The Delights
More than 120 kids live together in Las Delicias agrotechnical boarding school in the Argentine countryside. Throughout the year, in addition to the compulsory subjects, they learn activities related to farm work. A doctor and other members of the school staff lend an ear during the daily struggles with mis-behaviour, physical ailments and the desire to return home. In that school, away from their families, they will experience the end of their childhood and the beginning of their youth.
"There is light in even the darkest places" - VOX Magazine
One Mother
For nearly twenty years, I grew up in a foster family, today I am 35 years old and I am trying to start my family when Gisèle, my birth mother, tells me that she is returning to live in Congo, his home country. I have to understand: Why is she still leaking? Through archive images, I trace the thread of my childhood, methodically, to better question the present. Who is this woman who gave birth to me?
"A soul-baring work of searing authenticity, Bandela’s searching documentary grapples with the complexities of motherhood and the long shadows of family trauma." - Guardian
No Place For You In Our Town
No Place for You in Our Town pulls the audience into the heads of the football hooligans from the roughest city in Bulgaria — Pernik. A once flourishing industrial center, today all that’s left is the urban legend about its citizens’ toughness — an echo of the miners’ brave and glorious past underground. Having exclusive access, Nikolay Stefanov’s camera silently follows Tsetso, a skinhead and single father, the gang leader Dado, and Mimeto, the only woman in the group. They are all devoted to helping their team rise from the last league, reliving the strength and unity of their ancestors, the miners.
"Stefanov’s camera looks on silently, beyond fascist ideology and their racist chants, at the personal lives of these working-class fanatics. The result is a complex and quietly familiar portrait of a forgotten town living in the uncertain wake of de-industrialisation." - Sheffield Doc Fest
A Long Journey Home
A family of three generations lives in a 120-square-meter home. The division of the space articulates five people’s daily lives, which also throws them into different worlds. They talked about the past and probed for a future. Yet, a crack keeps growing with a repeated pattern full of happiness and grief.
"a relational, temporal and cinematographic journey....Recent Chinese history is implicitly outlined, the rapid growth of the 1990s having left a mark on society as a whole. A Long Journey Home is a brilliant quest for emancipation, seeking a place among one's own people." - Visions du Reel, **Winner** Jury Prize in the Burning Lights Competition
Kenya
Trans women face extreme violence on the streets of Mexico City. After witnessing the murder of her friend, trans sex worker Kenya sets out to find justice. In a long struggle full of fear and pain, Kenya cannot help but to see her own life reflected in her friend’s tragic ending. A debut of great integrity.
"Raw and deeply affecting...Kenya offers the camera a disarming welcome. Despite the outward show—high heels, wigs, make-up, plastic surgery—there’s a distinct lack of vanity on display." - IDFA