My Memory is Full of Ghosts
Like a visual elegy, My Memory Is Full of Ghosts explores a reality caught between past, present and future in Homs, Syria. Behind the self-portrait of an exsanguinated population in search of normality, emerge memories of the city, haunted by destruction, disfigurement and loss. A deeply moving film, a painful echo of the absurdity of war and the strength of human beings.
"Punctuated by songs of lamentation, the film is elegiac in tone, a visual hymn for what Homs once was. While bearing witness to the pain left behind, " - Guardian
Nightwatchers
Montgenèvre, a ski resort on the Franco-Italian border. French law allows refugees to apply for asylum upon arrival in France. In practice, however, these individuals are often turned back to Italy by law enforcement without having had the opportunity to submit such an application. To access their fundamental rights, they continue their trek higher into the mountains. On the French side, volunteers from all walks of life take turns night after night to help refugees and guide them to safety in a refuge lower down in the valley. Nightwatchers offers an immersive experience, spending a night in the mountains with them.
"“It is a cinematic experience in a breathtaking twilight setting, bringing to light a vital and powerful closely-knit network,” - Variety
The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine
Toto, one of the last gold diggers in Tierra del Fuego, is sixty years old and he is no longer the same as before. After 40 years working in the mine, he is tired and feels close to death. But he just can’t retire, because he doesn’t qualify for social security. His son Jorge, a young cowboy, will endeavour to solve this problem by designing and building a gold harvesting machine that should bring them a better future.
"daily routines are documented with great tenderness....Rich with meticulous detail, De La Plaza’s documentary also doubles as an act of visual scavenging; among these lush fields of grass and snowcapped mountain peaks, the film-maker has also struck gold" - Guardian
Fragments of Ice
Personal, political and social developments unfold in Fragments of Ice, edited together from fifteen VHS tapes covering the period 1986 to 1994: video diaries shot by the director’s father, a champion figure-skater, on his foreign tours with the Ukrainian Ensemble Ballet on Ice, as well as in his own home. As we follow director Maria Stoianova growing up, we witness the parallel collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukraine’s journey towards regaining its independence, then its transition to a market economy. Expectations reflected in the glamourous footage of the West, shot by Stoianova’s father on his tours, contrast starkly with the home video footage of peeling walls, collapsed ceilings and cockroaches back at the family flat.
"Stoianova...nudges at the fluidity of history and memory. We may freeze parts of it for a moment but we can never truly know where we lie on its continuum or when the past will assert itself, because, in the end, we can only live as resiliently as we’re able in the present moment" - Screendaily
The Guest
In 2021, the border area between Poland and Belarus became a forbidden zone, three kilometers wide, where refugees found themselves brutally trapped. They had become the stakes in a political game: Belarus supposedly guaranteed free passage to the EU, but in Poland the refugees met with pushbacks, forcing them back across the border. Once in Belarus again, they were driven back towards Poland—a horrific stalemate in an inhospitable landscape of treacherous marshes.
"The tension is palpable in this sensitive, sharply observant documentary. Without a hint of sensationalism, the camera reads the emotions on the faces of the silent Polish family members and their grateful guest. The situation is dire, and a solution remains out of reach. Yet, at the same time, the film is permeated by the warmth of human help and contact" - IDFA, Winner Best Cinematography, International Competition.