A Good Mind Grows in Thorny Places

Struggling with fear, tension, and anxiety amid the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a high school student reflects upon what really matters.

Hry prachu

When a firefighter comes to your house, chances are that their lives were just like yours not too long ago. 70% of all firefighters in Canada are volunteers, meaning in most cases, they were just eating dinner, coaching a team, or even at their actual job. To raise awareness of the need for volunteer firefighters, "Answer the Call" will showcase the unique lifestyle of volunteer firefighters, and have them shed light on the risks and rewards of living a double life.

On the edge of the idyllic Lake Windemere, Richard runs a café. After a long past in the forces, he has had a dramatic shift in lifestyle, and has had to adjust to an immensely different environment. Shot in Ambleside in 2022, Good Living is an exploration of new paths and opportunities.

From the ocean, a volcanic island rises into steamy mist. The black rock of the earth stands in sharp contrast to the billowing vapor that hovers and drifts above the surface. A narrator describes how the island’s first inhabitants sought to explain the violent eruption by attributing the devastation to the wrath of angry gods. With breathtaking black-and-white cinematography, this poetic exploration considers the human relationship to this volatile land, where residents live alongside the looming threat of eruption with reverence, fear, and awe. A collection of scenes where dark and light miraculously coexist illuminates both the physical and spiritual landscapes of this extraordinary place, where life endures the perils of the natural world.

A film about filmmaking.

A glimpse into a visual representation of memory; A Christmas-time series of meals, coffees, and movies, with friends, lovers, and housemates. Faced with the compounding of faces and places, each moment begins to collide with one another: voices are muddled, and faces are broken. How is memory created? How are they separated from one another?

Karel Vachek’s graduate film offers us a documentary essay which is both a light-hearted and aggressive little piece and also a parody of investigative film journalism. The Strážnice folk festival, backed by the cultural Party apparatus of the time, for years had little to commend itself to authentic folklore. In the film the event assumes the form of a bizarre stage spectacle with almost surrealistic elements that Vachek reinforces with unconventional approaches (commentary appearing as titles on screen, singing, declamations into the camera, feature etudes, the fusion of news coverage and fiction). The result is a stirring film collage depicting various characters, from crowd-pleasers, Easter egg decorators, kitsch artists and peddlers, to museologists and local residents, all of whom come up against the eccentric "identical” twin reporters Karel and Jan Saudek and a bored actress who appears as an extra. Using their special blend of irony and wit, they present us with the sad truth.

Arturo Urbiola, independent singer/songwriter, talks about the influence music has had on his life, it's impact, and what's in store for his artistic career after becoming a father.

The film explores girlhood, the positives, the negatives and how that binds us together as women. A feminist film which will give an insight of how precious it is to be a woman and how we build safe environments within our female friendships which allow us to explore our femininity.

ELFilm

They think as Czechs, they speak as Czechs, but they look as Vietnamese. How is the second generation of Vietnamese people in Europe?

A short experimental documentary based on three questions asked to various people on campus at the University of Gloucestershire.

After the release of his debut film, documentarian Richard Chase journeys down a rabbit hole to uncover the lost second episode of his initial film's subject: Wise Guys.

The short documentary explores a Scottish independent wrestling company, Bleeding Gums Wrestling (est. 2023) and the community that surrounds it.

RPM music is a small shop in the centre of Newcastle selling vinyl records. Founded by former students, the shop has become a place for people with love of music to come, browse, chat and share their stories. These are some of them.

A short film narrated by the drag queen Paloma, in interview with the filmmaker.

Sit down with Basketball Player and Coach, Jack Fairey, as he explains his experience with his beloved sport.

Her first foray into documentary filmmaking was a short called Green Street (1959), a look at an over-loaded freight train departing from Prague. Though only nine minutes in length, Chytilová’s astute editing ensured a visual spectacle.

Ankit Tiwari works as a security guard in NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh. But his real work lies in his passion for Hip-Hop music, which he has to balance while trying to provide for his family.