The Burden
In Bangui, Rodrigue and Reine are a couple very involved in the activities of their church. But they live with a terrible secret: they are HIV positive and carry it like a divine punishment. When Rodrigue is offered the position of assistant pastor, he has doubts: is he worthy of leading the church of Christ? Yet how can he refuse when he depends on Reine’s trade? With the pandemic, ARV drugs are becoming scarce and the rumour is spreading that HIV-positive people will die if they vaccinate against Covid19. Reine believes a miracle is possible and sets out on a quest for a miraculous cure. She takes her husband from church to pilgrimage, from prayers of repentance to spiritual fasts, in the hope of divine healing.
"Elvis Sabin Ngaibino’s engrossing and poignant documentary is a family affair" - Guardian
Tomorrow I Leave
What are you willing to accept in order to have a good life? Maria works as a 24-hour caregiver to a woman in Vienna, and sees her family in Romania only every other month. Her two sons are growing up without her, and her own parents' care needs are increasing as they advance in age. Maria Lisa Pichler and Lukas Schöffel calmly observe the reality of life as a migrant worker, travelling with Maria in her car to and from Austria. Maria lives in a permanent state of conflict, caught between the desire to provide a livelihood for her family, and the sacrifices she makes to do so. Through plugging a gap in vital services abroad, Maria's absence is keenly felt at home.
"Under the precarious forces of economy, it seems as if a whole community is gradually evaporating." - Guardian
Limitation
Limitation examines the involvement of Russia in the 1992 coup d’état that overthrew Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who was elected as Georgia’s first president in 1991. The film draws exclusively on Internet-sourced footage that was shot during the armed rebellion that brought down the head of state. The source for each news item, interview, and report is given, whether that’s the Georgian government, the opposition, international news media, or “unknown.” Each side has its own truth—for the opposition, Gamsakhurdia is a “dictator” and a “Judas.”
"an archival horror film, a riveting account of an authoritarian uprising as depicted by the official cameramen of both sides" - Museum of the Moving Image
Dreamers
At the age of 9, Carlos arrives from Mexico to Chicago with his three brothers and his parents. The day he turns 18, his future becomes uncertain. According to US law, Carlos is now considered as undocumented. The slightest mistake can lead him to deportation. From defeats to successes, DREAMERS tells the story of Carlos now 38 years old, his brothers and the fate of 2.5 million people growing up in a country that still does not recognise them as its own.
"For undocumented immigrants, life is a state of perpetual limbo; the present is fraught with unexpected dangers, while the future is as ephemeral as a mirage" - Guardian
Knit's Island
Somewhere on the Internet, there is a space of 250 square kilometres in which individuals gather in community to simulate a survivalist fiction. Under the guise of avatars, a film crew enters this place and makes contact with the ’locals’’ This mysterious, post-apocalyptic rural landscape is revealed as a meeting place, where stories, ideas and friendships are shared. Slowly the players drop their masks to reveal their realities, their daily lives, their relationships of love and friendship. Mixing their memories of the game with the stories of their real lives, a group will take us on a walk on the borders of the Internet. By going to the edge of the game, in search of the limits of this place, the film explores the first steps of the virtualisation of our lives, and questions the future of our world.
"an immersive and existential deep dive into the world of gaming, accessible to all audiences, whether gamers or not” - Variety