festival
films
APOLLONIA, APOLLONIA
When Danish filmmaker Lea Globe met French artist Apollonia, she had no idea that she would be making a documentary about her for 13 years.
Bon Voyage
A film about the life of the only airport in the city of Stepanakert on the territory of the unrecognized self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).
WRITING WITH FIRE
This inspiring film tells the story of India's only women-led newspaper.
WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY
The main characters of the film are five teenagers who grew up among the ruins, minefields and bomb shelters of Donbass.
THE RHYTHMS OF LOST TIME
In the mountainous, hard-to-reach regions of Tajikistan, traditional music and dance are of great importance for local residents, accompanying them from birth to death.
SHABU
Shabu is a charming, charismatic teenager. At the age of 14, he plays drums, writes tracks, dreams of becoming a famous musician and already feels like a real star.
THE PRISONER OF WAKHAN
The Kyrgyz government is offering humanitarian aid to ethnic Kyrgyz roaming the Wakhan Corridor in northeastern Afghanistan.
DIVAS
Meet the Divas! Sani, Tina and Emese are three girls from Budapest in their early 20's.
A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS
An Oscar nominee, this touching film was filmed at an orphanage in eastern Ukraine before a full-scale war broke out.
NELLY AND NADINE
Nelly and Nadine met on Christmas Eve 1944 in the barracks of the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Having survived the war, camps, separation, they managed to build a new life together far from everyone.
FLEE
'Flee' tells the story about the loss of home, the search for identity, and the difficulties faced by refugees.
APOLLONIA, APOLLONIA
Director: Leah Globe
Country: Denmark, Poland, France
Languages: Polish, French, Danish
Year: 2022
Duration: 116 minutes
"Apollonia, Apollonia" is a layered portrait of a young woman, an artist looking for her place in the world of art. She wages a battle with her creativity, her body, and the whole world as she attempts to first find and then – not to lose herself.

When Danish filmmaker Lea Globe met French artist Apollonia, she had no idea that she would be making a documentary about her for 13 years. That's how long it took to create this complex, poignant work. Not surprisingly, "Apollonia, Apollonia" was met with triumph at world festivals and was awarded the best film at the IDFA International Documentary Film Festival.
Bon Voyage
Director: Garegin Papoyan
Country: Armenia
Language: Armenian
Year: 2021
Duration: 69 minutes
A film about the life of the only airport in the city of Stepanakert on the territory of the unrecognized self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

In appearance, this is a small, reconstructed airport equipped to receive civilian flights. But it does not fulfill its main function - it does not actually welcome airplanes and passengers. Due to the unrecognized status of the Republic of Artsakh, the Stepanakert airport was never put into operation after the first Karabakh war.

The director of the film plunges us into the absurd routine of a sleepy airport through a hybrid documentary form: in the control room the workers check the weather, the secretary prepares coffee, some employees undergo a medical examination, others wash the floors. Maintaining the facility in working condition, employees unite into a single family.

Bon Voyage asks questions, waits for answers, and in a brilliantly ironic way shows how ordinary citizens become victims in any political impasse.
WRITING WITH FIRE
Directors: Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh
Country: India
Hindi
Year: 2021
Duration: 92 minutes
This inspiring film tells the story of India's only women-led newspaper. Despite the struggles of belonging to Dalits, the lowest caste in India, these amazing, brave women build honest journalism in a thoroughly patriarchal society. Faced with head-on threats and condemnation, they continue to work, reporting from the most difficult regions of the country and talking about rape, broken roads, murders of journalists, lack of electricity, water and toilets.

This is the first film from India to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. It received a number of awards including the Audience Award and the Special Jury Prize in the Documentary category at the Sundance Film Festival.
WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY
Director: Alisa Kovalenko
Country: Ukraine, Poland, France
Languages: English, Ukrainian, Russian
Year: 2023
Duration: 100 minutes
...not to fade away and to burst into the sunset scorched by the sun...

The main characters of the film are five teenagers who grew up among the ruins, minefields and bomb shelters of Donbass. They dream of leaving the region in order to study, to write music, to explore the world. Yet, life in a war zone destroys all plans. Therefore, when they get an unexpected opportunity to go on an expedition to the Himalayas, they grab it as a chance to escape from the darkening reality. At least for a while.

Our heroes are preparing for the expedition, training, finding the strength to make plans and dreams. With its sensitive gaze, this documentary paints a touching portrait of a generation of young people surrounded by darkness who, despite everything, are able to notice the beauty of life.

