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1980, Abadan. The capital of the Iranian oil industry is resisting an Iraqi siege. Fourteen-year-old Omid has braved the siege and stayed in the city with his grandfather, waiting for his elder brother to return from the front line. Along with Omid, a gallery of unusual characters have all remained in the city for their own reasons, and each resists in his or her own way. But the noose is tightening as Omid tries to save his loved ones, by embarking them on an abandoned boat he finds in Abadan’s port, that will become his ark. Sepideh Farsi has used the abstract and healing power of animation to create an adventure tale brimming with optimism, which places women and the socially marginalized as silent actors in a war that had already begun before the Iraqi attacks with the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

In the remote West African village of Iyi, the villagers worship the Mermaid-deity Mami Wata and look to guidance from their healer Mama Efe, the Intermediary between them and Mami Wata, and Mama Efe’s daughter Zinwe and protégé Prisca. But when children begin to die and disappear, Jabi, a local, begins to sow doubt amongst the people, while Zinwe runs away propelled by her own anguish. Soon, the arrival of a rebel warlord Jasper tilts the odds in Jabi’s favor. With Mama Efe murdered and Iyi under new control, Prisca and Zinwe must plot to save their village and restore Mami Wata’s glory in Iyi. Based on the West Afrikan Mermaid folklore and mythology.

Daniel Berger, a civil servant in land registry office in the canton of Vaud has an enviable life with his own villa and expensive car... It is well known around Lake Geneva that keeping relations on an even keel makes for good relations. But, the senior member of the Council of State decides to apply methods of New Public Management and assigns Werner Schäfer from Zurich to carry out the job. When Werner Schäfer also comes to live next door to Daniel Berger, life takes on a more complicated nature...

New technologies are transforming a 19th-century watchmaking town in Switzerland. Josephine, a young factory worker, produces the unrest wheel, swinging in the heart of the mechanical watch. Exposed to new ways of organizing money, time and labour, she gets involved with the local movement of the anarchist watchmakers, where she meets Russian traveller Pyotr Kropotkin.

Where does one feel at home? In Stadtallendorf, a German city with a complex history of both excluding and integrating foreigners, genial teacher Dieter Bachmann offers his pupils the key to at least feeling as if they are at home. Aged between twelve and fourteen, these pupils come from twelve different nations; some have not quite mastered the German language. On the brink of retirement, Bachmann is eager to inspire these citizens-in-the-making with a sense of curiosity for a wide range of crafts, subjects, cultures and opinions. Watching this absorbing, sensitive documentary, one is overwhelmed with the realisation that, if only all children were blessed with such emotionally intelligent, ever-patient educators, conflict would be mitigated via discussion and John Lennon’s “Imagine” could be our reality. Those who, like filmmaker Maria Speth and her cinematographer Reinhold Vorschneider, are able to recognise and highlight so beautifully not only the importance of education but also what a quietly spectacular process it can be, are heroes in their own right, too.

Saint-Omer court of law. 30-year-old novelist Rama attends the trial of Laurence Coly, a young woman who stands accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter after abandoning her to the rising tide on a beach in northern France. Rama is planning to fashion a contemporary retelling of the myth of Medea from the case. But as the trial continues, nothing goes as she had expected, and the 4 months pregnant author will have to question the truth of her own experience of maternity.

Heshmat, an exemplary husband and father, gets up very early every day. Where does he go? Pouya cannot imagine killing another man, yet he is told he must do so. Javad doesn’t know that proposing to his beloved won’t be the only surprise on her birthday. Bahram is a physician but is unable to practice medicine. He has decided to explain to his visiting niece the reason for his life as an outcast. The four stories that comprise Sheytan vojud nadarad (There Is No Evil) offer variations on the crucial themes of moral strength and the death penalty, asking to what extent individual freedom can be expressed under a despotic regime and its seemingly inescapable threats. Mohammad Rasoulof only creates a loose narrative link between these stories, and yet they are all tragically and inexorably connected. In the context of structural oppression, choice seems to be limited to either resisting or surviving. But with each abruptly interrupted story, we are urged to consider how men and women can assert their freedom even in such situations.

Twenty years ago, in Koudougou, a hamlet in Burkina Faso, Cécile (Sylvie Yameogo), an unwed mother who refuses to reveal the identity of her child’s father, is thrown out by her parents. She abandons her baby and disappears... The child is taken in by a family, which tries to hand him over to local authorities, to the Naaba (traditional village chief), then to the priests. Against its will, the family keeps the child fallen from the sky and calls him Wendemi (« God knows » in mooré). An ill-loved child, he will grow up against many odds. After reaching adulthood, Wendemi falls in love with Pogbi, and wants to marry her. An ambition, which proves impossible: he has no name, and society refuses to grant him official recognition...

