Hacking Justice

Examining the meaning and significance of the insights that WikiLeaks shared with the world, the resulting behaviour of the governments involved, the extraordinary personal risk taken by Assange, and the wider fundamental issues around press freedom that affect all of us and our right to know.

Capturing the story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with unprecedented access, director Laura Poitras finds herself caught between the motives and contradictions of Assange and his inner circle in a documentary portrait of power, betrayal, truth and sacrifice.

The campaign to free Julian Assange takes on intimate dimensions in this documentary portrait of an elderly man’s fight to save his son. Arguably the world’s most famous political prisoner, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a figure pretty much everybody has an opinion about; perhaps more importantly, he serves as the emblem of an international arm wrestle over freedom of journalism, government corruption and unpunished war crimes. For his family members who face the prospect of losing him forever to the abyss of the US justice system, however, this David-and-Goliath struggle is personal – and, with his health declining in a British maximum-security prison and American government prosecutors pulling out all the stops to extradite him, the clock is ticking.

The film tells the story of the rise and fall of Julian Assange. Once a celebrated publicist and over the years decried as an eccentric, spy and rapist. The documentary shows a differentiated picture of Julian Assange and Wikileaks. For the first time in German television Assange’s fiancée gives an interview. Further interviews, amongst others, with former CIA-director Leon Panetta, Edward Snowden and John Shipton.

Sigurdur Thordarson, known as Siggi, becomes a hacker at 12, exposing Icelandic bank corruption at 14. Branded the "teenage whistleblower," he joins WikiLeaks in 2010, mentored by Julian Assange. Siggi leaks globally, but clashes with Assange, prompting him to spy for the FBI at 18. This tale weaves paranoia, hacking, and friendship, portraying Siggi's turbulent journey from trust to betrayal, revealing a heart-wrenching coming-of-age narrative.

Der Fall Assange: Eine Chronik

What threads of history bind Manhattan's Ground Zero to those of Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Or connect sight to truth, games to war, or the silkworm to the drone? What does the United States hold to be the role of science in warfare? How has war historically been waged in Buddhist traditions? These are some of the topics addressed in Eyewar: 80 minutes of found footage which traces the development of the digital image from the maps of the second century to the screens of the twenty-first, and the uses of the field of cybernetics from Japan in the 1940s to Chile in the 1970s and Iraq in the 1990s.

In school, 9-year old Julian gets into trouble for squealing a bully and therefore disturbing class.

Ali is not a citizen. He drives a taxi using another man’s license and relies on the GPS to negotiate his way around a city he doesn’t know. His passenger, Esther is an old woman who can’t remember where she is going. She is angry because she has been stripped of everything that is familiar to her and she doesn't recognise the world anymore. They travel through the night in search of a vague destination while surveillance cameras mark their journey, coldly omitting the human element, defining who belongs and who does not, who is safe and who is not. What they have in common is their damage – she can’t remember and he can’t forget.

Timo Novotny labels his new project an experimental music documentary film, in a remix of the celebrated film Megacities (1997), a visually refined essay on the hidden faces of several world "megacities" by leading Austrian documentarist Michael Glawogger. Novotny complements 30 % of material taken straight from the film (and re-edited) with 70 % as yet unseen footage in which he blends original shots unused by Glawogger with his own sequences (shot by Megacities cameraman Wolfgang Thaler) from Tokyo. Alongside the Japanese metropolis, Life in Loops takes us right into the atmosphere of Mexico City, New York, Moscow and Bombay. This electrifying combination of fascinating film images and an equally compelling soundtrack from Sofa Surfers sets us off on a stunning audiovisual adventure across the continents. The film also makes an original contribution to the discussion on new trends in documentary filmmaking. Written by KARLOVY VARY IFF 2006

Cocteau, at his home, remembers his childhood, talks at length about theater, cinema, literature, and draws portraits of friends.

A journey from dawn to dusk across Spanish landscape while a culture war unfolds in several mass events.

Six Jewish women, from different countries and different backgrounds, found themselves deported to the notorious concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, during the Holocaust. This film attempts to chronicle that experience through those same female eyes. While subject to the same physical hardships as men, these women do not dwell on that. Instead, they speak of camp families and faith, uplifting one another while trying to remain human. It was this path of spiritual resistance that, while not responsible for their direct survival, led to their ability to survive with healthy minds and spirits despite the constant barrage of their surroundings. Swimming in Auschwitz gives us a perspective of the camp, its surroundings and the Holocaust that we need to understand and remember, so that we never forget.

Adam Boulton explores the changing relationship between politicians and media over the span of his 30-year career in Westminster.

Two paths cross on a descent into Guatemala's past: that of Mateo Pablo, a Maya survivor of one of many massacres committed by local government troops, and Daniel Hernández-Salazar, a concerned Guatemalan artist and photographer. Together they travel to a remote site in the highlands where the community of Petanac once stood. The bones found there by archaeologists tell a mute story of agony.

Da Vinci Declassified

Auschwitz, la machine de mort nazie

A loving tribute to Palm Springs Entertainer and 'Massacre Mafia Style' creator Duke Mitchell featuring remembrances from his son Jeffrey Mitchell, interviews with family friends and rare archival footage.

A chronicle of prominent Dutch association football club Feyenoord's 75-year history, and its place at the heart of its namesake neighborhood on the south bank of Rotterdam, the largest seaport in Europe.

Follow filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as she creates an intimate portrait of her community and the impacts of the substance use and overdose epidemic. Witness the change brought by community members with substance-use disorder, first responders and medical professionals as they strive for harm reduction in the Kainai First Nation.