OF AGE
Teboho Edkins | South Africa, Germany 2015 | 63 Min. | OmeU
Coming Of Age is a film that follows teenagers over two years as they grow up deep in the southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Lefa, who wears her heart on her sleeve, sees her world fall apart when her best friend Senateleaves the village. She too must decide whether to stay or leave in search of a better education and new opportunities. Retabiletakes care of the family’s livestock up in a remote cattle post, for eight months of the year, helped by his younger brother Mosaku. He watches as the elder brother goes through a rite of passage into adulthood. The summer of youth is quickly over, doors into adulthood open and close.
24.06.2018
ABIRA
Lena Zimmer | Myanmar, Thailand, Germany 2013 | 42 Min. | OmeU
Abira is an ex-child soldier who fought in the cruel battles between the Myanmar army and an ethnic minority army, the ‘Shan Army’. After deserting, he now lives in the streets of the Thai-Myanmar border town Mai Sai. Abira’s story tells what it is like to grow up in a setting of ruthlessness, where drug-trade and human trafficking are daily affairs. The film tells the stumbling quest for right and good in a world of unbearable challenges. A coming of age story of a different type.
01.07.2018
PLEASE DON’T BEAT ME SIR
Shashwati Talukdar, Kerim Friedman | India 2011 | 75 Min. | OmeU
Over 60 million Indians belong to communities imprisoned by the British as “criminals by birth.” The Chhara of Ahmedabad, in Western India, are one of 198 such “Criminal Tribes.” Declaring that they are “born actors,” not “born criminals,” a group of Chhara youth have turned to street theater and founded the Budhan Theatre. In their fight against police brutality, corruption, and the stigma of criminality — a stigma internalized by their own grandparents. ‘Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir!’ follows the lives of these young actors and their families as they take their struggle to the streets, hoping their plays will spark a revolution.
08.07.2018
SO CLOSE TO SILENCE
Arlindo Horta | Portugal 2013 | 72 Min. | OmeU
So close to silence draws the space between memory and social oblivion. During the extensive bureaucratic process, the performance of memory is a mandatory resource for those who apply for asylum. But what is the place memory, at times traumatic, inhabits in the refugee’s present? Which are the words he is willing to stage in front of an audience or to the camera? So close to silencefollows the routine of an amateur theatre group made up by refugees and asylum seekers in Portugal. Asif, Diaby, Omid and Yana speak about the experiences that marked their escape and share some of their memories on stage and on camera.
15.07.2018
ALLES ODER MEHR!
Jana Richter, Rike Holtz | Deutschland, Kuba 2017 | 80 Min. | Omeu
Rehearsals for a theatre play. An economic embargo, the reality of Cuban life, arguments, typhoons, cowardice and laziness: there is no obstacle too big to overcome for the theatre director Xiomara Calderon. In her world, “it’s impossible” doesn’t exist. In her theatre company “Espacio Abierto” (Open Space) she motivates each actor, as well as herself, to rise above their own limitations. A film about today’s Cuba, Afro-Cuban treasures, the strength of human willpower, the passion to create and the art to break barriers. For over 50 years, Cuba has been resisting an economic embargo. For over 20 years, Xiomara Calderon has been building her theatre company, which gives people strength and energy, through the treasures of the afro-Cuban culture. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
22.07.2018
LIFE IN PROGRESS
Irene Loebell | South Africa, Switzerland 2014 | 95 Min. | OmeU
Fatherless and under challenging living conditions, Tshidiso, Venter and Seipati are coming of age in a South African township. With his dance group TAXIDO, Jerry is keeping the youngsters away from the street. Wherever they perform, they are met with enthusiastic applause. Suddenly, there is hope of a dance career, of work, and of a better future. But back in their hovels the daily struggle and hardship prevails. And Jerry, demanding rigid discipline, is not making life any easier. But then the teenagers start to realize that life has more in store for them… 20 years after the end of apartheid, Life in Progressoffers a unique insight into the lives of three teenagers from the first post-apartheid-generation living in the run-down township called Katlehong.
29.07.2018
ABASEZI – THE NIGHTDANCERS
Emile Dinneen | Uganda, Ireland 2014 | 80 Min. | OmeU
Amidst the heat and haze of Uganda’s bustling capital Kampala, a rapidly growing breakdance movement is producing some of the best hip-hop dancers in Africa. And Tabu Flo are Uganda’s leading crew. They dream of one day taking their dance beyond Uganda, beyond Africa as representatives of their culture on a global stage.When the artistic director of a large dance festival in London arrives in Uganda to find an African crew to commission for his festival, the dancers are confronted by the opportunity to fulfill this dream. They decide to explore a controversial local belief in the Abasezior Nightdancers, a community said to possess the power to resurrect the dead through ritual dances on their tombs.With vivid pictures the filmmakers creates an extraordinary access to the topic possession. Abaseziis a unique portrait of a group of young people navigating their way through the crossroads of a rapidly modernizing Africa and a cultural heritage too powerful to leave behind.
