CARMEN

16 minutes, 2017
Director and Production : Natalia PRESTON (Germany)

CARMEN
16 minutes, 2017
Director and producer: Natalia PRESTON (Germany) “Carmen” is a poignant, honest portrait of a woman who follows the dictates of her heart, uprooting from Venezuela and going to Madrid, where she comes up against harsh reality. The man she followed has disappeared, her days are difficult, long and lonely. She makes her living by singing in Madrid’s subway stations: the underground network becomes her world, Venezuelan music her faithful companion. Carmen shares her hopes and her songs with passers-by. The melodies remind her of her children, of unattainable love and the life she left in Venezuela. Despite the difficulties and her pain, her love of music gives her strength and dignity, driving her to be an example, an ambassador of humanity, to those who cross her path.

With a Degree in Russian from London and a Master in business management from Chicago, and having worked as consultant for businesses linked to the media such as IBM, Bertelsmann and Hamburg Media School, Natalia PRESTON decided to devote time to some of her own personal projects, among which are managing language tours in Moscow and a German bakery in California. For several years she has been passionate about documentary films. She obtained a Master in documentary and experimental film at the University of Madrid and is currently at FilmArche, the Berlin film school.

NAMRUD (TROUBLEMAKER)

95 minutes, 2017
Director : Fernando ROMERO-FORSTHUBER (Austria, Spain)
Production : Soleil Film (Austria)

Born a Palestinian in the state of Israel, the musician Jowan Safadi is famous throughout the Arab world. He is not afraid to tackle taboo subjects, and this has made him a highly controversial figure: under investigation by the Israeli police for “incitement to terrorism”, his most recent tour in Jordan ended with him being arrested by the authorities. Currently Jowan has a new challenge: his 15-year-old son Don has moved into his home, so Jowan now has to assume his responsibilities as father.

Fernando ROMERO-FORSTHUBER was born in Seville in 1983, his father Spanish, his mother Austrian. At the age of 17 he went to live in Vienna where he worked in cinema. Two years later he went to Israel for the first time, working with Palestinian musicians as producer / director of their video clips. In Austria he continued working in video clips, cinema and advertising. Most recently he worked on news reports for Austrian television companies ORF and ATV, particularly in Syria.

DES MOUTONS ET DES HOMMES (OF SHEEP AND MEN)

79 minutes, 2017
Réalisation : Karim SAYAD (Swiss, Algeria)
Production : Close Up Films (Swiss), Norte Productions (France)

Alger, Bab el Oued, 2016. Habib, 16, dreams of becoming a vet. But when he stops school, he decides to train a ram named El Bouq, hoping to make it a champion of sheep fighting. Samir, 42, has no dreams other than to survive the everyday difficulties of his life by selling sheep to earn some money.
As Eid approaches and the whole country is preparing to sacrifice a sheep, Samir has a unique opportunity to increase his profits. But for Habib, it’s another story. Will El Bouq become a champion? Or is it destined for a less glorious end?

Karim SAYAD was born in 1984 in Lausanne of an Algerian father and a Swiss mother. Having obtained a Master’s in International Relations from the Institut Universitaire des Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement in Geneva, he began taking an interest in making documentary films. His first short film “Babor Casanova” was given its first screening at Locarno in 2016 and has since been shown in more than twenty festivals, winning awards at such prestigious festivals as DocLisboa, Festival Dei Popoli and the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. “Des moutons et des hommes” is his first long documentary

BIZERTE. A SPIRAL TALE

57 minutes, 2018
Direction : Michele COPPARI and Francesca ZANNONI (Italy)
Production : Cosenude Media Projects (Italy)

Bizerte, Tunisia. A port where the African landmass suddenly drops into the Mediterranean. The most northerly city in Africa, just 250 km from Italy.
Rich, fertile land, and for centuries a strategic port. A naval base with barracks and prisons. Bizerte, “Little Paris” during the French colonisation, is a city taken hostage by groups of radical Islamists.
Bizerte is Samar, a girl who trains for the next boxing match and wants to leave, Mohamed, writer, who has spent half a life in prison, Khaled, a Shiite craftsman and political opponent, preparing for action, Dhia and his cinema, his revolution.
All accomplices and victims of a story that returns under the banner of violence. The city weaves the plot of the story, she is also accomplice and victim, sweet and ruthless.

Michele COPPARI and Francesca ZANNONI are two Italian directors. They founded Cosenude Media Projects, a collective involved in several fields such as video production, photography, communication and cooperation. In 2010, they began their career as authors, directors and editors for several television channels such as Rai 2, Rai 5, Babel TV, producing short documentaries and stories. Their latest film “La Montagna di Ilio”, a story of mountains, friendship and adventure, filmed in the Dolomites, was selected at the 66th Trento Film Festival.

A SEED FOR CHANGE

75 minutes, 2018
Direction and Production : Alexandros IKONOMIDIS (Greece)

It’s the economic crisis in Greece, film-maker Alex Ikonomidis is worried he won’t be able to support
himself. When his income runs out he decides to take charge of his own life and grow his own food. That is the beginning of his journey in search of natural and reproducible agricultural seeds. An individual’s simple solution, which quickly turned out to be a complex global problem.

Alex IKONOMIDIS works mainly as an editor. He has worked with European and Middle-Eastern production companies, agencies and television channels, including the BBC, MTV, ITN, Globecast, ESPN, LeoBurnett, Impact/BBDO, TBWA/RAAD, Publicis, DDB, FP7 McCann. He is also a director and a DoP.

