No Friends But The Mountains

Will the Kurdish dream of independence and freedom ever become reality?

With the rise of ISIS and the central role played by the Kurdish Peshmerga in the fight against them, the question of Kurdish independence has taken on greater urgency. To answer this pressing question, Kurdish author Kae Bahar travels from his London home to his rocky and mountainous homeland, finding a complex mix of Kurdish nationalism and internal division. 'War or Peace?' Bahar asks. The answer is not so simple.

Motorkite Dreaming

The ultimate Aussie adventure story.

This is the tale of Aidan, Daryl and their fiancees and their shared dream to pull off a daring feat that few have attempted before. Flying microlights from south to north, from Adelaide to Beagle Bay, the intrepid couples navigate tough flying conditions, crocodile-infested swamps, and their own conflicting personalities. Led by two Aboriginal guides, including rock 'n roll royalty, Carroll Karpany (Us Mob), the flying circus heads deep into the spiritual heartland of Australia. Soaring through twenty indigenous language nations, they connect with a culture thousands of years old.

Letters From Generation RX

The Menace of Mental Health Medication

Across America, individuals are being driven to suicide and murder by the very drugs that were prescribed to help them. Challenging the belief that medication is the best solution to mental health problems, this powerful film explores the science behind antidepressants, their effects on the brain and the horrific experiences endured by patients and their loved ones, all too often covered up by the companies and regulators that profit from their prescription.

Indivisible

A heartrending exploration of the human cost of US immigration policy

The young people at the heart of the US immigration debate are given a voice in this moving profile of the families torn apart by anti-immigration measures. Renata, Evelyn and Antonio were brought to the US by their parents in search of a better life, but their families are now divided as a result of deportation. They are known as Dreamers, fighting to be heard among the turbulence and controversy surrounding US immigration reform.

Dalya's Other Country

A Syrian refugee navigates her teenage years in a politically volatile USA

Dalya, a Syrian refugee living in America, tries to be a normal teenager. Yet under the shadow of Donald Trump's rise to power, she must contend with daily reminders of her otherness, like being the only girl in school that wears a hijab. Keeping her Muslim father proud and integrating into American teen life with make-up, proms and boys is a hard line to walk. This touching film explores a young life caught between highly politicised identities.

What Happened In Vegas

A law unto themselves: meet the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police department

When TV editor Ramsey Denison was jailed for simply reporting police brutality on the Las Vegas strip, he was inspired to investigate the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. In this damning expose, he reveals the police's cavalier methods and their dire circumstances; civilian fatalities, unconstitutional arrests, and embellished crime reports paint an incriminating picture of a police department where the officers are above the law.

Still Tomorrow

How one disabled farmer became China's star poet

A farmer from rural China with cerebral palsy is not a likely candidate for fame - but when Yu Xiuhua's poetry went viral online, she was suddenly touted for great success. Brutally visceral, her poetry is born from grappling with disability, a loveless marriage, and her relationship with China's eroding pastoral interior. This sympathetic doc lays bare the disjunction at the heart of Yu's life between physical circumstance and inner expression.

Spookers

Inside the charmingly frightening world of Spookers, New Zealand's top scare park

As night falls at Spookers, dozens of seemingly ordinary people become freaks, zombies and chainsaw-wielding clowns. Every weekend come rain, hail or shine, this diverse group of amateur performers unite to terrify punters at the southern hemisphere's largest scream park, situated in a former psychiatric hospital. Director Florian Habicht reveals the transformative and paradoxically lifesaving power of belonging to a community that celebrates fear. "Complete with beautiful fantasy sequences and made with a huge heart, Spookers is another feather in the cap of gifted Berlin-born, New Zealand-based filmmaker Florian Habicht. If ever there was a Freak Me Out 'family film,' this is it." - Sydney Film Festival 2017

The Long Night

An urgent, heart-breaking investigation into the young lives changed forever by under-age prostitution and exploitation

A frantic father pounds the streets, searching for his daughter. Schoolgirls, abused by pimps and enslaved by heroin, disappear into cars and shadowy motel rooms. A band of policemen desperately try to fix a system that punishes rather than protects. This visceral film follows those caught in a web of underage sex trafficking spun deep in the cracks of American society, in a gut-wrenching exploration of the lives destroyed by it.