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International Feature Film Competition 2023
Archive of the Future / Archiv der Zukunft, 2023, - Non-Fiction
Director: Joerg Burger
Country: Austria
At the Natural History Museum in Vienna, everything that is found on earth and in outer space and that humans can get their hands on, is collected, archived, and studied in the name of evolutionary research. Archiv der Zukunft captures the aesthetic appeal of the natural-history collection and its working process, illuminating the mammoth project of knowledge preservation and production hidden behind the building’s imperial façade.
The Cigarette Surfboard, 2024, - Non-Fiction
Director: Ben Judkins
Country: USA
An impassioned surfer creates a surfboard with 10,000 littered cigarette butts collected from California beaches. The Cigarette Surfboards become a platform to spark ocean stewardship and the symbol of a campaign to hold Big Tobacco accountable for their toxic, plastic waste.
Diagnosis: Dissent / БожеВільні, - Fiction
Director: Denys Tarasov
Country: Ukraine
The protagonist Andriy Dovzhenko finds out a horrible truth, that has been hidden in USSR for years - most of those accused of «anti-Soviet propaganda» were never sent to prison, but to special psychiatric hospitals with a diagnosis of "slow progressive schizophrenia". Andriy finds himself in a real hell of punitive psychiatry and faces a difficult choice - to cooperate with the KGB and return to his family, or to reveal the truth about dissidents tortured in such psychiatric hospitals.
KIX, - Non-Fiction
Director: Dávid Mikulán, Bálint Révész
Country: Hungary, France, Croatia
It is a 12-year odyssey following Sanyi's journey from a rowdy street kid in Budapest to a disillusioned young adult.
Life and Death of a Christmas Tree / Kalėdų eglutės gyvenimas ir mirtis, - Non-Fiction
Director: Arturas Jevdokimovas
Country: Lithuania, Denmark, Georgia
The Christmas tree, the well familiar festive plant, the princess of all the trees travels through countries and cultures, while the joyful hustle and bustle hides a billion-dollar business and the characters’ daily struggle for survival.
Mountain Boy, - Fiction
Director: Zainab Shaheen
Country: United Arab Emirates, Great Britain
A young Emirati boy with Autism ventures with his new friend Barakah, an Arabian Saluki to find acceptance, family, and redemption.
Mountains, - Fiction
Director: Mónica Sorelle
Country: USA
While looking for a new home for his family, a Haitian demolition worker is faced with the realities of redevelopment as he is tasked with dismantling his rapidly gentrifying Miami neighborhood.
My Place Ozerna / Moja Ozerna, - Non-Fiction
Director: Karina Bedkowska
Country: Poland
Karina, the director, escapes London to Ukraine, where she meets her 84-year-old aunt Slava. Meeting of two women who lost will to live but mutual closeness and love restore their meaning.
No Winter Holidays / Dhorpatan, - Non-Fiction
Director: Rajan Kathet, Sunir Pandey
Country: Nepal, South Korea, Romania
Two lifelong rivals Ratima and Kalima have been appointed caretakers of their empty village. Now in the twilight of their lives, they must forget their past and help each other survive a long and harsh winter.
Once Upon a Time in the Andes / Érase una vez en los Andes, - Fiction
Director: Rómulo Sulca Ricra
Country: Peru
The Peruvian Andes. Margarita, an Andean shepherdess, finds Lautaro, a dying Chilean soldier who has fled from a battle, she decides to take him home and take care of him. His father, aware of this, agrees to hide the enemy, putting his family at risk, on the condition that he leaves when he gets better. Despite their language differences, the shepherdess and the soldier begin to develop a relationship.
Oxygen Station / Киснева станція, - Fiction
Director: Ivan Tymchenko
Country: Ukraine, Czechia, Sweden, Slovakia
1980, USSR. Human rights activist and political prisoner Mustafa Jemilev is exiled to Siberia, where he works at the oxygen station. 3 people are headed to him across the huge country with different goals - to meet, to destroy, to protect.
Plague / Чума, - Fiction
Director: Ivan Vladimirov
Country: Bulgaria
Early 19 th century. A wealthy man, chorbadhzi Yordan, and his son return from a pilgrimage. They find the plague raging on Bulgarian lands. The villagers are frightened and famished. The Black Death brings out our innermost fears and recalls atavistic instincts for survival.
Rap and Reindeer / Revontulten räppäri, - Non-Fiction
Director: Petteri Saario
Country: Finland
An 18-year-old Sámi rapper on his journey towards a career in music and stardom. A film about the urge to create one’s own version of Sámi culture.
Seven Blessings / Sheva Brachot, - Fiction
Director: Ayelet Menahemi
Country: Israel
Marie travels from France to Israel, where her family now lives, to marry her one true love. This film is a week of festive meals in honor of the bride.This week turns into a sad comedy about family crimes, forgiveness and loss.
That They May Face the Rising Sun, - Fiction
Director: Pat Collins
Country: Ireland, Great Britain (Northern Ireland)
That They May Face the Rising Sun is an adaptation of the final novel from John McGahern, one of Ireland's greatest novelists. Joe and Kate Ruttledge have returned from London to live and work among a small, rural, lakeside community in Ireland near to where Joe grew up. Now deeply embedded in the life around the lake, the drama of a year in their lives and those of the memorable characters that move about them unfolds through the rituals of work, play and the passing seasons as this enclosed world becomes an everywhere.
Weightless / Невагома, - Non-Fiction
Director: Marta Hryniuk, Nick Thomas
Country: Netherlands, Ukraine
Khrystyna Bunii travels solo across remote south-west Ukraine in pursuit of her anthropological research. As she encounters people and digitises their family photo archives, conversations and interconnections emerge, but finding people who want to talk about the region’s past is not an easy task.
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