05.08.2018
MR. GAGA
Tomer Heymann | Israel, Sweden, Germany 2015 | 100 Min. | OmeU
Ohad Naharin, artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company, is regarded as one of the most important choreographers in the world. Meeting him at a critical turning point in his personal life, this spirited and insightful documentary will introduce you to a man with great artistic integrity and an extraordinary vision. Filmed over a period of eight years, director Tomer Heymann mixes intimate rehearsal footage with an extensive unseen archive and breathtaking dance sequences. This story of an artistic genius who redefined the language of modern dance is guaranteed to leave you skipping.
12.08.2018
BODY AND SOUL
Matthieu Bron | Mozambique 2010 I 54 Min. I OmeU
Victória, Mariana and Vasco are three young Mozambicans with physical disabilities, living in the townships of Maputo, Mozambique’s capital city. Victória transmits the self-esteem she received from her education to other physically disabled women by organizing a fashion show; Mariana uses her social energy to create helpful friendships and overcome urban architectonical barriers and Vasco does business, repairing shoes in the informal sector. Through their daily physical and emotional challenges, the film raises universal questions about self-acceptance and how to find one’s place in society.
19.08.2018
GODS AND KINGS
Robin Blotnick | Guatemala, USA 2012 | 87 Min. | OmeU
In the muddy market square of Momostenango, Guatemala, where shamans burn offerings in the shadow of the Catholic Church, a bizarre spectacle is arriving. Horror movie monsters jostle through the crowd, followed by Mexican pop stars, Japanese game avatars, and dictators from the dark years of the 1980s. Unlike the folkloric performances long studied by anthropologists, the new Disfraz dance won’t show up on any postcard. In some villages, it’s even been banned for frightening tourists. So how did these fiberglass masks of Xena: Warrior Princess come to be blessed in the smoke of Maya altars? In a town where a Hollywood B-movie villain is a real evil spirit, stories can’t be taken lightly and it always matters who’s telling them.
26.08.2018
BURKINABÈ RISING
Iara Lee | Burkina Faso 2017 | 71 Min. | OmeU
A small landlocked country in West Africa, Burkina Faso is home to a vibrant community of artists, musicians, & engaged citizens who carry on the revolutionary spirit of Thomas Sankara, killed in a coup d’état led by his best friend and advisor Blaise Compaoré, who then ruled the country as an autocrat for 27 years, til a massive popular insurrection led to his removal. Today, the spirit of resistance and political change is mightier than ever and it permeates every aspect of the Burkinabè life. It is an inspiration, not only to Africa, but to the rest of the world.
02.09.2018
MR. COPERTHWAITE: A LIFE IN THE MAINE WOODS
Anna Grimshaw | USA 2012 | 84 Min. | OV
In 1960, Bill Coperthwaite bought 300 acres of wilderness in Machiasport, Maine. Influenced by the poetry of Emily Dickinson and by the back-to-the-landmovement of Scott and Helen Nearing, Bill Coperthwaite is committed to what he calls a “handmade life.” For the last fifty years, Bill Coperthwaite has lived and worked in the forest. He is a builder of yurts, and a maker of spoons, bowls and chairs. A meditation on time and process, the film explores a little known part of American culture and the critical place of nature within it.
09.09.2018
THE TENTMAKERS OF CAIRO
Kim Beamish | Egypt, Australia 2015 | 94 Min. | OmeU
For over three years we follow a community of artisans whose craft has remained largely untouched since Pharaonic times. They try and make sense of Egypt’s recent history, as their hands stitch incredibly detailed designs. It is a story of Egypt’s revolution through the eyes of a group of Egyptians who are not only struggling to maintain their culture, but also simply trying to survive. The Tentmakers of Cairois a journey into a part of Egypt many will never visit, well beyond the Pyramids and papyrus, and behind many of the images seen on the nightly news.
16.09.2018
SILENT VISITORS
Jeroen Van der Storck | Japan, Belgium 2012 | 65 Min. | OmeU
Over the past decades Japan has been heavily confronted with a diverse range of abandoned sites. These ‘contemporary ruins’, or ‘haikyo’ as they are usually referred to, can be a result of the Japanese economic downturn, various rural exoduses, or most recently the Tohoku earthquake triggering the devastating tsunami that in turn induced the nuclear disaster of Fukushima Daiichi.
