Sylvie's Story

Ashtam (viens me voir)

Many German products have made it to the top by sporting the label "Made in Germany". But Germany has also succeeded in securing a leading position in Europe by means of a very special service: prostitution. For the very first time, this documentary lifts the lid on how sex tourists from all corners of the globe come to Germany to enjoy a brothel holiday, with punters from Europe, the USA and Asia. The price-performance ratio is internationally as good as unrivalled. For six days and nights, the brothel holidaymakers make their way from one amusement institution to the next. At the top of the itinerary are the so-called flat rate 'whorehouses', where one payment secures as much unlimited sex and drinks as one wants. It's a side of Germany most people have never heard of - let alone seen.

An animated short film, narrated by two asylum-seeking men detained in Australia's Manus Island Offshore Processing Centre, recounting the dangerous journeys that brought them to the island and their memories of the riot that erupted in 2014.

An indigenous lawyer represents the division among his people between traditional caring for the land and developing the resources it contains.

A documentary special taking a look at the upcoming films making up the DC Universe. Kevin Smith hosts with Geoff Johns, as they take a look at Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, the upcoming Wonder Woman and Justice League movies.

Likely in June 1897, a group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

A woman is locked in her home with an egg, which she is both attracted to and scared of. She eats the egg, she repents. She kills it. She lets the egg die of hunger. EGG is a poetic short film based on a small yet significant moment of the director’s own life. It portrays a moment of shame, defeat and yet of victory.

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Every year, five to ten percent of all deceased Berliners are buried by the authorities because no relatives are found. Most of them are put into the ground by mortician Bernd Simon going alone. But sometimes companions do turn up and say goodbye in their very own way. An observational documentary about an undertaker who actually wanted to become an entertainer, a bizarre city portrait and a mirror of how we deal with death, mourning and commemoration.

Robert, an ex-shipyard welder from Govan in Glasgow, reflects on how his experiences have influenced his compulsion to write.

Margreth Olin has filmed 22 persons i their meeting with the well known voluntary healer Joralf Gjerstad. For 65 years more than 50.000 has gone to him to be healed from illnesses and ill-doings. He has never asked for a penny for this

Interviewees discuss the memories, tastes and experiences that they associate with Africa for a personal vision of the continent.

A fictional documentary that portrays the city of Dakar, Senegal, as we hear the conversation between a Senegalese man (the director, Djibril Diop Mambéty) and a French woman, Inge Hirschnitz. As we travel through the city in a picturesque horse drawn wagon, we chaotically rush into this and that popular neighborhood of the capital, discovering contrast after contrast: A small African community waiting at the Church's door, Muslims praying on the sidewalk, the Rococo architecture of the Government buildings, the modest stores of the craftsmen near the main market.

How did Hollywood pitch movies about gays and lesbians between 1956 and 1977? Here are theatrical trailers for 27 mainstream and art-house films, presented chronologically from "Tea and Sympathy" to "Outrageous!" More than half are films released between 1968 and 1972. Half are dramas and half are comedies, with farce dominating the films released after 1971. At least three advertise X-rated films: "The Killing of Sister George," "Midnight Cowboy," and Visconti's "The Damned." There's no voice-over commentary for this compilation, but it does include advertisements for snacks and one warning against public displays of affection aimed at "her" to control "him."

A short film commemorating the 1927 doll exchange between the US and Japan organized by the Committee on World Friendship Among Children

On the 11th of August at 11 minutes past 11am, almost total darkness fell across Southern England and an eerie silence descended as the population gazed skyward at what was the last total solar eclipse of this millennium. A total solar eclipse is a breathtaking event and this documentary programme conveys that awesome feeling by exploring how and why eclipses happen. A mixture of computer-generated views from outer space, footage of eclipses throughout the 20th century (some taken as early as 1927) and original footage taken of this year's total solar eclipse (shot in Cornwall) make this programme a celebration of eclipse mania.

Charlotte Gainsbourg looks at her mother Jane Birkin in a way she never did, overcoming a sense of reserve. Using a camera lens, they expose themselves to each other, begin to step back, leaving space for a mother-daughter relationship.

The Darkhad and Soyon Uriyanghai peoples live in a vast valley in Northern Mongolia, much as their ancestors have for centuries. "Taiga" is the record of a long period spent by the German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger among these people.

Documentary film about Czech actress Lida Baarova, who fell in love with Joseph Goebbels in the 30s.

Barcelona, Spain, June 1977. A chronicle of a demonstration held to demand the repeal of a 1970 Francoist law criminalizing homeless, prostitutes and homosexuals.