Openland

México, México: Mexique en mouvement

December 1968 •French

"Mexico begins where the roads end ”. Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes tells us about the history of Mexico: its invasions, its revolutions, its sacred lands, its forgotten legends, its religious rituals and this frightening misery. François Reichenbach and his camera sink into the dust, on this sacred land, where "the land never ends."

Trashed

January 2020 •Czech

The short reportage film depicts the situation of hard-to-recycle waste. Our guides are a local government employee and the staff of Technical Services Zlín, whom the director interviewed and filmed at work. In the local context of an East Moravian municipality, it examines the technical, economic and political aspects of the problem. In addition, there are the inevitable social issues regarding the wider sustainability of the contemporary consumer lifestyle.

Before the Flood

October 2016 •English

A look at how climate change affects our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems, and native communities across the planet.

Chubai. Speaking Again

January 2023 •Ukrainian

A theatrical documentary about Hrytsko Chubai, a genius of Ukrainian poetry, a connoisseur of literature, art and music and the brightest representative of Lviv underground culture of late 60s early 70s.

Cartas

August 2018 •Spanish

STANDSinWATER

December 2022 •English

Standsinwater Sutherland is 2Spirit Cree living in Northern Ontario. Holding her eagle feather, she sits and tells her story: her quest to identity, how teachings learned along the way took her from the concrete jungle of Toronto back to her reservation and her commitment to help her community regain their culture and traditional ways.

Songs of Mashangva

January 2010 •English

In the deep hills of northeast India, Christianity and pop culture have taken over the lifestyle and imagination of the Tangkhul tribes. Rewben Mashangva from Choithar travels through the remote villages of the Tangkhul Naga to talk to the old people and collect songs and instruments. The rhythms, melodies and lyrics form links to his own music, which he describes as Naga Folk Blues. In his traditional 'Haokuirat' hairstyle and western boots along with his 9 year old son Saka, he performs across India and South-East Asia spreading the message that some songs have no end.

Detection

December 2012 •German

DETECTION. Consideration of past, present and future of a small village in Germany. For over a century — wars and states went by — the military is the largest employer. The everyday life of the community is inextricably linked to the events on the nearby military training area. Diaries, daily instructions, petitions, letters and photos tell about daily life at different times.

Monsieur Mayonnaise

July 2016 •English

Artist and filmmaker Philippe Mora (Mad Dog Morgan; The Howling II; Swastika) is producing a graphic novel about his late father, Georges, widely known in Melbourne as a beloved contemporary art patron and owner of bohemian eateries Mirka Café, Café Balzac and the Tolarno Restaurant and Galleries. Less known, however, is Georges' astonishing history as part of the French resistance during World War II, his friendship with renowned mime Marcel Marceau (Philippe's godfather), and how together they saved thousands of Jewish lives with a fiendishly simple trick involving baguettes and mayonnaise.

fifteen zero three nineteenth of january two thousand sixteen

January 2024 •Swedish

fifteen zero three nineteenth of january two thousand sixteen explores how everyday routines and gestures are transformed when a mother loses her child in the violence impacting Swedish outskirts since the early 2000s. The film resists simplistic media depictions of the suburbs and shows how a home can hold both mourning and the mobilization of women to fight for their own and others' children.

The Building and Burning of a Refugee Camp

January 2024 •English

Three men seeking asylum in Ireland find themselves on the streets, caught between restrictive migration policies and an increasingly aggressive far-right movement. Dennis Harvey captures an explosive sequence of events on the streets of Dublin.

Correspondances

Invalid date •French

El final del día

April 2015 •Spanish

The film takes place on December 21, 2012, while the people of the town of Quillagua await the supposed "end of the world" that the Mayans predicted for that day.

Angano... Angano... Tales from Madagascar

March 1989 •French

Venerable storytellers recount for the camera and their listeners the founding myths of Malagasy culture.

Like It Is

July 1968 •English

This documentary on the "youth movement" of the late 1960s focuses on the hippie pot smoking/free love culture in the San Francisco Bay area.

Kids

March 2011 •German

In Bettina Büttner’s exquisitely lucid documentary Kinder (Kids), childhood dysfunction, loneliness, and pent-up emotion run wild at an all-boys group home in southern Germany. The children interned here include ten-year-olds Marvin and Tommy. Marvin, fiddling with a mini plastic Lego sword, explains matter-of-factly to the camera, “This is a knife. You use it to cut stomachs open.” Dennis, who is even younger, is seen in a hysteric fit, mimicking some pornographic scene. Boys will be boys, but innocence is disproportionately spare here. Choosing not to dwell on the harsh specifics, Büttner reveals the disconcerting manner in which traumatic episodes can manifest themselves in the mundane — a game of Lego, Hide and Seek, or Truth or Dare. Filmed in lapidary black-and-white, Büttner’s fascinating film sheds light on childhood from the boys’ characteristically disadvantaged perspective — one not yet fully cognizant — leaving much ethically to ponder over.

It's All Good

June 2018 •Spanish

As the healthcare system in Venezuela comes crashing down and millions of people flee the country, a doctor, a pharmacist, an activist and two cancer patients struggle to survive amidst the chaos. They face the daily dilemma of choosing to stay or flee. Activist Francisco Valencia puts his life on the line to distribute medicines illegally, but how long can he keep it up?

Tamar

October 2018 •English

Tamar, a 33-year-old Tel Aviv comics artist, watches passersby, listens to their conversations and translates her impressions into comics with an ironic expression. She peels off the mask from a society, in the eye of the storm, that claims to be liberal and in which everyone has an opinion about everything. Secure between her four walls, she touches the darkest spots of her life- a bomb attack, a failed marriage, coping with depression. A young, modern woman in today's Israel.

Run Free

February 2019 •English

In 2016 eleven young men from Parade Gardens in Kingston, Jamaica travelled to Scotland for the first time, bringing their powerful parkour performance Run Free to the National Theatre of Scotland’s Home/Away festival. Now the story of their journey is told in a heart-warming new documentary film. Run Free: The Documentary shows the struggles and triumphs of these young men as they create a piece of theatre that impacts both them and their community, a journey that saw them travel across the world, many for the first time, from the streets of Kingston to the international stage. Run Free was developed as part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s pioneering Jump programme. Originally presented by the National Theatre of Scotland, British Council, and Manifesto Jamaica, under the creative guidance of directors Simon Sharkey, Brian Johnson, and choreographer Liane Williams.

Viva la Vulva

February 2019 •French

With a sense of humour, this documentary questions the condition of women from the angle of the image and perception of their body, and covers the new taboos and aesthetic diktats concerning their genitals in the era of the sexual revolution and contemporary feminism.