23.09.2018
LE MINISTRE DES POUBELLES – THE MINISTER OF GARBAGE
Quentin Noirfalisse | Republic of Congo, Belgium, France 2017 | 75 Min. | OmeU
While his country, the Republic of the Congo, is heading towards uncertain elections, the nimble-fingered artist Emmanul Botalatala is in the middle of working on his latest assemblage. Using his sharp eyes and sense, he creates wonderful reflections of his society. Celebrated as a genius by some, labelled as lunatic by others, the 64-year old has sacrificed everything for his art and considers himself a man with a destiny: creating an art centre, in which he can leave more to future generations then just piles of trash.
30.09.2018
THE PUPPET`S CEMETERY
Elena Molina | Burkina Faso, Spain 2013 | 15 Min. | OmeU
After dedicating his whole life to puppets, Desire has had to abandon them for a while. However his friend Fabe has decided to create her own puppet performance to teach children how important it is to attend school. A cemetery of puppets in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, is the starting point of this story full of dreams and aims.
UNITY: DRESS-SCAPES OF ACCRA
Mara Lin Visser | Ghana, Netherlands 2016 | 30 Min. | OV engl. Subs
Unity: Dress-Scapes of Accra is an ethnographic film about African fashion in the capital of Ghana. The comeback of African print seems to be emerging in the fashion system of Accra. While following Allan, a fashion designer and his wife Cynthia, this mosaic film shows the great diversity of tailor-made fashion and hybrid styles; the ways the African wear is used and the expression of culture by wearing the African prints. The process of sowing a dress shows the marriage of both fabric & design, tradition & creativity ànd husband & wife.
07.10.2018
GANESH YOURSELF
Emmanuel Grimaud | India, France 2016 | 67 Min. | OV engl. Subs
In the tumultuous city of Mumbai, a strange robot appears. Its name is Bappa, and it looks like the god, Ganesha. Anyone can volunteer to control it from a distance, and so to take on the voice of God. Bappa soon becomes a convincing interface for broadcasting ideas and opinions. As the Ganesha festival is at its height, Hindu priests use the robot to transmit their incantations, astrologers make predictions for their customers, and militants speak through the mechanical deity to propose social reforms. For the first time in the history of religions, it is possible to take the place of God, and for those who believe, to converse with Him or appeal to his wisdom.
14.10.2018
MA NA SAPNA – A MOTHER`S DREAM
Valerie Blankenbyl | India, Switzerland 2013 | 85 Min. | OV engl. Subs
Ma Na Sapna – A Mother’s Dream follows six women and their surrogate broker through different stages of surrogacy in a clinic in the Northwest of India. It explores the women’s hopes, the joys and conflicts they experience while living together and the inevitable moment of having to give up the newborn child. Ma Na Sapna is a subtle portrait of six mothers on their surrogate journey, giving them a voice that otherwise remains unheard.
21.10.2018
VARANASI – CITY OF LIGHT
Harald Aue | India, Austria 2015 | 94 Min. | No dialogue
Life and death in Varanasi, holiest of places of India, city of Shiva, the great burning site. There is no comment, no explanations, no inserts, no exemplifying words. The eye is left alone with what it sees, the circles of wood, water, marigold and bodies in the holy city. The Protagonists: holy men, pilgrims, boat builders, children, fishermen, dying people, the river, animals, dirt. Far from ordinary documentary aesthetics the film, with images and sounds alone, opens up its particular poetry. It´s an involvement with a strange, a mythological and fascinating world. The fim Varanasi – City of Lightshows the run of two fictional days. From one sunrise it passes a night, arrives at the sunset of the next day.
28.10.2018
KHO KI PA LÚ – UP DOWN & SIDEWAYS
Anushka Meenakshi, Iswar Srikumar | India, 2017 | 83 Min. | OV engl. Subs
Close to the India – Myanmar border is the village of Phek in Nagaland. Around 5000 people live here, almost all of whom cultivate rice for their own consumption. As they work in cooperative groups, the rice cultivators of Phek sing. The seasons change, and so does the music, transforming the mundane into the hypnotic. The love that they sing of is also a metaphor for the need for the other – the friend, the family, the community, to build a polyphony of voices.
04.11.2018
WE MUST BE DREAMING
David Bert Joris Dhert | Brasil, Belgium 2016 | 61 Min. | OV with engl. Subs
The FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016 brought Brazilian flair into the living rooms across the world. The host country hoped for economic upturn, however, disillusionment set in long before these major sport events even started: eviction, police violence, and protests were on the agenda. Entire settlements were pulled down over night in order to provide the required infrastructure. We Must Be Dreaming tells about these stirring years from the perspective of an indigenous human rights activist, a Pelé impersonator, as well as a photographer in Rio de Janeiro.
