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- A young Palestinian schoolteacher gives birth to her son in an Israeli prison where she fights to protect him, survive and maintain hope.
- Ruza left Belgrade for Switzerland as a young woman full of hope for a new, better life. 25 years later she appears to have achieved everything: She owns a canteen in Zurich, which she manages with a firm grip and financial success. Ruza values her meticulously-structured daily routine, both in her professional and private life. Ruzas's orderly world shifts when 22-year-old Ana from Sarajevo enters the scene. She feels threatened by Ana's direct, impulsive manner while at the same time she is intrigued by her zest for life. Slowly a friendship develops between these two self-willed women. However, a certain distance between them remains: Ruza's afraid to open herself up completely, and Ana has a secret too difficult to reveal.
- "Mother married a photo of Father," says director Firouzeh Khosrovani in the opening of this deeply personal documentary. She's not speaking metaphorically though. Her mother Tayi literally married a portrait of Hossein in Teheran -he was in Switzerland studying radiology and was unable to travel back to his homeland for the wedding. The event illustrates the abyss that still exists in their marriage: Hossein is a secular progressive and Tayi a devout, traditional Muslim. But this family history is also a sort of x-ray, laying bare the conflicts of Iranian society in the run-up to, and aftermath of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Besides Khosrovani's commentary, we hear letters being read aloud and recollections of conversations between her parents. At the same time, we see photographs and videos from the family archive. These fragments of intimacy are interspersed with stylized shots of the filmmaker's parental home, its decor and furnishings subtly reflecting each new phase in her parents' marriage-and in Iranian society. Credit: IDFA 2020.
- When her mother decides to stop administering medication to her mentally challenged daughter, 18-year-old Dora awakes, as if from a deep sleep. Dora discovers her body, her sensuality and finally, sex, too.
- Emily is sent to work and live in the Sovereign's castle. She manages to escape into the woods, where she meets some lively hookers. Together they become «Robber Girls» taking a stand and fighting the patriarchy.
- "Abu Nawas" is a trendy café and popular hangout for artists, communists and gay Iraqi exiles in London, it's close to the Salafist Mosque. When Nasseer, a fanatic religious youth and nephew of poet Taufiq, attacks his uncle's friends he sets into action a course of events that will turn everyone's life upside down.
- A murder, a police raid and a photo of a mysterious girl; a young mother must piece together her twin son's secret romantic life, in order to find out what happened to them.
- The rugged mountain valley of Bregaglia brought forth an entire dynasty of artists: the Giacomettis. Director Susanna Fanzun traces the footsteps of this remarkable family.
- Enter a dark, dangerous world where the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred. Angela is 18, a stunning Dutch blonde, a comic illustrator, and bored with life. Eager for adventure, she moves to Tokyo to become a bar hostess for Asian men who like Western women. An innocent in this sexual underworld, she confronts sleazy customers, jealous co-workers and a mystery: the disappearance of a former hostess. As she discovers clues, she sketches them out in comic-strip style, and slowly begins to confuse what she knows with what she draws.
- Pensioner Roli comes to Fareed's assistance when the Syrian refugee is faced with the burial of his Muslim wife. Together they stumble into a bewildering forest of Swiss bureaucracy to which Roli finds beautifully simple answer.
- Croatia, 7th of January 1992: In the middle of the war a young journalists' body is being found dressed with an uniform of the international mercenary group. 19 years later, his cousin Anja Kofmel detects his story.
- Interviews with six of the mass murderers from Sabra and Shatilla. The faces are in black and are not identifiable.
- The life of 20-year-old Nico from upper class Zurich is all party, sex and drugs when she meets Carlos, the front man of a hip hop band. With naivete and infinite self-confidence, she tries to adopt his lifestyle - with harsh consequences.
- Tracing the emigrations of his family over more than half a century, this riveting 3D documentary epic from acclaimed expatriate Iraqi filmmaker Samir pays moving homage to the frustrated democratic dreams of a people successively plagued by the horrors of dictatorship, war, and foreign occupation.
- How do you come home when everything has changed? Through hidden memories, ambiguous fantasies and violent sensations. The story of a young woman searching for herself in Lebanon.
