Good Grief?

In focusing his attention on the competitors of Mr Gay Syria, director Ayse Toprak shatters the one-dimensional meaning of “refugee”. Using the pageant as a means of escape from political persecution, the organiser Mahmoud — already given asylum in Berlin — hopes to offer the winner a chance to travel as well as bring international attention to the life-threatening situations faced by LGBT Syrians.

Thomas Haemmerli is about to celebrate his fortieth birthday when he learns of his mother's death. A further shock follows when he and his brother Erik discover her apartment, which is filthy and full to bursting with junk. It takes the brothers an entire month to clean out the place. Among the chaos, they find films going back to the 1930s, photos and other memorabilia.

Following the death of her brother, filmmaker Robie Flores returns to her hometown Eagle Pass on the Texas/Mexico border, wanting to turn back time. She collides with unruly experiences of adolescence – quinceañeras, Rio Grande river excursions, teen makeovers and beyond – that invite her to soak up the details of the home her brother adored and she ignored. What emerges is a playful dance between a personal and collective coming-of-age portrait of kids on the border and Robie herself as she rediscovers the possibilities of joy in the aftermath of grief.

Since the renewed Intifada began in 2000, there have been over 75 Palestinian suicide bombings. This is the story of 0ne-the bombing of bus 32 in Jerusalem in June 2002. The film connects the stories of a group of ordinary Israelis-Jews and Arabs. Each of them holds a clue to someone who died that day.

When a fire destroys a beloved Chinatown bookstore, its hyper-independent owner learns that community is necessary for survival.

In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.

In a contemplative coming of age portrait, PINBALL follows Yosef, a spirited athlete, in Louisville, Kentucky as he dives into the memories of his journey from Iraq to America and what it means to chase his dreams in the shadow of a war that displaced his family from their Iraqi homeland.

After the untimely death of his 35-year old brother, an artist explores the questions that surfaced from grief by painting 365 paintings and to spur conversation in culture.

A filmic letter to New York City, the subway, and self.

Following the death of her husband, Dan, in November of 2010, Suzanne Frisse Lathrop converts her Facebook into a public diary, housing her grief in magical and unexpected ways. A ritual throughout her week, Suzanne photographs the sky and shares photos containing strange spherical aberrations which she calls "orbs." For A Day Like Today confronts American attitudes surrounding grief all the while inviting audiences to reflect on how and where they see those they have lost.

Almost a year after her murder, people close to Nadia Verónica Rodríguez, evoked memories that arise from the intimate dialogue. Thoughts about nostalgia, friendship, and the memories they had with her.

INERCIA

A group of people interact and commune with a supernatural, female spirit referred to as ‘The Goose’ and her resting ground, Crossbones Graveyard in Southwark, London. Through experimentation in cinematic form and intimate accounts of grief, a surreal but powerful place of healing is revealed.

Seven years after her Grammy Award-winning “Amidst the Chaos”, Sara Bareilles reunites with her closest collaborators to record a new album. What emerges is an intimate, cinematic process that lays bare the musician's deep connections and inspirations in Josh Alexander's moving music documentary.

Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying is a short meditation on love, grief, and imagination. The hand-drawn animated documentary was created through a collaboration between mother, elder and narrator Edith Almadi and filmmakers Natalie Baird and Toby Gillies. This poetic piece celebrates life and the transformative ability of art to elevate and transcend us. Through vivid drawings and Edith’s simple yet magical words, the film explores our enduring bond with loved ones who have passed. In honouring her son’s life within the cosmos, Edith’s artworks embody colours, shapes and metaphors that remind us of the timeless power of love, gravity, and grace until our final breaths.

A year after Betti's passing, her children and grandchildren are still clearing out a house full of objects. Through them, they begin to remember and tell her story. This way, the family leaves behind the sad memory of a terminal illness and replaces it with the joyful person that Betti was and meant to them.

Die Weisse Arche

Impressions of a turbulent period in youth.

Blending poetic and expository modes of documentary storytelling. ‘Colour Through the Grey’ explores the psychotherapeutic method of art therapy, questioning whether creative expression can be used as a therapeutic tool in navigating bereavement, or if the dissonance between dejection and therapeutic intervention proves to be too strong to overcome.

Nosmélie