11.11.2018
IRACEMA, UMA TRANSA AMAZONICA
Jorge Bodanzky, Orlando Senna | Brazil 1974 | 90 Min.| OmeU
Iracema tells a journey from innocence (a largely isolated community) to disintegration (at the edge of the business world). The 15-year-old Iracema travels on the raft with her families to the city of Belem and starts working there as a prostitute. She meets a truck driver and travels with him the famous Transamazonica, immersing herself in the problems of the region.
25.11.2018
AQUAMAZONIDA
João Leite | Brazil, Belgium 2016 | 40 Min. | OmeU
The documentary Aquamazonida takes the spectator on trip through the Amazonas to Manus. Beyond showing the diversity of nature, the film narrates stories and myths around the biggest river of the world. It tells about coexistence with the river while reflecting living from it and its consquences. An almost poetic film on human and nature and a homage to the Amazonas.
THE WAY I SEE TODAY Antonia Gama, Márcio Gomes | Brazil 2016 | 46 Min. | OmeU
The critically acclaimed film City of God (2002) is a fiction film based on a novel about a real place known as Cidade de Deus (City of God) – located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Through the perspective of multiple local voices, the ethnographic documentary The Way I See Todayfocuses on the symbolic and real‐life effects produced by these fictional narratives. The film straddles collaborative methods in visual anthropology, regional research on identity in relation to violence, and the politics of representation in Brazilian film.
02.12.2018
MABACHER – #UNBROKEN
Stefan Wolner | Austria 2017 | 80 Min. | OmeU
According to his doctors, Martin Habacher is not even supposed to still be alive. Shortly after he was born with brittle bone disease, they predicted a short life. But instead of giving in, he vehemently and humorously holds against these conditions with all his power and joie de vivre. Today, the smallest YouTuber in Austria advocates tolerance and breaks down barriers – in everyday life and in our minds.
09.12.2018
REMAKE OF A SUMMER
Magali Bragard and Enjolras Séverine | France 2017 | 96 Min. | OmeU
One summertime, in Paris and its suburbs, two young female filmmakers attempt a remake of Chronicle of a Summer, fifty years after the cult film by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin was screened. Through their protagonists, who mingle questions covering the intimate and the political, a portrait of French society mirroring that of the sixties emerges. Remake of a Summer plays with a new cinematographic method: the remake of documentaries, while preserving the originality of Rouch’s and Morin’s body of work.
16.12.2018
20th CIRCUIT SUSPECTS
Hesam Eslami | Iran 2017 | 73 Min. | OmeU
After having his car stolen, the director meets Ehsan, the leader of an adolescent crime gang in Teheran that breaks into cars regularly. What forms is a close relationship between the director and the members of the group, following their steps for six whole years. The film gives an intimate look into Ehsan and the gang’s life by documenting thefts, wild chases, running from the police, imprisonment, release and, ultimately, the gang splitting up.
23.12.2018
THE LOVER AND THE BELOVED: A JOURNEY INTO TANTRA
Andy Lawrence | India 2011 | 70min| OmeU
A film about one man’s journey across northern India and his search for enlightenment. Rajive McMullen, a history teacher suffering from a debilitating illness, makes the painful journey into the heart of Tantra, searching for meaning in holy shrines, coming close to death in cremation grounds and enjoying the chaos of the Aghori seekers. This film offers dramatic insight into Tantric ideas about the life cycle, particularly death, and contributes much to our understanding of how we seek knowledge and how we die. The Lover and The Beloved also represents a realistic attempt to understand both the practice and illusive theory behind Indian Tantrism, and is intended to challenge widespread Western misinterpretations of this system of thought. Along the way we visit Kamakhya Devi in Assam and Tarapith in West Bengal, two of the most important centres of Tantric Hinduism.
30.12.2018
ATL TLACHINOLLI / SCORCHED WATER
Alexander Hick | Mexico, Germany 2015 | 76 Min. | OmdU
“In order to escape being sacrificed, the God Xólotl transforms himself into a salamander, fleeing from what he once was. His death was necessary in order to bring forth a new era.” So relates the voice in the essay film Atl Tlachinolli (Scorched water), which tells of the search for the Axolotl, a salamander that lives in the lakes surrounding Mexico City. The Axolotl – an Aztec word for “water monster” – lives its entire life in the water, refusing to undergo metamorphosis and conform to terrestrial life. The animal was seen for the last time in its natural habitat in 2014. Taking up this mythology of transformation from god to animal as a metaphor for Mexico City itself, the director accompanies a corrupt policeman and brutal gang members in the sprawling suburbs of the megalopolis. He examines the struggle for survival in what was the former lake of Mexico but is today the habitat of 23 million people. As an essayistic inquiry into survival and adaptation, the film casts its gaze on that which remains.