Wracked by guilt after covering up a murder, Mona a northern Sudanese retired singer in a tense marriage tries to make amends by taking in the deceased’s southern Sudanese widow, Julia, and her son, Daniel, into her home. Unable to confess her transgressions to Julia, Mona decides to leave the past behind and adjust to a new status quo, unaware that the country’s turmoil may find its way into her home and put her face to face with her sins.

In 1934, the novel The End of Old Times by Vladislav Vančura was published. Fifty years later, it was revived by Jiří Menzel’s film adaptation. The nostalgic comedy is set shortly after the First World War on a farm with a castle, where a Russian emigrant, Megalrogov (Josef Abrhám), a would-be prince, arrives. A charming man of refined manners, he is in fact above all a skilful storyteller and fantasist who likes to embellish his stories. That is why he manages to charm the snobbish society so much that the running of the estate starts to revolve around him. The basic theme of Vančura’s satirical story is the conflict between two social orders. Menzel has shifted this conflict to a more conciliatory lyrical level through the camera of Jaromír Šofr, and has strengthened the comedy by imitating the style of silent slapstick.

This episodic portrait of a Bohemian village is built around the wobbly friendship between two men of opposing natures – farm truck driver Pávek (Marián Labuda) and his mentally challenged assistant Otík (János Bán). Pávek wants to get rid of his unreliable protégé once the harvest is over, after which Otík would move to Prague. But the naïve assistant is unprepared for life in the big city. The young man’s broad smile while wearing headphones over his ears is now viewed as an inherent component of the colourful village idyll. The film also features the tetchy Turek (Petr Čepek), jealous of his wife Jana (Libuše Šafránková), and the absent-minded dreamer, Doctor Skružný (Rudolf Hrušínský), who enjoys admiring the wonder of the Bohemian countryside while driving.

Jiří Menzel directed six films based on literary works by Bohumil Hrabal. The penultimate of these was the 1983 film A Feast of Snowdrops. Hrabal’s eponymous book, which is a colorful collage of portraits of the inhabitants of a cottage settlement in the Central Bohemian village of Kersko, was first published in 1978, but then still in censored form. Jiří Menzel wanted to rehabilitate the long-censored author for film, so he prepared a film script based on his book. However, the film was only allowed to be made by the state cinema management after the audience success of Cutting in Short, another adaptation of Hrabal’s work. The film is set in the local restaurant, where seasonal holidaymakers and old-timers from Kersko gather day after day. The peaceful life of the village is disrupted by a grotesque boar hunt and the ensuing dispute between two groups of gamekeepers over who should get the trophy. The tragicomedy, which accentuates the bucolic rather than the existential level of the subject, was filmed in the real cottage village of Kersko.

On the edge of the Sahara, in Burkina Faso, the village of Kamsé is being destroyed by the effects of creeping desertification. To ensure the village’s survival, the villagers decided to embark on the planning of a perimeter. Armed with shovels and pickaxes, they will build dikes, plant hedges and trees to protect the soil from wind, gully erosion and herds of animals that grass on what little pasture manages to grow. For "Le périmètre de Kamsé", Geneva-based director Olivier Zuchuat filmed the fight against desertification in a village in Burkina Faso - a fight that is mainly fought by women.

During their struggle against the U.S. military bases, the Okinawan people have found the ability to peacefully resist. They have been able to maintain an inexplicable identity, which is fascinating even to the Japanese. "Katabui, in the heart of Okinawa" is Daniel Lopez's first feature-length film. This documentary evokes this island straddling Japan and China, on which 20% of the territory is occupied by an American base.

