Films
Section Urgent Matters: Topical, political and relevant. Powerful stories from the world right now.
A Poem for Little People
The unlikely but close friendship of two elderly women brings to life a cinematic poem about courage and resistance during wartime, while a young man and his team of volunteers struggle to get people away from the frontline in Eastern Ukraine.
Ivan Sautkin / Ukraine, Lithuania & United Kingdom / 2023 / International Premiere
Black Box Diaries
A Japanese journalist becomes both detective and protagonist in her own story of overcoming a sexual assault and confronting both the boss of Japan's leading TV networks and a deeply conservative system. Dramatic, moving and determined to change a toxic culture.
Shiori Ito / Japan, United States & United Kingdom / 2024 / European Premiere
Burning Out
Dad humour is declared a thing of the past at a fire station in Amsterdam, where diversity must be promoted and employees must learn to interact with each other anew. A witty and human film about finding yourself in a time of cultural upheaval where fires still need to be put out.
Saskia Gubbels / Netherlands / 2023 / International Premiere
Food Inc. 2
Turbo chickens, plant-based steaks and a pandemic. A lot has happened since the first 'Food Inc.' film, and it's time for a fresh in-depth look at the food industry and at possible solutions.
Melissa Robledo & Robert Kenner / United States / 2023
Hollywoodgate
A filmmaker makes a pact with the devil and risks his life to tag along when the Taliban take over an abandoned US military base in Afghanistan. An unforgettable and chilling insight into a radically alien mentality.
Ibrahim Nash'at / Germany & United States / 2023
In the Rearview
From a simple and minimalistic setup, an entire universe of human stories emerges as a Polish director shuttles to the Ukrainian border to rescue fleeing families from the country.
Intercepted
Secretly intercepted phone calls from the front line in Ukraine, where Russian soldiers call home and tell of the murders and abuses they have committed in Putin's name.
Israelism
Two young American Jews are raised to love Israel unconditionally, but their lives take a sharp left turn when they experience the plight of the Palestinians. A film about Jewish identity on both sides of the generation gap.
Erin Axelman & Sam Eilertsen / United States / 2023
Marching in the Dark
The widows come together to break the vicious cycle of debt and climate related chaos in Indian agriculture that has pushed their desperate husbands to kill themselves - and leave them with the debt. A powerful and compelling film about solidarity between sisters.
Kinshuk Surjan / Belgium, Netherlands & India / 2024 / World Premiere
Mediha
A teenage girl from northern Iraq is fighting to bring her former Islamic State hostage taker to justice for the terrorist movement's biggest crime to date.
Hasan Oswald / United States / 2023 / International Premiere
No Other Land
The alliance between a young Palestinian activist in the occupied West Bank and an Israeli journalist provides a unique and human insight into a decades-old conflict, as the two fight against the forced expulsion of the Masafer Yatta community. A film created by a Palestinian-Israeli collective.
Rachel Szor, Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra & Hamdan Bilal / Palestine / 2024 / International Premiere
Of Caravan and the Dogs
Putin had been preparing his country for the big war long before it started. A group of independent Russian journalists and activists face severe punishment and end up facing personal and political dilemmas in Askold Kurov’s couragous and critical film.
Askold Kurov & Anonymous 1 / Germany / 2024
Silent Trees
A 16-year-old Kurdish refugee girl is stranded in an icy pine forest between Belarus and Europe with her family in a dirty political power play. She has only one choice: to grow up in an instant and save her family.
Agnieszka Zwiefka / Poland, Germany & Denmark / 2024 / World Premiere
The Labour of Pain and Joy
A generous and eye-opening story that unfilteredly follows two Finnish birth attendants as they struggle to improve birthing practices and challenge old traditions.
Karoliina Gröndahl / Finland / 2024 / World Premiere
The Recovery Channel
A filmmaker who has been set back by her own brother's decades-long battle with the mental health system, invents a fictional TV channel to expose the injustices of modern psychiatric treatment.
Ellen Ugelstad / Norway / 2023 / International Premiere
There was Nothing Here Before
A Swiss-Palestinian director visits his childhood friend who has moved to an Israeli colony, to make a film about their relationship that transcends borders and political differences.
Yvann Yagchi / Switzerland / 2024
War Game
A nerve-wracking political thriller where elite politicians and military personnel engage in a role-playing game based on January 6th. Is the democratic system strong enough to handle a real-life coup attempt in the near future?
Jesse Moss & Tony Gerber / United States / 2024 / International Premiere
Your Fat Friend
A humorous, personal and highly educational manifesto about being fat in a world designed for thin people. Based on the iconic texts and activist Aubrey Gordon, and on six years of lived experience from anonymous blogger to best-selling author.
Jeanie Finlay / United Kingdom & United States / 2023