THREE THRESHOLDS: BIRTH-MARRIAGE-DEATH

61 minutes, 2017
Director : Asuman ATAKUL FIRTINA (Turkey)
Production : TRT Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (Turkey)

Birth, marriage and death are three stages of life which every community in the world celebrates. Rites organised according to specific cultural codes mean the individual feels part of a group at the important moments of his life.
This documentary looks at Turkey’s rapidly changing ancestral customs, traditions and rituals.

Asuman ATAKUL FIRTINA was born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1960. Since 1998 she has worked for TRT, the Turkish public broadcaster. She has produced and directed many television programmes, particularly documentaries, among them: “Matrimonial Stories” (2005), “A few days in town” (2008), “Notes from a trip” (2009) and “Three thresholds: birth-wedding-death” (2017).

HISTOIRES D’ISRAEL

(Stories about Israel)

53 minutes, 2017
Direction : William KAREL and Blanche FINGER (France)
Production : Roche Productions, Arte (France)

70 years after the Hebrew State was created, ten emblematic Israeli writers (including Amos Oz, David Grossman, Avraham B. Yehoshua) draw up a “state of the nation”: its values, its fears, its contradictions. The writers draw on the permanent tension in which they live as material for their work, which thus reflects all their country’s problems: the weight of the past, the Zionist project, the Palestinians, religion, the army, social tensions, territorial fractures. An original and subjective portrait of Israel, where literature helps us understand geopolitics.


William KAREL was a photographer at the Gamma and Sygma agencies (1973-1983). A large part of his work is devoted to the history of the twentieth century. He specializes in showing the corridors of power and portraits of political figures (Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher, François Mitterrand, Nicolas Sarkozy) and cultural personalities (Philip Roth for the American Masters series of PBS). Since 1984, he has made some thirty documentaries on history, politics and culture, including many award winners. Among them: “François Mitterrand, que reste-t-il de nos amours ?” (2015), “Jusqu’au dernier. La destruction des Juifs d’Europe” (2014), “Album(s) d’Auschwitz” (2011) co-directed with Blanche Finger, “Barack Obama. Au coeur de la maison blanche” (2012), “Looking for Nicolas Sarkozy” (2011), “Philip Roth, sans complexe” (2010). An amused yet passionate observer of his contemporaries, in 2003 he received the Europa Gold Prize for a lifetime’s work.

Blanche FINGER is a scriptwriter and director. Her list of documentary credits include: “Jusqu’au dernier: la destruction des Juifs d’Europe” (2014), “Album(s) d’Auschwitz” (2011) co-directed with William Karel, “Ethel Rosenberg, la dernière danse” (2003) et “La Rafle du Vel d’Hiv, 50 ans après” (1992).

AU DELÀ DE L’OBJECTIF : LACROIX, DALI

(Beyond the lens: Lacroix, Dalí)

56 minutes, 2018
Director : Céline FORMENTIN (France) and Antonio PEREZ MOLERO (Spain)
Production : Inicia Films, Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (Spain)

On August 8th 1970 Marc and Thérèse Lacroix, a couple of photographers, were celebrating their wedding anniversary in Cadaqués. A chance meeting with the painter Salvador Dalì transformed their life forever.

Céline FORMENTIN is a script-writer and director. For the past ten years she has made documentaries with a particular interest in films about culture. She has also written other documentaries.

Antonio PÉREZ MOLERO is a script-writer, director and DoP. His list of credits include the documentaries “The interpreter” (2016 57 minutes and 72 minutes – Best Documentary Award at Bilbao), “Colgados de un sueño” (2012 “Hanging on a Dream” 52 minutes – Best Documentary Award FECICAM 2013), “4 Seasons estacions” (2011 “4 Seasons” 52 minutes Finalist Goya Award 2012) and “El Fin de la espera” (2009 “The End of the Waiting” 52 minutes).

THE OSLO DIARIES

98 minutes, 2018
Direction : Mor LOUSHY et Daniel SIVAN (Israel)
Production : Medalia Productions (Israel), Intuitive Pictures Productions (Canada)

In 1992, when Israeli-Palestinian relations were at a very low point and any communication was punishable
by prison, a small group of Israelis and Palestinians gathered in Oslo, secretly and outside any legal
framework. Although these meetings, known today as the Oslo Accords, have changed the Middle East forever, their only trace is the journals held by the negotiators.

Mor LOUSHY is an Israeli film-maker. Her first film “Israel Ltd” (2009), was shown at the IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and then distributed round the world. Her 2015 documentary, “Censored Voices” won the Ophir for Best Documentary (Israel’s Oscars) and was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, at the London Film Festival and at IDFA. Director Daniel SIVAN has the following films to his credit: “Nivdal” (short 2005), “Monkey Business” (2006), “The Life and Death of Gotel Botel” (2009) and “Poisoned” (2011).

MISSING FETINE

75 minutes, 2017
Réalisation : Yeliz SHUKRI (Chypre)
Production : Tetraktys Films, Cyprus Cinema Advisory Committee (Chypre)

Forced to marry at a very young age, Fetine Memish had to live in a foreign country and never saw her family or her homeland again. Her fate, like that of thousands of other girls exiled in similar circumstances, remained a mystery. Until the day her brother’s granddaughter embarked on a serious investigation to find her.

Yeliz SHUKRI was born in Australia but moved to Cyprus in her childhood, when the checkpoints dividing the country were opened. Since then she has worked in television and film production, making films which help promote unity, peace and understanding between Cypriot communities. Yeliz works for the Cypriot national television, CyBC, and as a freelance director making documentaries. Since 2017 she has been a member of the board of the Cyprus Refugee Council, an independent not-for-profit organisation which helps refugees, asylum-seekers, the detained, victims of slavery and survivors of torture. “Missing Fetine” is her second feature-length film.