De Barlovento a Sotavento

The story of the 2008/2009 Vendée Globe race. 30 skippers embark on a quest to be the fastest to sail 27000 miles around the world, non stop, without assistance and alone on 60 foot sailboats. This is one of the most extreme challenges a human being can face. The sailors are alone at sea for months and physical and emotional strength are essential. Growlers (Icebergs), sea mammals, and massive waves are a constant danger. On any day the forces of nature can bring an end to the best sailor's well made plans. They harness the wind, hope for safe passage over the sea and push hard to win. They are a testament to the audacity of the human spirit.

In 1960, a hardy group of prep school students boards an old-fashioned sailing ship. With Capt. Christopher Sheldon at the helm, the oceangoing voyage is intended to teach the boys fortitude and discipline. But the youthful crew are about to get some unexpected instruction in survival when they get caught in the clutches of a white squall storm.

A monotonous life has pushed the unfulfilled Forrest (Todd Blubaugh) to a voyage of self-discovery by living aboard his sailboat on an alluring, Missouri lake. Soon he catches wind of the rebellious and free-spirited Everly (Nicola Collie) and their idealistic dreams align for a thrilling and thought-provoking, romantic adventure. Can they survive, reconnect with nature and rewrite their own rules of modern existence, or will they discover that society operates the way it does for a reason?

Beijing-Hochelag

A documentary short by Barbara Bingley-Verseman about the creation of a monumental outdoor mural by her twin sister, LA-based Kat Bing, and Parisian artist Kekli in the lead up to the Paris 2024 Olympics

Audrey, a woman in her mid-fifties, has never been able to make peace with her tumultuous family history. A clumsy mother, an emotionally distant father and sexual assaults that have gone unreported. She now decides to confront her demons. Supported by her son, the director of the documentary, she revisits a striking scene from her past: the moment when she told her parents that her grandfather had raped her. Together, through a year-long production process, they transform this awkward exchange into a moment of communion, thanks to actors, a set and Audrey's desire to do herself justice.

While rummaging through dozens of boxes of family photos, films and papers that he has inherited, a man in his seventies, who knowingly had been adopted at birth finds the official papers of his adoption. At that point, in his life, he decides to try to find out his origins and where exactly he came from. But a surprise is waiting. By accident, he learns that he has a sister who lives in England who shares the same father. Amazingly enough, he learns that the old man is still alive. This film the story of this unexpected event and how to always discover the truth.

Director Dominique Leclerc spent years depending on medical devices for her survival. Then, looking for alternative solutions, she entered the world of emerging technologies. Posthumans follows her as she meets with cyborgs, biohackers, and transhumanists who are trying to use these technologies to outsmart illness, aging—and even death. The documentary looks at pressing ethical and political questions that are sure to impact the future of our species.

A 30-minute Skate video Filmed, Directed & Edited by Olaf Trevilla, featuring Skateboarders Nelly Morville, Harrison Mendivil, Trenton Schwartz, Dylan Mils, Sam Mehler, Brody Ellis, and others.

Confessions of Undecided Women is an animated short documentary consisting of confessions from women in their thirties about childbearing in a society where women’s bodies have been instrumentalised for reproduction. The documentary gives space to the voices of those who are undecided, fearful, or do not want children. It creates room for reflection and discussion on women’s personal choices and societal expectations.

Mr Pohle, Mr Domres, Mr Hoffmann, Mr Schneewolf and Mr Czajkowski are competing against each other as candidates for the one direct mandate in the Potsdam parliament. In their campaigns they deal with what moves the rural population. People who are difficult to grasp in the media and in opinion polls and who feel increasingly ignored - their needs and worries are unheard of. This outrageous story is told from the perspective of the director Jean Boué. He has lived in Prignitz, the most sparsely populated district in Germany, for twelve years. He knows the local conditions and tries to find out why rural areas seem to be increasingly less accessible with urban-controlled politics.

Named after the Lana Del Rey song, Ocean Blvd examines the safety of spaces and architecture from a transgender perspective. Through a trans lens, the purported apoliticality of familiar spaces like public bathrooms or the forest is challenged. Material spaces sometimes melt into settings for dream sequences in the narrative that effortlessly combines elements of fiction and documentary.

From 1910-1972, Arkansas State law mandated that all victims of Tuberculosis (TB) be isolated in the State Sanatorium in Booneville, Arkansas. Some of them returned home free of their symptoms from Sanatorium Hill. Others died there, either of the disease or of the gruesome operations prescribed by the doctors. This documentary tells the story of patients who survived these morbid treatments, recovered from the disease of TB but unable to forget the pain, suffering and despair.

'One day I realized it no longer made sense to make things to hang on walls'... Lourdes Castro became known as the artist 'who took care of shadows'. Throughout her international career as an artist, Lourdes developed the concept of shadow, giving it different forms and finally reducing it to the minimum and dematerializing it. She has lived in Munich, Berlin and Paris, but 40 years ago she decided to return to Madeira, her birth place, where she has lived ever since 'in the shadows'. 'What is Lourdes 'taking care of' nowadays?

Robolove is a documentary that explores the interaction between humans and humanoid robots. The filmmaker visits various technology research centers in Japan, Korea, China, USA and Europe as researchers share the challenges of injecting human emotions into these robots.

Ana sometimes lacks the air. His father, Emil, was arrested and disappeared. Now in the silence and fear that remain in a post-war society, Ana is immersed in memory, where the possibility of finding her remains and getting justice for her father and a whole generation is housed.

Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.

What is possible when we have guaranteed money to meet our basic needs? No requirements. No stipulations. No paybacks. We look to the village of Busibi to discover what’s possible when we give money directly to people. No strings attached. The answer lies in the residents’ personal stories. Their successes and tribulations illustrate the impact of one of the most daring projects in contemporary development cooperation. Their life stories unexpectedly prove to be all too familiar. They make us laugh. They move us. Blending in together, they create a colorful and poetic reality portrait, illustrating the big consequences of a small sum of money …

Contrasting radical mobs, anarchy, and 1960s counterculture with footage of American manufacturing and innovation, this film celebrates the concept of American exceptionalism and argues that anti-Vietnam War protesters were influenced by communism, atheism, and immorality. Set mostly in a university library, this political debate between a medical student, his 1770s ancestor, and a history professor is a sequel to the 1972 National Education Program film, Brink of Disaster! Two additional characters appear in this drama: a 19th-century steamboat captain, and the student’s grandfather - an early 20th-century automobile worker. The National Education Program at Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas created a variety of widely-distributed anti-communism films from the mid-1940s to the early 1970s.

Warsaw's Central Railway Station. 'Someone has fallen asleep, someone's waiting for somebody else. Maybe they'll come, maybe they won't. The film is about people looking for something.