7 short films by 7 directors that revolve around the most beautiful thing in the world, the butterflies in your stomach, the clammy hands on the first date, all the unexpected things that can happen when you go on a blind date. Einfach so Christoph Schaub (Switzerland, 1997, 14 Min.) Angela has planned her blind date perfectly: She will arrive early at the restaurant, so she can get a good look of the stranger before he sees her. For reassurance she takes along her trusty companion, her dog Zacki. The stranger is late to arrive and a series of misunderstandings begin to create havoc... Fortunately she has Zacki by her side, who saves the day and finds her the man of her dreams. Le chevalier à la rose Blaise Biguet (Switzerland, 1997, 17 Min.) Sepp, a young farmer, doesn’t want to have anything to do with the Montandons daughter nor with arranged marriages. Against his parents’ advice, he signs up to a dating agency and decides to travel to Lausanne to meet Rosa, his first blind date. On the train his fellow passengers begin to take a strange interest in him... Little Sister Anka Schmid (Switzerland, 1997, 16 Min.) Lisa, a young, shy post office employee, lives life as a recluse. Matters of the heart have never been her strong point. Mona, her sister, places an ad in the newspaper for her. Lisa at first doesn’t approve of this intrusion into her private life, but then as 19 men respond to the ad, she is temped. Angélique Samir (Switzerland, 1997, 11 Min.) Allesandro can’t believe his eyes, when he sees his sexy, beautiful blind date walk into the café they had arranged to meet at. He feels too intimidated to talk to her and tries to slip off unnoticed. But Angelique is a woman who knows what she wants and doesn’t take no for an answer. She follows him through the streets of the city, right up to the roof of his house where Alessandro tries to hide away... Joyeux Noël Bianca Conti Rossini (Switzerland, 1997, 11 Min.) On Christmas Eve Annie, a young girl with a lively imagination, wonders who the stranger is her mother Lise has invited to join them for dinner. What if he’s the murderer who has been roaming the streets of the city, preying on single women ? Her mother becomes wary as well and panic sets in when the doorbell rings. Who’s this stranger trying to force his way into the house ? L'hacienda du bonheur Heikki Arekallio (Switzerland, 1997, 12 Min.) In her grey, sad council flat Silvia dreams of a life, like those of the glamorous characters in her favourite telenovela "L’Hacienda du Bonheur", which she watches every night with her two children Johnny and Pamela. In a bid to find a soul mate, that lives up to her fictional expectations, she decides to place an add in the local newspaper... Les voies du Seigneur Antoine Plantevin (Switzerland, 1997, 16 Min.) Sister Angelique is praying with all her might for Rinalde to arrive – a prisoner on leave who was meant to meet her, but hasn’t turned up yet. The Mother Superior, who walks in on her praying in the chapel, strongly advises her to be cautious of men; perverts who could take advantage of her innocence. Sister Angelique listens to her words of wisdom, but when she hears Rinalde’s motorbike pull up outside, she rushes out to greet him. May the Lord be with her !

An American base in South Korea dumps its toxic chemical waste into the nearby Han River. Over time, this creates a mutated amphibious giant monster that one day emerges from the river near Seoul and makes life unsafe for snack bar owner Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) and his family – and everyone else. Bong Joon-ho's "The Host" is not a pure sci-fi flick, as the director was inspired by a real toxic waste scandal and peppered the story with political allusions, satire and slapstick humor. After its release, the film broke all attendance records in South Korea. An always great Song Kang-ho ("Parasite", "Memories of Murder") shines in the leading role.

The film is about gluttony, with the topic of eating also serving as an example for other metabolic processes. The starting point of the playful collage is the energy theorem: "All natural processes are only energy transformations, but never energy production or energy destruction." Physical life, however, functions according to the pleasure principle, the aim of which is to generate as much pleasure as possible. But what if the pleasure of one leads to the loss of the other, since the sum of the supplies remains constant? This is decided by the right of the strongest, then one must starve or be eaten.

Danger of escape shows the story of 23-year-old Bruno Kuhn, who is sent to prison for a stupid offence into which he slips. He begins there as one of the lowest in the social pecking order of the prisoners. He is a small fish that is not taken seriously at first. But slowly he begins to accept his role. He learns to assert himself and to strike back

The movie is based on the autobiographical novel DIE REISE (THE JOURNEY) of Bernward Vesper. He is the son of a famous nazi-poet and life's companion of the female terrorist Gudrun Ensslin. The novel has been called «inheritance of a whole generation», because the destiny it describes stands as an enlarged and therefore recognizable example for those influences imprinting the whole generation of the sixties: Those born during the war learn how to think during the new beginning. However, instead of being able to orient themselves in relation to a fatherly ideal they see themselves confronted with their fathers' guilt.This situation leads to angry, moral demands of the children. After the hot years of student revolts it culminates in either resignation or in the blind hatred of terrorism. The film tells two childhood stories: The first one builds the framework. It narrates how a young father with his five-year old son escapes terrorism. The second story describes the development of this father, who – out of opposition to his nazi-father - gets involved with terrorism.

Happy Birthday Markus Imhoof (Switzerland, 1968, 9 Min.) On his 16th birthday, Röbi Keller crashes his father's car. He tells the police how it happened. Markus Imhoof's film is an exemplary portrayal of how, in 1967, the young people abandon the ‘golden mean’ sung about by their parents' generation, which leads them into the machinery of the capitalist bourgeoisie. The leading role is played by his later cameraman Lukas Strebel. Rondo Markus Imhoof (Switzerland, 1968, 42 Min.) The documentary film deals with the problems of the Swiss penal system. It uses an individual case to illustrate the mechanisms to which a prisoner is subjected in the prison. In addition, the film shows the past life of the prisoner, his previous crimes and relapses, as well as his constant conflicts with the social environment. The 40-minute film is a collage of image sequences, photos, interview statements, quotations and sound elements. Ormenis 199+69 Markus Imhoof (Switzerland, 1969, 25 Min.) The documentary produced with the financial support of the cavalry associations draws a critical picture of the mounted troops. The film raises the question of whether this type of weapon is still timely or just an unrealistic symbol of Swiss military will.