- A scandal when a Scottish student accused two of her teachers of having an affair.
- Skalde lives in a small rural community, far from a world that may no longer exist. She is an interloper in her own home, having been born to an 'outsider' mother and therefore marked by a social stigma she cannot easily erase. Displaying a loyalty to the codes of the community, she has earned the respect of the village elder. However, when she encounters a mysterious girl in the local woods, Skalde risks everything by befriending her, eventually giving the girl a home. She attempts to hide her subterfuge to maintain her standing with the villagers, but her plans threaten to unravel.
- 60-year-old Meredith considers herself happily married to André. So it comes as a shock when she's diagnosed as HIV-positive and her husband is the only one who could have transmitted the disease.
- Giorgio's poor parents sell their son to Milan to work as a chimney sweeper. There he joins the «Black Brothers».
- Autumn 1947: Elisha, a young Jew, learns that he has been chosen to kill the hostage John Dawson, a captain in the British Army occupying Palestine. Will Elisha, himself a survivor of the holocaust, be able to commit this irrevocable act?
- An female family saga from the inside of Modernism, told by the women in the haze of the iconic architect Mies van der Rohe.
- Vincent an insurance salesman of a corrupt corporation that bleeds every last dime from deceased debtors begins to rethink his stance on humanity after he meets someone who goes against the very system he has lived by for many years.
- Investment banker HP has allegedly ridden out the crash of the stock exchange. One evening, at a barbecue event with his banker friends and their wives, HP's Danish au-pair threatens to blow the whistle on her love affair with HP's married boss. HP wants to please everybody. But the next morning, he has lost everything: his house, his wife, his friends, and his job - NACHBEBEN is an intimate play which examines how neo-liberal principals force their way into the most private of spheres, namely those of the family and of friendships. NACHBEBEN is a film about men that have been trained to poker, spy and speculate in an economic world. It is also a film about women that are expected to accept this but in the end decide not to. It is astonishing to note that although banks and large corporations represent the largest employment sector of modern-day Switzerland, NACHBEBEN is the first Swiss film which deals in depth with the people of this socio-economic environment. And although affluence and materialism appear to be ubiquitous in Switzerland, no national film to date has illustrated the human price which these traits ultimately demand.
- Documentary about the life of avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren, who led the independent film movement of the 1940s.
- The sequel to "One Franco, 14 Pesetas" - the Spanish migrants return to Switzerland in 1974 as tourists.
- A.K.A. BIRDSEYE is the saga of an obsessive Colorado sheriff and his trusting teenage son, who risk it all when their twisted reconstruction of a mysterious kidnapping case escalates into a dangerous hunt for a mythical Swiss criminal.
- Housewife and mother Therese Karlen spontaneously breaks out of the family rut one weekend and leaves her snotty teenage daughter Melanie and her son Valentin with her jovial and overwhelmed husband Alois. She travels through Switzerland and to herself with Liselotte, an older lady. Therese, 39, has been slightly depressed, cheerless and plagued by insomnia for some time. She bravely attempts to conceal her state of mind from her two children and her husband. She has been married to the bustling Alois for 18 years. Routine has the couple firmly in its grip. The time has long since passed when there was room for romance and passion. One Saturday, on the way to the dentist, once again tired from a sleepless night, she runs into an older woman, who is luckily uninjured. Liselotte Wildi is a former primary school teacher and likes to imagine her life as somewhat more glamorous than it really is. Therese offers to drive her home, but the short drive turns into an ever longer excursion. While she moves farther away from the family and becomes increasingly relaxed, thanks to the eccentric Lieselotte, Alois faces the full challenge of life at home. A weekend full of adventure, insights and surprises.
- A fascinating road movie tracing history and origin of a subculture of youth that is known as one of the most radical and contradictory of our time.
- The true story of the Wayana people, French Indians of Amazonia who are cursed by living in a region rich in gold. Consequently, the uncontrolled exploitation of this wealth has brought about a severe deterioration of the forest's ecosystem, the irreversible pollution of streams, as well as countless violations of fundamental human rights. This film not only shows the despair of the Amerindians but also their awareness of the problem and how they are trying to cope with their survival. A documentary which gives a human face to a contemporary tragedy which concerns all of us.
