Far from Being Lipizzans

Since the enactment of the Anti-Boryokudan Act and Yakuza exclusion ordinances, the number of Yakuza members reduced to less than 60,000. In the past 3 years, about 20,000 members have left from Yakuza organizations. However, just numbers can’t tell you the reality. What are they thinking, how are they living now? The camera zooms in on the Yakuza world. Are there basic human rights for them?

The story of a young boy forced to spend all five years of his short life in hospital while the federal and provincial governments argued over which was responsible for his care, as well as the long struggle of Indigenous activists to force the Canadian government to enforce “Jordan’s Principle” — the promise that no First Nations children would experience inequitable access to government-funded services again.

"Our film is about the religious sect of Russian Pentecostals, one of the most reactionary and fanatical cults. Their actions are incompatible with the life and laws of our society. We testify that every frame of this film is documentary."

Masao Adachi, the author and director of experimental works and pinku-eiga in the 1960s, was a member of the Japanese New Left that shifted from being a filmmaker to a guerrilla fighter. In 1974, he joined the Japanese Red Army in Lebanon, which worked closely with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Filmmaker Lutz Dammbeck met Adachi in Tokyo in 2018 and talked with him about a wide range of topics, including art, revolution, the influence of western avant-garde art and American underground; the Japanese Red Army; collaboration with secret services; the role of the Left after 1968; and the reasons for failures of leftist ideas and strategies.

THE PERFUMED GARDEN is an exploration of the myths and realities of sensuality and sexuality in Arab society, a world of taboos and of erotic literature. Through interviews with men and women of all ages, classes, and sexual orientation, the film lifts a corner of the veil that usually shrouds discussion of this subject in the Arab world. Made by an Algerian-French woman director, the film begins by looking at the record of a more permissive history, and ends with the experiences of contemporary lovers from mixed backgrounds. It examines the personal issues raised by the desire for pleasure, amidst societal pressures for chastity and virginity. The film discusses pre-marital sex, courtship and marriage, familial pressures, private vs. public spaces, social taboos (and the desire to break them), and issues of language.

Through this documentary, Emmanuelle Béart aims to uncover the truth about incest. The actress, accompanied by director Anastasia Mikova, breaks her silence and confronts her reality with that of others, shedding light on a taboo subject.

The ideal of youth is at the centre of this eloquent film, mixing documentary and fiction, art and experimentation. Demonstrating both formal and narrative freedom, Bélanger weaves a deliberately loose weave in which the initiatory journey of two young people, wandering through Montreal in search of a job, unfolds. But not just any job. The two idealists want a job that will satisfy their desire for freedom, peace and respect. Of course, even though the breath of renewal from Expo 67 still floats here and there, the world they encounter does not correspond - by far - to their aspirations. Strangers in this country that tells them nothing, they come across brutally, materialism, violence, and egocentrism.

Looking back at the history of the struggle for true equality, we follow the daughters and sons of immigrant workers who have been nominated as candidates representing "diversity" in various election campaigns since the 2007 presidential election. On the ground, through meetings, debates, and more "intimate" encounters with candidates and actors from past struggles, a great diversity of thought emerges. But they all have the same goal: not to be just "candidates for Beurs." With many activists from working-class neighborhoods, from Clichy-sous-Bois to Marseille, via Roubaix, and candidates Mouloud Aounit, Kamel Hamza, Faouzi Lamdaoui, Halima Boumedienne, Omar Slaouti, Samia Ghali, Karim Zeribi, Rama Yade, and others... Will these "new faces" of the Republic be in the picture when the votes are counted, or will they simply be "candidates for the Beurs"?

Light Upon Light: A Documentary on Hijab is an intimate and deeply personal exploration of the diverse, raw, and untold stories of hijabi women. Through open and vulnerable conversations with 7 women, the film dismantles stereotypes, highlights the challenges imposed by society, and celebrates the profound beauty of the hijab beyond a mere clothing choice. It captures the individuality of each woman’s story—how they came to wear the hijab, the struggles they’ve faced, and the strength they’ve found in it. More than just fabric, the hijab is a journey, often misunderstood, and influenced by the way the world perceives it. By amplifying voices that are often unheard, the documentary creates a space for empathy, challenges misconceptions, and invites a deeper understanding of what it truly means to wear the hijab; inspiring everyone to see hijab in a new light.

This film is part of a project that has listened to over 40,000 people on masculinity issues and has resulted in a documentary and a tool book based on this publicly available study through an agreement with the Social Information Consortium (CIS) of the University of São Paulo.

What does the looming A.I. revolution mean for us as individuals and as a society?

In his new film, Erwin Wagenhofer is looking for the good and beautiful in this world.

A documentary short that uses fish to explore identity and belonging in a metropolis.

About Stefan Stricker, who calls himself Juwelia and has been running a gallery on Sanderstraße in Berlin Neukölln for many years. Every weekend he invites guests to shamelessly recount from his life and to sing poetic songs written with his friend from Hollywood Jose Promis. Juwelia has been poor and sexy all her life, has always struggled for recognition, but only partially.

A green lawn like an unused carpet, encircled by a neat forest edge, in the background the steaming cooling towers of a coal power station – impressionistic camera images from Lusatia. They summarise in one pan how a used-up utilitarian landscape is trying to recultivate itself. Can ancient identity and language be re-discovered amid this strange artificiality? The director travelled through this region in search of her origins. She was born here, in Lusatia. This is her home and that of the smallest of all Slavic peoples: the Sorbs.