Megacities

The high consumption of snacks and sweets in Germany keeps producers on their toes. In Viersen, consumer giant Mars produces 10 million cookie chocolate bars every day-and each of them must look and taste absolutely identical. In Erdmannhausen, snack pretzels are produced in the first Württemberg pretzel factory, Huober. And the Lübeck-based marzipan manufacturer Niederegger wants to use traditional production processes to produce what it claims is the best marzipan in the world.

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.

Take a closer look behind the processes of six different traditional Christmas items: Christmas Trees, Brussel Sprouts, Chocolate, Tinsel, Christmas Jumpers and Christmas Puddings!

Documentary depicting the lives of child prostitutes in the red light district of Songachi, Calcutta. Director Zana Briski went to photograph the prostitutes when she met and became friends with their children. Briski began giving photography lessons to the children and became aware that their photography might be a way for them to lead better lives.

Documentary about what makes a house a home.

Life on the breadline in the 1930s was hard enough, but times were desperate when you fell beneath it. Hunger marches organised by the National Unemployed Workers' Movement drew attention to the cause, but this left-wing collective picked up a cine-camera. The fictional story at the heart of the film is somewhat melodramatic, but the authentic surroundings give its message realism and weight.

Jana Beller won the TV show „Germany's Next Top Model“ in 2011. Today she is a businesswoman and runs two branches in Bochum of one of the most modern backshop chains in Europe. Model measurements and pastries - does that fit together? And how! The young entrepreneur gives insights into the business of sweet and salty snacks. Shock-frozen, the breads and desserts are delivered from a central production to the individual shops and sold to hungry walk-in customers.

Found footage: California in the 1950's and 60's. A young Indian couple enjoys their personal American dream come true in their home somewhere in the suburbs of San Francisco. In great detail they pose with their newly achieved wealth in front of their Super-8 camera. Just like postcards, they would send these film rolls to their joint families back in India. Around the same time, an American missionary couple visits the city of Calcutta to shoot a Christian propaganda film. The drastic reality with poverty and famine in the streets of the Indian metropolis fits perfectly into their wicked plan: To promote the faith in Jesus by showing the misery that pagan believers are doomed to suffer from.

In the 1980s and 1990s, an epidemic of crack cocaine addiction ravaged African American communities across the United States. Crack is extremely addictive, a trap that can lead to homelessness and an early death. Black addicts in Atlanta, Georgia tell us about their addiction, their past, and their struggles with police.

A Roma beggar on his knees raises many extreme emotions: guilt, rage, sympathy and frustration. Most people just walk on by, but there is always someone willing to help. In this film, the director follows the confrontations between the Roma beggars from Romania and Finnish people, and is forced to question, over and over again, her own ideas about helping.

Can i Die on Camera?

Lisa is a middle-class white woman from Toronto, Canada. She's also addicted to crack cocaine. To maintain her habit, she works as a prostitute while living in a hotel room. She's tried to get clean, but knows too well how easy it is to relapse. Meanwhile, she participates in Toronto's needle exchange program to reduce her risk.

Bangladesh: The Prostitutes of Daulatdia

Chronicles of a male homosexual drug addict in 1980's in voice-over with long take scenes from Rome, television snippets of news of Gulf War and commercials.

The story of unemployment in New Zealand and In A Land of Plenty is an exploration of just that; it takes as its starting point the consensus from The Depression onwards that Godzone economic policy should focus on achieving full employment, and explores how this was radically shifted by the 1984 Labour government. Director Alister Barry's perspective is clear, as he trains a humanist lens on ‘Rogernomics' to argue for the policy's negative effects on society, as a new poverty-stricken underclass developed.

“The workers leave the Lumière factory.” Workers pass through the gate of the Lumière factory and are followed by a carriage drawn by two horses.

Meet Andrew Lindy: a man with a camera and sex on his mind. Andrew is a New Yorker who travels the world to capture beauty for various freelance jobs. Andrew chases beauty but he longs for a connection. On an assignment for ELLE magazine, Andrew travels to Cuba and brings his camera and appetite for women with him. This is a look at the lack of sexual taboo in Cuba, as well as the financial difficulties that lead to prostitution in some Cubans, for the purpose of survival.

L'antimiracolo

Filmmaker Warren Harrison captures the memories and experiences of people who grew up as part of a unique community at Greatham Creek, a salt-marsh near Hartlepool in the Tees Valley. One of those who’s memories are recorded is photographer Ian Macdonald whose haunting images of the creek are used in the film along with family photographs, archive film provided by the North East Film Archive and contemporary footage.

Upon his release from prison, an ex-convict returns to his beloved city of Genoa, and to his lover.