La Babel des enfants perdus

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain an estimated four million children have found themselves living on the streets in the former countries of the Soviet Union. In the streets of Moscow alone there are over 30,000 surviving in this manner at the present time. The makers of the documentary film concentrated on a community of homeless children living hand to mouth in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. Eight-year-old Sasha, eleven-year-old Kristina, thirteen-year-old Misha and ten-year-old Andrej all dream of living in a communal home. They spend winter nights trying to stay warm by huddling together on hot water pipes and most of their days are spent begging. Andrej has found himself here because of disagreements with his family. Kristina was driven into this way of life by the hatred of her stepmother and twelve-year-old Roma by the regular beatings he received from his constantly drunk father. "When it is worst, we try to make money for food by prostitution," admits ...

Filmed in 1968, "Little Pioneers" examines the gap between socialist rhetoric and social reality by focusing on children excluded from state protection. Through close, unembellished observation, Želimir Žilnik documents young people living in slum conditions and surviving through informal and illegal means, using the film’s ironic title to underscore the contrast between official ideology and everyday life.

A portrait of the life and work of the great Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, exploring both his music and his passionate interest in his country's folklore.

Follow the emotional journey of Hiba Noor, a talented artist forced to flee her home country, as she navigates a new life in London while awaiting her asylum fate. This film takes you on a journey into the production of MATAR, a short film about a fellow asylum seeker facing similar problems.

Friedland

When the Hungarian Revolution against the Soviets collapses in 1956, two young revolutionaries have to make an impossible decision.

Ulysse clandestin

Tragedy strikes when Heathcliff falls in love with Catherine Earnshaw, a woman from a wealthy family in 18th-century England.

Unable to return to Colombia, Francisco Godoy searches for belonging in the Netherlands. Alongside fellow newcomers Liu and Aleksandr, he rebuilds his life through friendship and the puppet theatre he once left behind.

This moving documentary profiles a former Buddhist monk who runs a home for orphaned children in the Himalayas, and his relationship with its newest arrival, troubled five-year-old Tashi.

A short archival documentary exploring how people come to the UK in search of a better life, only to find that the reality often falls short of their expectations.

An intimate meditation on exile and home, Prysia’s Garden portrays the quiet life of aging Ukrainian refugee Prysia through the detailed photographic lens of first-generation Ukrainian-American Lida Suchy. By confronting Prysia’s story, Lida reflects upon her own roots, looking to understand what makes a new place a home.

Tracing the footsteps of North Korean orphans who went to Poland during the Korean War, two women, one from the North and the other from the South, bond through the solidarity of wound and forge together a path toward healing.

More than a quarter of a million Syrian refugee children live in Istanbul, Turkey. Not all of them have access to education. Two sisters decide to bring school to the street.

Youssef, a young Quebecer of Moroccan origin, became radicalized and joined the ranks of Daesh in Syria. In the midst of the shelling, he and his wife had a baby. What will happen to the child?

Residents of a Melbourne social housing community strive to reclaim their own hope and identity in the face of recent deaths and a larger societal question – can we meaningfully coexist?

The supermarkets are full of cheap fruit and vegetables. Most produce comes from Spain, but Italy is also an important supplier. How can countries produce so cheaply? The film uncovers catastrophic working conditions.

Jasim and Alsaleh are underage refugees in a Greek prison. Coming from Syria and Iraq, they were arrested and accused of smuggling illegal immigrants. With unique access in the juvenile prison and court room, the film follows the two friends closely while in custody, during the trial and after the verdict, through a narrative of suspense which reveals how youngsters are forced to transport migrants across the border to Greece while the smugglers stay behind and continue their job uninterrupted. If Jasim and Alsaleh are found guilty, they will face extremely long prison sentences. Phone conversations between the imprisoned young boys and their mothers at their war-stricken countries accentuate the double enclosure that these families experience. No one knows how and when their long run will end.

Wann wird es endlich wieder Sommer

Along an overgrown rail track south of the Zairean town Kisangani, a UN expedition together with a handful of journalists discover “lost” refugees. They are eighty thousand Hutus from far away Rwanda, the last survivors of three years of hunger and armed persecution that transpired throughout the vast Congo basin. The Hutu-refugees leave the forest, gathering in two gigantic camps. Hundreds of refugees die every day from diseases and malnutrition The Rwandans are promised repatriation with airplanes out of Kisangani. The film traces those refugees into the heart of the rainforest, and the hopeless attempts to help them.. But only four weeks later, the unprotected UN-camps are again attacked by machine-gun fire, deliberately massacred by factions of the rebel army (AFDL) of today’s Democratic Republic Congo. Eighty thousand men, women and children disappear once again back into the jungle. (jedensvet.cz)