Doc Launch

Austria, Germany, Ireland, 52 min, Anthropology, Current Affairs, Social Issues

The Nicobars are a small archipegalo in the Indian Ocean, where one of the last indigenous people lived almost like in a time capsule for 900 years. When the Tsunami struck them in 2004 not only a third of their population died but they were also thrown into a modern world through the wave of aid and relief organisations that arrived on their shores. This aftermathproved to be a bigger catastrophe for their culture than the Tsunami. Today the organisations are leaving and the money is spent. But the Nicobaris embark on the search for a new identity.

Abendland, Austria, 100 min

OCCIDENT is an observation of Europe at night: Under the cover of darkness, people not only sleep, they also work and play, are born and die. Systems are maintained, many of them protected - a large number of night jobs involve surveillance. Darkness can help us see things more clearly.

Czech Republic, France, Iceland, 72 min, Current Affairs, Politics, Society

In October 2008, the three main banks in Iceland collapsed. The collapse of the banks drove a nation towards bankruptcy causing thousands of people to loose their jobs, their personal savings and all together to loose hope. A nation that before was considered among the richest countries in the world with a highly regarded reputation is now facing a dark era of both political and moral uncertainties. The film, “ICELAND: Bankrupt Nation” is about the people living these economic catastrophes, it is a portrait of a nation during our times.

Divadlo Svoboda, Czech Republic, 95 min, HD, Arts and Culture, Creative, Portrait

„Darkness is my raw material. Just as the sculptor needs his clay, the carver needs his wood; I carve my theatre out of darkness." (Josef Svoboda). „I grew up in the house of a man who was a brilliant stage designer, but who also was my grandfather to whom I did not talk much. I was twenty-five when he died and I knew very little about him. I decided to explore the darkness and the emptiness and to search for some of the things that outlive us." (Jakub Hejna). The only Czech documentary dealing with Josef Svoboda's life and work in a comprehensive and profound manner as well as the only film to show archive materials related to Svoboda’s work and private life that have not yet been published.

Palavani , Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, 52 min, Creative, History, Society

The hero is an unbeatable Georgian wrestler who won 7 matches in 55 seconds, who still keeps in secret his special three-way technique to win the competitor and who lives alone in a big house, full of memories and photos of legendary wrestlers, with water dripping from the cieling. A wrestler who is admired by the Russian pop diva Alla Pugachova but who is still waiting for a woman to come into his house and into his life. He is Fantomas, a 75 years old wrestler with unbeatable heart.One day he takes a wooden table, fixes it on the roof of his old car and sets off to a wrestling contest in a village 300 km away from his town. We’re going to join him on his ride through the Georgian landscape and through the landscape of the memories of this man with old body and young soul. Will the tradition of wrestling which has always been and still is so important for Fantomas and his generation survive? Will a new Palavani carry on the code of honesty? Will a woman come into his life? Fantomas is driving his old small car with a smile on his face. He has very few doubts that he will overcome all obstacles. After all he is unbeatable and he knows a special three-way technique that he will make use of in the most important fight of his life. No competitor has a chance, not even the most formidable competitor of all – Time.

Ojciec i syn, Poland, 58 min, Portrait

My father and I get into an old camper and head for Paris where, 23 years ago, he dispersed his mother’s ashes in the Luxembourg Garden. Our trip will take two weeks. We’re both documentary filmmakers so we’ve decided to make a film recording the journey. We stop at camper parks or gas stations for the night. We each have a camera to keep the conditions fair and so we’re both the directors and protagonists at the same time. My father is 70, I am 44. We discuss various things - family history, difficult past, my father’s divorces. Any question is allowed. The journey is a pretext to get to know each other a little better. A cinematic-psychological experiment about the father-son relationship. Once in the editing room, will we be able to create a single version that would be acceptable to both?

Pomorskie iluzje , Denmark, Germany, Poland, 82 min, Creative

Pomeranian Illusions is a multi-plot documentary that follows its protagonists during a very important time of their life. Together the stories of these four people reflect the changes that are coming to a small town Poland and challenge the people and the place they share: Darłowo, formerly known as the German town Rügenwalde, beautifully located on the windy shore of the Baltic Sea in the province of Pomerania. 22-year-old Darlowian-born Michał is fascinated by the bigger world than his own; ex US Army helicopter pilot Mark D. Buller is trying to find a new wife; Michael Rylander Christensen, a Dane from the island of Bornholm, is building a summer house resort that he calls Valhalla; and Jan “Lucjano” Konstantynow, a 82-year-old magician, tries to find his brother while he struggles with the new times that have taken hold of his home town.