Something from there

When a documentary filmmaker returns to his native Kurdistan to document the refugees fleeing ISIS, he happens upon an abandoned 11-year-old girl lying in pain in the scorching heat and makes a fateful decision, which ends up shaping both their lives.

Draussen bleiben

Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

The pro-Palestinian, anti-capitalist, BDSM-provocative, techno-punk performance art ensemble Hatari unsurprisingly drew attention to themselves with their performance at the Icelandic qualifiers for the Eurovision Song Contest. So much so that they won and therefore were allowed to perform at the main event in Tel Aviv. But what now? Should they boycott the event, swallow their idealism, or use their airtime to criticise the host country for their illegal occupation of Palestine? The Icelandic director Anna Hildur joins the boys in the band all the way to the fateful final.

The Israeli filmmaker Shai Corneli Polak records the building of the 'security wall' through Palestinian territory at the village of Bil'in. The villagers protest mostly peacefully, while the Israeli army doesn't react peacefully. By now the Israeli High Court has ruled that the building of the wall was illegal.

In a country that has been occupied for decades, a couple of puppeteers continue to bring a little joy from village to village. The children laugh, perhaps still unaware of the gravity of the situation. The central section is devoted to a visit to the refugee camp of Dheisheh.

Gestrandet

Flying Paper tells the uplifting story of resilient Palestinian youth in the Gaza Strip on a quest to shatter the Guinness World Record for the most kites ever flown.

Tawfiq’s Reef chronicles the plight of Palestinian fishermen in Gaza, heavily restricted in the area in which they can fish, often indebted, shot at, harassed or imprisoned by the Israeli Navy on the narrow sliver of fishing waters available to them off the Gaza coastline, making this one of the most dangerous professions in the world.

Set in the al-Mishal Cultural Center in Gaza before it was destroyed by an Israeli air strike on August 9, 2018, A Play Before The Bombs is a story that unfolds over a 4 year period. The film follows Abeer Ahmed, a young woman growing up in the Jabaliya Refugee Camp, the largest refugee camp in Gaza, as she and the other members of her cast and crew prepare to put on a play that focuses on a Palestinian woman’s right to receive inheritance. While the content of the play is tailored towards fostering a cultural discussion among Palestinians, neither the play nor the playhouse can escape the omnipresence of the Israeli siege on Gaza. A siege that shatters literal buildings as well as the hopes and dreams of the performers and community members who take refuge within the walls of al-Mishal in search of artistic fulfillment.

The White Elephant is an experimental video loosely based on the adventures of a Palestinian teenager coming to grips with her angst within the political climate of the Oslo Accords in Palestine in the 1990s. Narrating a story of lies amongst thieves, the confessional and at times darkly humorous video, projects a confrontational gaze onto the landscape through acts that transgress political boundaries and explore personal desires.

Four dancers from Israel, Spain and Italy decide to take part in a cultural project and investigate the stories of some refugees from Pakistan living in camps outside Berlin. A reflection about the possibility of the body to tell stories, deleting social and ethnic distinctions, and connecting people from different groups.

Documentary about war photographer James Nachtwey, considered by many the greatest war photographer ever.

In 2018, Brazil's first shelter for LGBT+ refugees opened its doors in the city of Manaus, the largest city of the state of Amazonas. This collaborative documentary film tells the story of three residents who are all trying to build a new life in this incongruous urban metropolis. A candid, and intimate insight into the many challenges faced by LGBT+ refugees.

In the autumn of 2015, Finnish-Iranian Ali Jahangiri wanted to personally experience the reality faced by refugees in Europe. Ali travelled across Europe to Finland with refugees who had landed in Greece. Unknown refugee is an authentic documentary of encounters that are not covered by the news.

The film returns to the origins of the creation of the State of Israel (from 1896 to 1948) and highlights the responsibility of the Western World.

Maher, a Palestinian man, a former political prisoner. He is an electrical engineer by profession but an artist at heart. He dreams of staging a contemporary dance performance in Ramallah. In order to do so, he must deal with his disapproving family, tight budgets and cultural norms. Set in today's most contested location, Maher's story is a parable about a society in conflict, where the real war is between dreams and traditions.

Follows Mas and Saha, two young Iranian asylum seeker musicians, navigating a frightening new world of immigration detention - where they discover the power of music.

12-year-old Dyab is a Kurdish Yazidi boy living at Arbat refugee camp, after the horrendous attacks by the Islamic States on their villages at Shingal Mountains (Sinjar). However, Dyab’s dream is, to become a filmmaker and actor and tell the stories and sufferings of his people to the outside world.