143 Sahara Street

France/Algeria 2019, Locarno Filmmakers of the Present- Best Director, Toronto Wavelenghts, Seoul DMZDocs Grand Prize, El Gouna Silver Star Award, Montreal RIDM Special Mention, Nantes 3 Continents Silver Mongolfière, Young Jury Prize & Audience Award, Turin Doc competition- Best Film.

Documentary by Hassen Ferhani

Synopsis

In the middle of the Algerian sahara, in her relay, a woman writes her History. She welcomes, for a cigarette, a coffee or eggs, truckers, wandering beings and dreams… Her name is Malika. Continuer la lecture →

Eyimofe (This is my Desire)

Nigeria, Berlin Forum 2020

First feature film by Arie & Chuko

Synopsis

Tragedy and fate intervene as two Nigerians try to better the lives of their families. Eyimofe (This is My Desire) is a film about two people’s quest for what they believe will be a better life on foreign shores. Continuer la lecture →

Just Like That

India 2019, Busan New Currents competition- special mention, Mumbai -Film Critics Guild Award & Best Actress Award

First Feature Film by Kislay Kislay

Synopsis

In the outskirts of a small village in India, Mrs. Sharma is forced to remain a respected middle-class wife and a faithful, wise old woman upon her husband’s death. Her son and his family, who live with her, have no doubt that she will make sacrifices to help them out financially. But Mrs. Sharma has absolutely no intention to do so.

Continuer la lecture →

Market

India 2019, Busan A Window On Asian Cinema- Kim Jiseok Award

Feature Film by Pradip Kurbah

Synopsis

Iewduh is the name of the largest and the most vibrant market in Northeast India. Market, whose original title is ‘Iewduh’, tells the story of the people of the Iewduh Bara Bazaar market. Mike is a bathroom cleaner working in the darkest of the dark places in the market. He lives with Hep, a boy who was abandoned by his parents and was later taken in by Mike.

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Mother and Son

Azerbaijan 2019, IDFA main competition

Documentary by Hilal Baydarov

Synopsis

In rural Azerbaijan, a mother welcomes her adult son, who left home eight years earlier. In the calm rhythm of rural life, reflective silences punctuate their personal, philosophical conversations. Continuer la lecture →

Nails in my Brain

Azerbaijan 2020, Paris Cinema du Reel competition

Documentary by Hilal Baydarov

Synopsis

A young man wanders through the ruins of what may or may not be his childhood home, where each crumbling doorway opens up onto the past. Memories accost him-memories of his school days, of loved ones long gone, of wonder, callousness, and defeat. Continuer la lecture →

Ofrenda

Argentina 2020, Rotterdam Bright Future competition

First Feature Film by Juan Monaco Cagni

Synopsis

Ofrenda depicts two women who, at various stages in their lives, happen to be in the same place. Being and time. That might sound vague, but this is nonetheless what it is. The young teens spend time in summery fields, in desolate, abandoned warehouses and other buildings on the outskirts of a small provincial town in the Argentinian pampas. The same spaces reoccur a few years later when the young women meet again when one of them returns with a backpack symbolising the knowledge acquired. Continuer la lecture →

Piedra Sola

Argentina 2020, Rotterdam Tiger Award competition

First Feature Film by Alejandro Telemaco Tarraf

Synopsis

Deep inside the Argentinian highlands in a small community at an altitude of 4000 ma.s.l, a native llama herder is following the traces of an invisible puma who is killing his livestock. Through his search, a mystical exchange is revealed between him, his ancestors and the changing form of the puma. Continuer la lecture →

Private Fiction

Argentina 2019, San Sebastian Zabaltegi, IDFA Masters

Documentary by Andrés di Tella

Synopsis

Over several days and nights, an actor and an actress read the correspondence between Torcuato and Kamala, the film director’s parents, he from Argentina, and she from India. The letters, encompassing the decades from the 50s to the 70s, refer to love and idealism, record world travels, talk about socialism and psychoanalysis, about pain and broken dreams. Their reading reveals a relationship between the actors, with similarities and differences. Meanwhile, with his own daughter, the director sets about solving the puzzle of the family memory, an intimate twentieth-century tale.

Continuer la lecture →

The Elder One

India 2019, Toronto Special Presentations, Mumbai opening film

Feature Film by Geetu Mohandas

Synopsis

The search for Akbar brings his younger sibiling, Mulla from Lakshadweep island to the decadent underbelly of Mumbai. Continuer la lecture →

The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs

India 2020, Berlinale Encounters competition

Feature film by Pushpendra Singh

Synopsis

The timeless story of the proud and beautiful nomadic shepherdess Laila is set against the backdrop of the current Kashmir conflict. A tribute to a very modern female figure, inspired by mystical poetry and traditional songs. Continuer la lecture →

The Trouble with Nature

Denmark 2020, Rotterdam Bright Future competition

First feature film by Illum Jacobi

Synopsis

The year 1769. The philosopher Edmund Burke has fled London, debt collectors and a ramping midlife crisis to go on a grandtour of the Alps to rewrite his book on the Sublime in this 18. century roadmovie. Continuer la lecture →

When The Persimmons Grew

Azerbaijan 2019- Nyon Visions du Reel Special Mention, Sarajevo Best Documentary Film, IDFA Best of Fest

Hilal Baydarov

Synopsis

Immobile in a home where the sands of time fall to the rhythm of rural Azerbaijani sounds, a mother waits for her son. When he arrives, their conversations circle around existential questi- ons and news from afar, troubling and cryptic. Unrest cloaks the world outside. Continuer la lecture →