The Priest

Nearly everybody has been to the circus to laugh about clowns, be afraid of the lions and to eat sugar cane. However, can anyone imagine that circus artists reside right there in the circus building - above the arena in the second floor hotel rooms - where they also prepare meals, do their laundry and try out their magic tricks? For over 125 years, despite the discomfort of non-renovated premises and ubiquitous animal odor, local and foreign circus artists follow their routine to create the circus miracle. Sugarcane, Coati and Monowheel is a film about those who dwell in Riga Circus and about what happens outside the arena before and after meeting audience under the circus dome.

A monk who got away with everything. Although much of his behavior aroused public outrage, or at least controversy, he never suffered any real consequences for it.

A church congregation in Hamburg-Harburg: Klaus Wildenhahn observes the work of a pastor. What is his job? What is expected of him? What does he himself want?

Latvia is home to almost one fifth of the world’s population of the lesser spotted eagle, yet their number is endangered. Uģis Bergmanis is one of Latvia’s best-known ornithologists, and he does his best to save the eagles in Latvia. He also has another passion – he hunts wolves. He can sit for hours in freezing temperatures until meeting his prey eye to eye. There are many stories in this man. And some of them are going to be told.

An ordinary old folks’ home on the Latvian border – one of many, where our parents, grand-parents and other relatives spend their old age. Theirs is the generation whose prime years co-existed with the Soviet Union, and who were promised: work, give all you can, and we’ll take care when you’re old. The system changed and the reality is different. How to live in this reality, accept the current rules, or live in the past and have regrets. We will touch upon their world, and the dreams and hopes of Vilnis, Imants, Alberts and Elizabete.

Viktors is an entrepreneur with a unique offer – he has built a bar, bakery, spa, hotel and an auto-shop in a former “sovkhoz” cafeteria in the village of Lone. Viktors understands life, and that his words carry weight – almost 500 village inhabitants are now employed. Lone is a lively place both day and night, full of youths and many other businesses. Viktors is very proud.

“The Inked Family” follows a couple of married Latvian-born tattoo artists – Anrijs and Monami Frost of online fame. They’re now living in Liverpool with their daughter, and their previous lives in Latvia seem almost surreal to them. The film traces Monami’s past, and the couple’s current lives and the success they’ve found as tattoo artists.

The remarkable true story of the Catholic priest and human rights activist who paid the ultimate price to faithfully inspire the people of Poland to stand against the oppressive Communist rule of the 1980s.

One man's hat is another man's treasure when it comes to the importance and significance of saving items of historic value.

Stanley Kubrick’s short documentary about Father Fred Stadtmueller, a Catholic priest serving a vast 4,000-square-mile parish in rural New Mexico. To reach his scattered congregation, he pilots his own Piper Cub aircraft, the Spirit of St. Joseph. Over two days, Kubrick follows the “flying padre” as he conducts Mass, mediates between quarreling children, attends a funeral, and airlifts a sick child to medical care—capturing both the challenges and quiet heroism of his daily mission.

An intimate portrait of Matthew Shepard, the gay young man murdered in one of the most notorious hate crimes in U.S. history. Framed through a personal lens, it's the story of loss, love, and courage in the face of unspeakable tragedy.

In 2012, Stephen Vaughan and Kay Ferreter are invited to address the congregation at St. Joseph's Redemptorists Church in Dundalk, Ireland for the Solemn Novena Festival. In a powerful speech, the pair describe their experiences being gay and lesbian in Ireland, feeling excluded by Catholic doctrine, and the importance of a more inclusive church.

Servant of God Fr. Emil Kapaun may not be well-known. But he should be. The son of Czech immigrants, Fr. Kapaun grew up on a small Kansas farm. But this seemingly ordinary farm boy became one of the most inspiring heroes of the Korean War-and unlike many war heroes, this military chaplain is also on the road to sainthood. His cause for canonization has been opened by the Diocese of Wichita, and two medical miracles attributed to him are being investigated by the Vatican. He has also been nominated for the highest military medal, the Medal of Honor. In this powerful documentary, learn his inspiring life story, his heroic work as a chaplain during battle, and his leadership and comfort of fellow American prisoners after capture and torture by the Communists. (Released 2010)

This film offers us a juxtaposed journey of two priests: Father Van Ban, a Vietnamese priest from the parish of Thy Hu in the Hé region, who after nine years of training in Paris decides to return to Vietnam, and Bernard de Terves, a young deacon from the Foreign Missions of Paris who decides to leave for China after his ordination. Their intersecting paths allow us to address themes related to East-West intercultural dialogue, particularly that of transmitting the Gospel message.

Raymond Roy is a 64-year-old idealist, an energetic social activist ready to give everything he has to those living on the edge: the alienated, impoverished and exploited members of society. Raymond is also a priest, doing what he has wanted to do ever since he was a teenager. Filmmaker Serge Giguère paints an intimate portrait of a man who has spent 30 years fighting for an alternative vision of life in his community. The film is a blend of cinema vérité and social history that provides a view of the man and his work from without and within, from the poetry of his personal diary laced with doubts and self-criticism, to the many achievements of the community groups he helped. Filming over several years, Giguère gives us a sense of the changes in values and attitudes of those who run our society, along with the role of the community groups who provide solutions, inspiration and a sense of renewal.