Albanian Heroic Women

The Douglas Mawson Antarctic Expedition of 1912 is considered one of the most amazing feats of endurance of all time. Although his two companions perished, Douglas Mawson survived, but how? In a bold historical experiment, scientist and adventurer Tim Jarvis is retracing the gruelling experience, with the same meagre rations, primitive clothing and equipment to uncover what happened to Mawson physically — and mentally — as a man hanging on the precipice of life and death.

Filmmaker Mark Cousins goes to Albania for five days, and films what he sees. He discovers that the movie prints in the country's film archive are decaying. In investigating this, Cousins begins to encounter bigger questions about the history and memory of a place. Perhaps a country whose 20th Century, dominated by its authoritarian ruler Enver Hoxha, was so traumatic, should allow its film heritage to fade away? Perhaps a national forgetting should be welcomed? Influenced by the films of Chris Marker, Cousins' film broadens to consider the architecture of dictators and the great icon paintings of Onufri. In the past, when cartographers knew little about a country, they wrote on it Here be Dragons. Albania was, for decades, one of the least well know countries in the world. Cousins' road movie meditation takes the advice of Goethe: "If you would understand the poet, you must go to the poet's land."

Jacques Doriot, le petit Führer français

Revisit the events of 1984, when six female vigilantes kidnapped an Auckland University lecturer and assaulted him in a violent political action, triggering debates about gender politics that divided New Zealand and led to social change.

21 years after the collapse of the Communist regime, Albania experiences democracy with it's many contradictions. An exclusive insider perspective given by three young protagonists.

A Bold Advance is set in the rugged regions of Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro among people deeply wounded by war and brutal dictatorships. Yet here in this scarred land are those who have been changed inside-out by the power of Christ. Their faces and stories declare that the message of the Cross crushes all barriers—even those raised by mosques and minefields. Hike the mountain trails with pioneer men and women who are reaching the hard-to-reach people and loving them into the Kingdom. From Albania’s lawless frontier to Montenegro’s “Mountains of the Damned” to the killing fields of Kosovo, Dispatches from the Front: A Bold Advance is another Macedonian call to action and a reminder that the Gospel still shakes the gates of Hell.

The full-length television documentary, using currently found audio-visual records, tells the story of the fabricated political process from November 1952, the story of its victims and its masterminds. At its end, 11 executed high-ranking officials of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, committed to the communist party, who mechanically "recited" memorized confessions and accusations of "accomplices", former friends and colleagues in front of the court in response to prearranged questions from the prosecutors and judges.

A documentary exploring how Albanians, including many Muslims, helped and sheltered Jewish refugees during WWII at their own risk, and trying to help the son of an Albanian baker that housed a Jewish family for a year return some Hebrew books that the family had to leave behind.

Benito Mussolini: Anatomy of a Dictator

Documentary about the Lyon sex workers who occupied the church of St. Nizier on June 3, 1975.

One of the most recognizable voices in all of modern day music, Dua Lipa quickly rose to fame. Her catchy tunes and sultry vocals make her music appeal to a global audience.

Eliza Dushku takes on her homeland of Albania.

Political documentary film about the second year of party training of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic.

In this activist film, Barbara Meter and Trilby Fairfax explore how the images of beautiful, young women in the media affect the way women view themselves.

Albania and neighboring Yugoslavia officially broke ties in 1948. But in 1971, the Hoxha regime was honored to welcome the ethnic Albanian actor Bekim Fehmiu (1936-2010), at the time an international star in Yugoslav theater and film. Before his trip to Albania, Fehmiu had appeared in the popular Italian television smash The Odyssey (1968) and the Cannes-winning I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967). Dokufest will also feature a photo exhibit of recently-discovered still images taken during Bekim Fehmiu’s Albanian visit.

The three-hour-long documentary covers 25 years in the life of Nicolae Ceaușescu and was made using 1,000 hours of original footage from the National Archives of Romania.

VALKYRIES

Both a political narrative and a psychological reflection, this documentary explores the personal journey of a quarry worker’s son from Calvados who rose to become the last great figure of the French Communist Party. It delves into the logic that shaped his path and his lasting impact on France’s history.

Congrès de Tours 1920: The Birth of the French Communist Party

Albania in the southeast of Europe – situated between Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro – hosts an astonishingly diverse landscape. Harmonic coastal areas lead to harsh karst landscapes. Snow-covered mountain regions, wild canyons, waterfalls, deep-blue lakes and untouched rivers are perfect conditions for an immensely rich flora and fauna. Decades of war preserved wide areas of the country from industrial exploitation, so the natural environment is still untouched.