Salaryman

An unconventional film on Tokyo work culture's most compelling and complex protagonist

Tokyo work culture's most compelling and complex protagonist; the Salaryman. A nameless, voiceless, over-worked and under-valued cog in the labour pool, expected to compromise home and social lives. Late nights and intense drinking sessions leave many of them passed out in the city streets. This slick, incisive documentary raises questions around the ethics of our global working practices in a capitalist society.

The Truth Illusion

Is it possible for people to view different "realities"?

An investigation into how the U.S. is now riven by radically differing views on what is real, and what is not. The Truth Illusion looks at how those deepening divisions began, and how they have eroded faith in authority – spawning conspiracy theories and creating ‘alternative realities’.

Between The Rains

A childhood caught up in tribal expectations and the looming threat of climate change

Filmed with stunning cinematography over four years, Between the Rains explores a childhood caught within a traditional culture that is a casualty of climate change. During a period of record low rainfall in northern Kenya, the Turkana tribe faces growing violent clashes with rival tribes and encroaching wild predators hunting their livestock. Kolei, a sensitive shepherd boy whose name translates to “living amongst the goats”, questions not only his path as a warrior, but also the erosion of the culture that has shaped every aspect of his life. With unprecedented and intimate access to the Turkana people, this moving coming-of-age story reveals the grave threats facing one of the world's oldest communities.

The Cathedral

Does it take a madman or a genius to singlehandedly build a cathedral?

Expelled from his monastery after he fails to fit in, a Spanish monk returns home. Downtrodden but not defeated, he becomes determined to realise a monumental project. For 60 years, with little assistance and no architectural expertise, he builds a gigantic cathedral out of waste and recycled materials. His community labels him a madman. Others label him a genius.

Abused

Surviving domestic violence in Jordan

Jordan has led the way in the Arab world in legislating to protect women from domestic abuse, but as this film shows, changing the law doesn't always change behaviour. With remarkable access to abused women, to those who work with them, and even to some of the men who continue to believe hitting women is acceptable, Abused goes behind the usually closed doors where domestic violence takes place. Rarely have Arab women spoken so openly about their terror and vulnerability in the face of what remains a deeply patriarchal culture and society.

Daughters of the Sun

Community healing in the shadow of war

The Yazidi girls were often just teenagers when they were abducted from their villages in the mountains of Kurdistan by fighters of Islamic State. They were converted to Islam by force, were sold as sex slaves for terrorists. Now that the survivors return to their homeland, the question arises if they will manage to start anew. Theatre-maker Hussein tries to help them to find a new life.

Tantura

The untold story of Israel's foundation

Hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated in 1948. To Israelis, it was the War of Independence, to Palestinians it was 'Al Nakba' - the Catastrophe. Director Alon Schwarz revisits former Israeli soldiers as well as Palestinian residents in an effort to re-examine what happened in Tantura, the location of an alleged, Israeli-perpetrated massacre, and find out why 'Al Nakba' is still a taboo in Israeli society.

Fairy Garden

Finding home on the margins of society

On the outskirts of Budapest, in the heart of the woods, hides a ramshackle little hut. Inside, two social outcasts have formed the unlikeliest of bonds: Fanni, a 19 year-old transgender teenager, and Laci, a 60 year-old homeless man. Together, they form a cantankerous, convivial, makeshift family life, supporting each other as father and daughter through hardship and change. Life is tough, but it is theirs. Set on the margins of Hungarian society, this is a film about perseverance, finding home, and the triumph of acceptance.

Rebels

Creativity unleashed in Soviet East Germany

Tina Bara, Cornelia Slime and Gabriele Stötzer are rebels. As fearless young women in the 1970s and 80s in the GDR, they made art expressing their anger against the oppressive regime, and claiming their right to freedom. Their uncompromising photographs narrate how it feels to be at the mercy of a system that suffocates young creative voices. But when the conflict with state security escalates, they have to make a decision: stay or go.