- At the end of their lives, a wealthy couple ponders over life and death. After fifty years together, they decide to leave - not because they have to, but because they want to.
- Two yuppies play mean tricks on one another until one joke has fatal consequences.
- The story of the German antifascist and pacifist John Heartfield, who pioneered the use of ART AS A POLITICAL WEAPON. A young Graphic Designer and an animated cartoon figure take us on a journey through Heartfields eventful times.
- David Sieveking walks on David Lynchs path into the world of transcendental meditation (TM). He comes across the founder of this worldwide movement, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, to whom the Beatles already pilgrimed.
- A gentle portrait by the famous German-Swiss-Austrian Hollywood actor Maximilian Schell about his no less famous sister Maria.
- Jochen Epstein wird aus dem Gefängnis entlassen, in dem er 15 Jahre wegen Mordes eingesessen hatte. Er ist entschlossen, aus Deutschland auszuwandern und die Vergangenheit für immer hinter sich zu lassen. Doch vertraute Orte, verdrängte Erinnerungen und eine nie vergessene Freundin sprengen den Panzer, den der Alte um sich aufgebaut hat. Alles begann an seinem letzten Tag in Freiheit. Ein außergewöhnlicher Tag für drei außergewöhnliche Freunde: Zum ersten Mal feiern die drei Juden Jochen Epstein, Karl Rose und Adam Rose ein christliches Weihnachtsfest. Das heißt, Adam hatte die Idee dazu und die anderen müssen einfach mitziehen, wie immer. Als Adam Rose und Epstein die Tochter ihrer Haushaltshilfe Paula in einen Weihnachtsgottesdienst begleiten, passiert das Unmögliche: die beiden KZ-Überlebenden erkennen in dem Gemeindepriester ihren ehemaligen SS-Peiniger, den Hauptsturmführer Giesser. Am nächsten Morgen stellen die drei Freunde gemeinsam den vermeintlichen Geistlichen. Die Fronten scheinen klar, alle Fragen tausend Mal gestellt und ebenso oft beantwortet. Doch das Treffen nimmt eine überraschende Wende. Giesser hält sich keineswegs für schuldig, wendet das Blatt und stellt seinerseits die drei Juden an den Pranger. Er weiß, wie Epstein seine Freunde im Lager beschützte. Er weiß, welchen Preis der alte Schrotthändler für das Leben der beiden Roses zu zahlen bereit war. Zum ersten Mal erfahren die Roses, was Epstein für sie getan hat, welche Opfer er für das Leben der beiden Brüder brachte. Die Situation eskaliert, als das Schicksal der damals kleinen Hannah, Adam Roses Jugendliebe, enthüllt wird. Schuld und Vergebung, Freundschaft und Verrat, Liebe und Hass bestimmen die Auseinandersetzung zwischen den vier Männern in der Kirche. Sie endet in dem Mord Epsteins an Giesser. Doch der Tod des Peinigers bringt keine Erleichterung. Mit ihm stirbt das Letzte, das die drei Alten vor dem Horror des Naziregimes retten konnten: die Hoffnung und das Gedenken an unbeschwerte Kindertage. Karl und Adam Rose sind längst tot, als Epstein 15 Jahre später aus dem Gefängnis entlassen wird. Die eigene, vermeintliche Schuld, seine zerstörte Existenz und das Alleinsein haben ihm allen Glauben an das Leben genom-men. Bis plötzlich die «kleine» Hannah wieder vor ihm steht.
- Dida has learning difficulties and still depends on her mother. When the latter is no longer able to look after her, it falls to Dida's son, Nikola, to take over. How can he help his mother live her life without losing his independence? And how can he do so while living in different cities, even different countries? Nikola and his wife Corina reorganise their life to deal with these new responsibilities. While Dida learns about her son's day-to-day life in Zurich, Nikola rediscovers the small worker's apartment in Belgrade that he had left to move in with Corina in Switzerland. He expresses his doubts and feelings frankly, in a voiceover reminiscent of a personal journal. The directors Nikola Ilic and Corina Schwingruber Ilic confide their story through a moving family film that paints an intimate portrait of Dida and her world of wonder. With an ample dose of humour, this feature-length film recounts the milestones in the life of a son and a mother who rediscover each other in adulthood, between two cities and two cultures.
