Bus

A film about borders and border checkpoints, poetically following the people that come into contact with them - one way or another. Borders is about men and women dreaming of a better life in Europe and the high price they often have to pay for it - if they succeed at all. Without taking an immediate moral stance, the film follows the route that many immigrants take from the heart of Africa to the centre of Europe, stopping at each border: Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal , Mauritania, Morocco, Spain, France, Belgium, and finally, the Netherlands.

Hans Goetze is not just the mayor of the picturesque coast village Ahrenshoop, he is also a famous painter. His portraits of people and landscapes sell to tourists all over the world. But the most common object of his paintings are cranes, who have a protected living place on the island of Darss. Every fall, tens of thousands of these large and majestic birds gather in the shallow waters of the baltic sea to prepare for their migration to the south. The film covers a full year of living on the island of Darss with the cranes coming and going.

As daylight breaks between the border cities of El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, undocumented migrants and their relatives, divided by a wall, prepare to participate in an activist event. For three minutes, they’ll embrace in no man’s land for the briefest and sweetest of reunions.

Rügen is the largest island of Germany. Located off the Baltic Sea coast of Western Pomerania, two thirds of its area is protected. The green beech forests of the Jasmund National Park are considered an original virgin forest that is unique in Europe and are part of the UNESCO World Heritage. The white chalk cliffs, which can be seen from afar, are the island's distinctive symbol and were immortalized in the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich more than 200 years ago. On the small island of Vilm, which belongs to Rügen, there is another core area of nature conservation with a 500-year-old, untouched beech forest. Within sight of this refuge, organic farmers are trying to bring more diversity back to the fields. Small-scale agriculture with a great diversity of species has emerged between hedges, tree islands and biotopes. The documentary shows Rügen's natural treasures and introduces different people who have found their home here and are fighting to preserve nature.

An absurd game of “finding happiness” is being played by local Latvian coyotes* and illegal immigrants on the Russian and the European Union border. It is a game with no winner – all participants are driven to play by the sense of despair. While one side leaves home and undertakes a perilous journey to the other side of the globe, hoping to spend the rest of their lives in a free country, the other side risks their freedom to earn a chance to stay right where they are, in their homeland. *coyote – someone who smuggles illegal immigrants

It is said that before entering the sea, a river trembles with fear.

Bird watchers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border share their enthusiasm for protecting and preserving some of the world's most beautiful species.

Jonathan Stavleu explores, in a stream-of-consciousness video essay, the relationship people have with water and what happens when access to it is taken away. For this work, he examines anecdotal histories he has heard from Estonians, as well as stories from his own family history in the Netherlands, weaving them together into a journal-like narrative.

Drawing inspiration from his personal encounter with the Italian refugee child Giovanna during World War II, Markus Imhoof tells how refugees and migrants are treated today: on the Mediterranean Sea, in Lebanon, in Italy, in Germany and in Switzerland.

Lyon-Turin : Le Dernier Tunnel XXL

Following the death of her brother, filmmaker Robie Flores returns to her hometown Eagle Pass on the Texas/Mexico border, wanting to turn back time. She collides with unruly experiences of adolescence – quinceañeras, Rio Grande river excursions, teen makeovers and beyond – that invite her to soak up the details of the home her brother adored and she ignored. What emerges is a playful dance between a personal and collective coming-of-age portrait of kids on the border and Robie herself as she rediscovers the possibilities of joy in the aftermath of grief.

Bob Woodruff’s daring 880-mile journey along the China-North Korea border examines the delicate relationship between the two countries and the United States.

Bomarsund 1854 tells the story of two humanists, whose actions during the Crimean War prevented bloodshed. They are the British hydrographer, Bartholomew James Sulivan, and the Russian commandant, Jacov Andreyevitch Bodisco, two men who fought on opposite sides in the war. It also traces the rise and fall of the multi-cultural community of Bomarsund. The small island of Åland, located in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland, played a significant role in the war that raged during 1854, originally called the Oriental War and partially fought in Northern Europe. The Baltic campaigns became the forgotten theatre of the Crimean War. The attention awarded events elsewhere has overshadowed the significance of this theatre, which lay close to the Russian capital of St Petersburg.

East German documentary/propaganda film about Berlin Wall border guards

GAZA brings us into a unique place beyond the reach of television news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters, offering us a cinematic and enriching portrait of a people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict. Throughout its entire history the Gaza Strip has been witness to conflict and upheaval. From ancient times this tiny coastal territory, located at a crossroads between continents, has been a pawn whose fate rested in the hands of powerful neighbours.

Federal officer with the Department of Homeland Security discovers a national security breach related to the entry of 23 aliens from terrorist countries into the United States. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, former head of the DEA Robert Bonner can't afford any more media scrutiny, since his incompetence was already exposed in the NASA 'Challenger' disaster. To avoid the scandal, the full might of the government is unleashed against Julia Davis, her family and witnesses. This retaliation reaches an unprecedented magnitude, including four unexplained deaths, Hollywood and the Mafia, false imprisonments and the use of Blackhawk helicopters and airplanes for warrantless surveillance. Amidst many shocking revelations, this documentary provides a new insight into the deaths of well-known Hollywood figures unwittingly dragged into this scandal. The truth is no longer a secret.

Blaha und Blüten

One inside, one outside. One thin line that creates “us” and “them”. The importance of the borders has again a huge impact in Europe. Yesterday it was all about free movement. Today it´s about controled borders. And walls and fences have become normality. “Before our eyes” is a testimony that shows a situation where Hungary, and indirectly Europe closes itself to the outside world. The film portrays four places, four events, which was filmed over three days in early September 2015, when the worst refugee crisis we have seen since the Second World War started in earnest. “My Europe does not build walls!” said Stefan Löfven, the swedish prime minister, in a speech a few days later. Before our eyes shows how words and actions are no longer connected. Today, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria, the UK, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria have built fences and walls to strengthen theirs and Europe’s external borders.

As thousands of migrants attempt to cross the French-Italian border on foot through treacherous mountain routes, the state cracks down on the local communities that come to their aid in this revealing look at an unfolding human rights crisis.

Sassnitz is a small coastal town at the Baltic Sea on the Island of Rügen. In its vicinity are the world-famous chalk cliffs, a tourist magnet. The Mukran Port is also part of the municipality. The overseas port is the starting point for the construction of Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline that connects Germany directly with Russia. In 2020, the port town hit the international headlines. Even the New York Times reported and cited Mayor Frank Kracht as a staunch opponent from the northeast German province against the rumbling America of Donald Trump. The reason is the undisguised threat from Washington to ruin the international port economically if the natural gas pipeline continues to be built from there. Many jobs and the region's economic stability are at risk. Reporter Klaus Scherer documents the case, questions experts as well as those affected and looks at the behavior of national politicians towards the USA and how they react to the interference in internal affairs.