That Which Does Not Kill

FilmFAITH explores the human soul’s journey to God through the director’s aunt, a nun dedicated to promoting the canonization of Trappist monk Rafael Arnáiz. Because the filmmaker lost her young brother, she seeks a permanent bond. She is interested in the source of the strength of mystic relationships, but also asks about material aspects of monastic life.

FilmFAITH explores the human soul’s journey to God through the director’s aunt, a nun dedicated to promoting the canonization of Trappist monk Rafael Arnáiz. Because the filmmaker lost her young brother, she seeks a permanent bond. She is interested in the source of the strength of mystic relationships, but also asks about material aspects of monastic life.

In 2011, after eight years in France, filmmaker Lamine Ammar Khodja returns home and records a subjective report on the Algerian events of the Arab Spring. Using a loose diary approach, he analyses the existential questions of his return. Toying with Eisenstein-like editing, he humorously comments on memories of the past and on the current situation. This introspective and stylistically playful exploration of the director’s soul and his homeland is full of masterful symbolism. For instance, the scene showing a bonfire of newspapers filled with reports on demonstrations is underscored by the Bob Dylan song Everybody Must Get Stoned.

Childhood as an age of extraordinary imagination, games, and sense of security in a world bordered by the close horizon is explored in this observational documentary that focuses on a year in the life of a Norwegian Waldorf kindergarten. This sensitive study of the expressions of modern, progressive pedagogy can renew viewers’ faith in education and the importance of the work of educators.

A film essay about the obsession with maintaining visual memory using Polaroid works as a historical excursion, a how-to manual, and a philosophical contemplation. Accompanied by a hypnotic soundtrack, the film reveals the magic of instant photography using the compelling nostalgic aesthetic of the time before digital photography.

The Badjao tribe, who inhabit the waters and islands of the Pacific Ocean, lose their last pieces of identity when confronted with the modern world. Fascinating images from a world under water illustrate a story about everyday rituals and legends that perpetuate their hunting prowess and the fortunes of one small nation.

This film, mapping the surrealistic journey of a group of children from the Algerian slums over the course of one hot summer day, is a playful allegory of the revolutionary battle of Algerians for independence from France fifty years ago. This genre hybrid teeters at the edge of documentary and hypnotic fun with music by the electro-pop duo Zombie Zombie.

Through interviews and footage from theatre rehearsals, the film reflects on the origins of a theatre production by Croatian director Oliver Frljić about the murder of a twelve-year-old girl during the war in Yugoslavia.  What might seem like history is actually everyday reality for Croatian Serbs, filled with hatred and fear.

For most people, reunions are a pleasant affair. But not for those who spent their school years being hazed, subjected to psychological terror, and consistently ignored. This reconstruction can be seen as a meditation on the painful side of childhood and adolescence through the unforgiving objectivity of an adult.

This poetic documentary is an elegy to the Middle East, where cement flows across the region as they rebuild after the ravages of war. For the narrators, the smell and taste of cement remind them of their father, who left to work in neighboring countries, and the horrifying sight of their devastated home.

FilmWEALTH presents the story of two women as a social commentary. The tragicomic film’s protagonists are a mother and daughter, former Danish millionaires who have lost everything. Used to a life without work, they bring their habits into their new situation, existing in a small apartment in southern Portugal. Nothing remains of their wealth, and the daughter may have to start working at 55.

Fusako Shigenobu was the leader of the left-wing Japanese Red Army. In 1971, she left for the Middle East, where she remained for 30 years. Experimental filmmaker Masao Adachi joined the Palestinian fraction of the Japanese Red Army in 1974. He is also the author of fukeiron, the theory that the structure of the ruling power is reflected in the landscape. The fukeiron style is used in this documentary look at the journey of these two individuals from their native country into the service of a foreign movement and back.