The documentary chronicle of the film begins in 2019 and runs until the start of a full-scale war.
THE RHYTHMS OF LOST TIME
Director: Anisa Sabiri
Country: Tajikistan
Languages: Tajik, English
Year: 2021
Duration: 45 minutes
"Traditions are like a thread of life carried through time, a link to our ancestors; a kind of code to communicate with past and future generations."

In the mountainous, hard-to-reach regions of Tajikistan, traditional music and dance are of great importance for local residents, accompanying them from birth to death. Today, these traditions are in danger of disappearing, influenced by globalization, religion, and political regimes.

Director Anisa Sabiri, along with a British musician, researcher of the ancient ritual music of Maddo, sets out to find these carefully preserved traditions. The trip resulted in this beautiful documentary that contributes to the preservation of traditional culture.

After the screening, you will have the opportunity to meet the director of the film and ask questions, since she will come to the festival!

Шабу
Director: Shamira Rafaela
Country: Netherlands, Belgium
Language: Dutch
Year: 2021
Duration: 75 minutes
"Soon we'll be flying on private jets in stylish outfits"

Shabu is a charming, charismatic teenager. At the age of 14, he plays drums, writes tracks, dreams of becoming a famous musician and already feels like a real star. He plans to spend the summer playing video games and making music. But his plans change dramatically when he crashes his grandmother's car and angers the entire family. Now Shab needs to figure out how to make amends and compensate his granny for the damage. Wandering around his neighborhood, he tries to sell popsicles, but this sedate occupation does not at all correspond to his exuberant spirit.

This colorful, skillfully shot film won the "Best Youth Film" award at the IDFA International Documentary Film Festival.
THE PRISONER OF WAKHAN
Director: Janyl Zhusupzhan
Country: Kyrgyzstan, France
Languages: Kyrgyz, Russian
Year: 2023
Duration: 110 minutes
The Kyrgyz government is offering humanitarian aid to ethnic Kyrgyz roaming the Wakhan Corridor in northeastern Afghanistan. Many inhabitants of this region leave their highland homes in search of a new life. Among those who get the opportunity to move to Kyrgyzstan with their family is Nurulkhak.

Despite government support, education and housing, adapting to a new way of life is not easy. The difference in life experiences creates an abyss between locals and newcomers. Nurulkhak realizes that the urban way of life cannot give him the freedom that once accompanied him in nature.
DIVAS
Director: Máté Kőrösi
Country: Hungary
Language: Hungarian
Year: 2021
Duration: 80 minutes
Meet the Divas! Sani, Tina and Emese are three girls from Budapest in their early 20's. The director meets the Divas at a special high school where underachieving teenagers get one last chance to graduate. Fascinated by them, he decides to make his first documentary about the Divas. Armed with a handheld camera, voice-over and simple animation, the director creates a lively and dynamic film.

As he documents their lives, he get closer to the heroines and understands that their lives are not as simple as they might seem. Behind the bright facade lies uncertainty and fear of impending adulthood.
A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS
Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont
Country: Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland
Languages: Russian, Ukrainian
Year: 2022
Duration: 87 minutes
An Oscar nominee, this touching film was filmed at an orphanage in eastern Ukraine before a full-scale war broke out. Children end up here as a result of poverty, parental alcoholism, violence, and stay temporarily until the court decides their fate. If the parents do not return for them, the children end up either in a foster family or in a permanent orphanage.

The director, who combined the role of a cameraman, managed to sensitively, carefully and without judgment convey the difficult everyday life of young characters, whom we observe as if the camera isn't there. While in a constant state of waiting, they are worried, sad, angry, while they also fool around and play – like all children do. Despite all the pain, this institution consists not only of sadness. It also has space for love and care that the social workers of the shelter envelop the children in.
NELLY AND NADINE
Director: Magnus Gertten
Country: Sweden, Belgium, Norway
Languages: Swedish, French, Spanish, English
Year: 2022
Duration: 92 minutes
Nelly and Nadine met on Christmas Eve 1944 in the barracks of the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Having survived the war, camps, separation, they managed to build a new life together far from everyone. Their story was kept secret for many years. Decades later, Nelly's granddaughter Sylvia, the keeper of the family archives, makes the difficult decision to open her grandmother's personal archives. Found diaries, letters, photographs shed light on the love story of two women who survived the Holocaust.

The film came about thanks to one photo. The day when thousands of concentration camp survivors arrived in the film director's hometown of Malmö was carefully documented by the Swedish media. In one of the photos, he noticed a woman who, unlike the others, did not smile, but only looked intently and seriously somewhere deep into the lens. The director was so fascinated that he decided to learn more about the life of this woman. It was Nadine. And the result of his research is this amazing documentary about two women who fought for freedom, love and the right to be who they really were.
FLEE
Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Country: Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, UK, Finland, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Slovenia
Languages: Danish, English, Russian, Swedish, Dari
Year: 2021
Duration: 89 minutes
What does the word 'home' mean to you?