- When Maria, a Mexican émigré, becomes pregnant, she keeps quiet, fearing that her husband Giorgio, who thinks he's sterile, will suspect her of infidelity. This silence divides the couple.
- Happiness seems complete when Judith, her 6-year-old daughter Milla and the former drug addict Gabriel meet on the remote fish farm in the Bernese Jura. But then Milla tragically finds death in a robbery and the idyll breaks up.
- Main character of this movie is Rene Rupnik, a former math teacher. He is forty years old and lives together with his mother in a desolate block of flats. Ever since his early youth women with big breasts have fascinated him, because they symbolise a kind of earth mother to him. He has never had an especially close relationship with his own mother; she was too 'bony' for him. Object of Rene's fantasy is the actress Senta Berger, to him everything a woman should be. Standing by the blackboard and explaining the mathematical laws of sine and cosine ('sinus' is bosom in Latin), Rene sings the praises of the female curves and those of Santa Berger in particular. Filmmaker Ulrich Seidl let the former teacher speak freely about his obsessions and desires, intercutting his monologues with scenes from the protagonist's day-to-day life.
- When Marcus, the chief developer at an entertainment company called NEUROO-X, disappears, his wife Ryuko begins searching for him. The clues and riddles he left behind lead to the magical, virtual parallel world of NEUROO-X games.
- A filmic reflection about the stereotypes of "the Jew" and " the Arab" through one hundred years of film, linked with the biographies of four extraordinary people: Iraqi-Jewish communists.
- Documentary about legendary Swiss pilot Franz von Werra, who fighted with the Nazi in WW2 and was the only German prisoner to escape prison, in England.
- Rolf, a hemiplegic, spends his days dozing on a sofa bed in his dusty apartment. On TV, he learns of a deadly pandemic sweeping around the globe. When his nurse fails to visit him, Rolf realizes that his survival is anything but certain.
- Cape Town 1967. Womanizer Christian Barnard transplants the first human heart, but behind him stood an unknown black man: Hamilton Naki.
- A German student falls in love with a Cuban captain and follows him to the Caribbean. Knowing little about sex she becomes the official sex educator of Castro's revolution. A film about female agitators, staunch machos and Caribbean love.
- It has been 35 years since Maria left her newborn in a baby window. With the help of the authorities, she tracks down her daughter and meets Caroline for the first time. A DNA test is to prove their kinship. An increasingly close relationship develops between Maria and Caroline. However, unfulfilled expectations and quiet accusations threaten to break it time and again. The two women struggle together - until the result of the DNA test is available.
- In 1976 a massive explosion at chemicals factory Icmesa in the Italian Seveso had devastating consequences for neighbouring communities and their environment. Icmesa's parent company was Givaudan, which in turn belonged to Hoffman La Roche, based in Basel. Following the accident, Icmesa's technical director Jorg Sambeth was charged with failing to keep adequate security measures. During his investigations into the true cause and background to the catastrophe, Sambeth stumbled upon facts that were damaging to those who were paying his lawyers. Yet he is sentenced to five years in prison. How should he take up his grievances with this conglomerate of companies?
- When visionary Jewish immigrant Jacques Bolsey invents the Bolex in the 1920's, he puts the first home movie camera in the hands of everyday folks, fomenting a film revolution that still inspires artists to this day. Nearly a century later, Alyssa Bolsey uncovers his long lost archive and journeys to discover the man behind the machine through his personal and professional struggles.
- "Honey and Ashes" tells the stories of three women from contemporary North Africa. Caught between tradition and modernity, they seek success in their lives and in their relationships with men. Although their age and social backgrounds differ, their paths cross, bringing to light the multiple obstacles which society has placed in their way.
- Iris and Peter von Roten - the most famous, provocative and beautiful couple in Swiss history. A love story full of political and moral oppositions.