Our Daily Work

Spirits and Rocks: An Azorean Myth

August 2020 •Portuguese

From the ocean, a volcanic island rises into steamy mist. The black rock of the earth stands in sharp contrast to the billowing vapor that hovers and drifts above the surface. A narrator describes how the island’s first inhabitants sought to explain the violent eruption by attributing the devastation to the wrath of angry gods. With breathtaking black-and-white cinematography, this poetic exploration considers the human relationship to this volatile land, where residents live alongside the looming threat of eruption with reverence, fear, and awe. A collection of scenes where dark and light miraculously coexist illuminates both the physical and spiritual landscapes of this extraordinary place, where life endures the perils of the natural world.

The Other Side of Sadness

January 2018 •Dutch

In a hybrid film, both documentary and fiction, five young women describe the feeling of grief when losing a parent at a young age. Anna returns to her father's home, a year after his death. In one weekend, she lives through a storm of emotions as these may come and go in the process of grief.

Document Historic Arlington: Ball-Sellers House

November 2019 •English

The Ball-Sellers House is Arlington Virginias oldest house. Built in the 1740s by a farmer, it is a rare example of a middle class colonial dwelling. By some miracle, it has survived for over 270 years with an original roof in tact! The history that has unfolded in the house is connected to Arlington's history and to the history of the United States. From our agricultural past to the Ciivil War and expansion of the railroads, through World War One and Women's Suffrage, the house's inhabitants were a part of our shared history.

Hawaii: Living on the Edge in Paradise?

May 2019 •English

During the summer of 2018, hundreds of earthquakes shook the summit of Kiilauea, sparking the volcano's largest eruption in 200 years. To some, it was a disaster. To others, it was the goddess Pele's way of creating new aina (land). The Hawaiian peoples' resilience and cultural unity is a lesson in the true spirit of Aloha.

Isaiah vs. The Hodag

December 2020 •English

A young man living with his parents in Wisconsin comes face to face with a terrifying monster while searching for the elusive cryptic known as the Hodag.

Varga

October 2017 •Slovak

Last Knights of the Right Side

October 2020 •Polish

Although they look almost identical in black balaclavas, they have arrived at extremely right-wing views along very different paths. For six months Michał Edelman documented the activity of the National-Radical Camp brigade from Łódź ranging from propaganda events including an obligatory barbecue through attempts to disrupt the Gay Parade in Radomsko to the culmination on the Independence Day in 2019 when they marched along the streets of Warsaw. Are the nationalists really a group of friends with clear-cut views only?

Elevado 3.5

April 2007 •Portuguese

A documentary about the crowd of people that commingle throughout the 3.5km of the Minhocão, an overpass in the central region of São Paulo, built during Brazil's military dictatorship.

Manifest

October 2020 •Danish

An intimate statement about the filmmaker’s need for self-expression through her own nudity and simultaneously an effort to reject the taboo of patriarchal society. Using diary entries, anger-filled personal reflections, and discussions with a mother painting her nude daughter, the film opens the topic of overcoming shame for one’s own physicality and female sexuality.

Common Language

October 2020 •Russian

The director, who has always been viewed as the black sheep in her family, sets out to the Belarusian town of Vitebsk to talk with her parents about previous grievances and topics that were considered taboo. The effort to find a common language, which runs into stormy emotions and the inability to voice honest opinions, is captured through both personal moments and detailed shots of the protagonists’ faces.

Worlds Apart

October 2020 •Burmese

In 2012, violent conflicts broke out between the Muslim Rohingya and the Buddhist majority in Rakhine State on the west coast of Myanmar. The government subsequently deported Muslims and imprisoned them in a camp on the outskirts of the city. The documentary looks at the lives of neighbours on both sides.

Mrs. Happy

October 2020 •Czech

A platonic relationship between a young girl employed at a spa hotel and its former client develops through romantic letters full of old-fashioned respect, exchanged between the couple in the mid-50s.

First Birthday After the Apocalypse

October 2020 •Bosnian

In her autobiographical documentary, the young director uses cartoon impressions, photographic memories, and the various stages of baking a cake to draw the viewer into her own stream of consciousness, and using images full of kindness, tenderness, and playfulness, she deals with the sadness that began during a children's birthday party many years ago.

Time is

October 2020 •Chechen

In a quiet and snowy Chechen village, mother tells her daughter about the return of Zara – their relative, who left this place 20 years ago. Outside, the whole world is hidden in a thick white fog. For both women, the upcoming meeting is a bright event in their dull daily life that they are very much looking forward to.

The Street Performers

October 2015 •English

This documentary-style short follows two impoverished teens performing on the streets of London in the days leading up to the London Blitz of 1940.

80.000 Schnitzel

September 2020 •German

Battering, breading, frying – Berta has prepared thousands of schnitzels in her old cast-iron pan over the years. This 83-year-old landlady’s life on the family farm with adjoining guest house in the Upper Palatinate has been marked by constant hard work. A life that her granddaughters Monika and Hannah never wanted to lead. Now, the deeply indebted farm is on the brink of collapse. Despite having an academic background and contrary to her intentions, Monika, in her early thirties, decides to give up her modern life and save the family business. The two women join forces and give themselves a year to sort out the farm’s problems.

Art Never Sleeps

Invalid date •English

Acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, with the help of a passionate team of film students with a shared dream for the artistic potential of live digital cinema, work towards realising the director's 'Distant Visions' live-cinema experiment.

Offline

November 2019 •Czech

Four teenagers, everyday life, school, work and a week-long offline challenge. What do the lives of today's teenagers look like when they find themselves without an internet connection? In addition to disconnecting, they were to record their feelings and experiences in a video diary. Without the Internet, without music, without movies and series, and without any communication with the world around them, life can turn upside down.

Half a Saba

June 2021 •Hebrew

The film follows a dialogue between the filmmaker and his Saba (Hebrew for Grandpa) at the last chapter of his life. Saba Beno tells his life story in his own words while trying to find the meaning of it all.

6-18-67

July 1967 •English

6-18-67 is a short quasi-documentary film by George Lucas regarding the making of the Columbia film “Mackenna's Gold”. This non-story, non-character visual tone poem is made up of nature imagery, time-lapse photography, and the subtle sounds of the Arizona desert.