'Flee' tells the story about the loss of home, the search for identity, and the difficulties faced by refugees. Made with animation, this documentary offers a new, original way to anonymously tell a complex story.

The protagonist of the film, while still a child, was forced to leave his native country Afghanistan, along with his family. Decades later he shares his story, reliving traumatic past and hoping it doesn't destroy the life he built with his partner.

'Flee' won numerous awards at international festivals and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary.
The Invisibles
The film presents notes from the lives of the inhabitants of Ekibastuz, a small industrial city in the north-east of Kazakhstan
Ander
This is a story about the world and feelings of a 5-year-old boy who, despite asthma and a very severe, rare allergy to dairy products and the need to eat separately from his brothers, enjoys his childhood.
dina
The film focuses on Dina Nurdybay, an ethnic Kazakh woman who was imprisoned in a Chinese concentration camp for "re-education". In the film, we find out what she had to go through
Pink Seagulls
'Pink Seagulls' portrays five inhabitants of the Aral Sea who live in an abandoned city in the middle of a salt-soaked desert.
Alaqan
'Alaqan' explores the routine of women's lives and connects that to ritual sacralization.
A Day in the Life of a Blind Massage Therapist
Rinat Nizametdinov, it would seem, is the most ordinary person. He has a loving family and a good job. The only thing that he differs from those around him is that he cannot see.
the SURVIVING ARTIST
Young Rauage does not come from a wealthy family, he cannot afford the luxuries that are available to his peers. But he does not need them, because Rauage keeps all the wealth inside himself.
The Dears
When 80-year-old American woman Ari Hancock first heard the phenomenal voice of Dimash Kudaibergenov, her lonely days were far behind her.
The Invisibles
Director: Viktoriya Shagai
The film presents notes from the lives of the inhabitants of Ekibastuz, a small industrial city in the north-east of Kazakhstan. The film's protagonists are lonely elderly women who, for various reasons, were left alone in their old age. They are recipients of public services, whose bright past we do not even know. A social worker who provides them with all possible assistance becomes a part of their life.
ander
Director: Alina Mustafina
This is a story about the world and feelings of a 5-year-old boy who, despite asthma and a very severe, rare allergy to dairy products and the need to eat separately from his brothers, enjoys his childhood.
dina
Directors: Yadykar Ibraimov, Jack Wolf
The film focuses on Dina Nurdybay, an ethnic Kazakh woman who was imprisoned in a Chinese concentration camp for "re-education". In the film, we find out what she had to go through.
Pink Seagulls
Director: Ratmir Nazirov
'Pink Seagulls' portrays five inhabitants of the Aral Sea who live in an abandoned city in the middle of a salt-soaked desert. The film explores the dreams, difficulties, hopes and plans of 6-year-old Aziz, 13-year-old Bekzat, 20-year-old Adlet and 79-year-old Kenes Sarsenovich. The film searches for a psychological portrait of a resident of the Kazakh desert.
Alaqan
Director: Aida Adilbek
'Alaqan' explores the routine of women's lives and connects that to ritual sacralization. The film's title refers to the Kazakh word "palm" and the long-forgotten national pattern "ala kan", reminiscent of a two-color snake. The author films both her grandmother and mother from day to day, and their daily work of healing the world through cleaning, cooking, gardening.
A Day in the Life of a Blind Massage Therapist
Director: Yrysbek Adilbekuly
Rinat Nizametdinov, it would seem, is the most ordinary person. He has a loving family and a good job. The only thing that he differs from those around him is that he cannot see. Due to a medical error in his youth, he lost his sight. But our protagonist does not lose heart. His stamina and cheerfulness sets an example for others.
The Surviving Artist
Director: Dinmukhammed Kulmyrza
Young Rauage does not come from a wealthy family, he cannot afford the luxuries that are available to his peers. But he does not need them, because Rauage keeps all the wealth inside himself. Having discovered his passion for arts, he feels alive only when drawing. In this film, we take a peek into the world of a young, inspiring artist named Rauage.
The Dears
Director: Meruert Zhakiyanova
When 80-year-old American woman Ari Hancock first heard the phenomenal voice of Dimash Kudaibergenov, her lonely days were far behind her. In the company of superfans from California, she is preparing to travel half the world and dreams of giving the artist a piece of inspiration that brought her back to life.