Being Seen Seeing

Moscow Calling

December 2022 •Russian

The animated corpse of Moscow goes on after its inhabitants left. Filled with weeps and whispers of the mourning ghosts, torn apart with phone calls from distant countries and unfamiliar sounds, emotionally devastated and deserted, the city attempts to reconcile with its own voice.

Survival in Berlin-Neukölln

November 2017 •German

About Stefan Stricker, who calls himself Juwelia and has been running a gallery on Sanderstraße in Berlin Neukölln for many years. Every weekend he invites guests to shamelessly recount from his life and to sing poetic songs written with his friend from Hollywood Jose Promis. Juwelia has been poor and sexy all her life, has always struggled for recognition, but only partially.

The Re-Up

November 2012 •English

A backstage and on-stage look at Nicki Minaj's career during the Pink Friday Tour, festivals, and more.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

September 1927 •German

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

The Hasty Man Drinks His Tea with a Fork

January 2003 •English

A blend of drama and documentary, this film follows several people caught up in the turmoil of the modern world. The drama centres on a woman who has burned out and who holds up her own despair – and her attempts to rebuild her life – as a mirror to the rest of us. With a blend of gravity and humour, Sylvie Groulx's film shows the absurdity of a society dedicated to the cult of speed at all costs.

Moments in Helsinki

January 1971 •Finnish

A compilation of excerpts from old Helsinki-themed documentaries and new material.

Nadja in Paris

January 1964 •French

Nadja is a guest student, who stays at Cité Universitaire and visits the Sorbonne, while preparing a thesis on Proust; she also likes to stroll about Paris.

En ægte Brian

February 1996 •Danish

Missing Green

September 2013 •English

A solitary woman walks through the eerie night-time landscape of Dublin's Cork Street, a street once quiet and residential, now a four-laned artery for city traffic. Memories are narrated which no longer match the present-day surroundings.

Le bled (Buildings in a Field)

January 2009 •English

A collaboration between Jem Cohen with writer Luc Sante made in Tangier, Morocco, a city where neither of us had ever been. En route from the airport to the city center, we found ourselves amazed by the landscape outside of the car windows; a massive construction project under way in all directions. While not in itself unusual, we were by struck dumb by the epic scale and seemingly incomprehensible plan of the development and were drawn to return together to this puzzling zone. This project was commissioned by TAMAAS, a small foundation based in Paris, as part of their Tangier project, The 8.

Manhatta

January 1921 •English

Morning reveals New York harbor, the wharves, the Brooklyn Bridge. A ferry boat docks, disgorging its huddled mass. People move briskly along Wall St. or stroll more languorously through a cemetery. Ranks of skyscrapers extrude columns of smoke and steam. In plain view. Or framed, as through a balustrade. A crane promotes the city's upward progress, as an ironworker balances on a high beam. A locomotive in a railway yard prepares to depart, while an arriving ocean liner jostles with attentive tugboats. Fading sunlight is reflected in the waters of the harbor. The imagery is interspersed with quotations from Walt Whitman, who is left unnamed.

Noma: My Perfect Storm

November 2015 •English

A creative journey into the unique mind of René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of Noma, voted best restaurant in the world four times.

Hold mig fast. Før jeg forsvinder

April 2023 •Danish

Khamsin

January 2019 •French

Lebanon today. The traces of the civil war are all too tangible as government corruption becomes unbearable. In a country where conflict and peace are caught in an endless cycle, musicians from different backgrounds pool their talents to create an underground music scene. Each evokes his or her representation of Lebanon: its shifting geographical, political, historical and social borders, its painful passage through conflict and instability. A touching portrait of a young generation trying to build an oasis in a hostile environment where the forces of destruction continue to wreak havoc.

Between a Smile and a Tear

July 2005 •Danish

Summer 2004. Location: Copenhagen. The city's old legendary jazz house, Montmartre, is reopening for the first time in more than 30 years. But only for a very short note (2 days). To mark today's occasion, some of the oldest veterans of jazz house come together, along with a handful of younger 'descendants', to take stock of their lives and deliver a life-affirming musical testament, in the form of a series of unique concerts in the old jazz house.

LA. LA. End

October 2024 •English

The Californian sun, which lights up the city, lights up again every evening in cinemas all over the world". Guided by these words from Blaise Cendrars, L.A. L.A. END is a stroll through Los Angeles, among the remnants of Hollywood's Golden Age. Following in the footsteps of a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, we meet a gallery of characters who paint a sensitive portrait of a bygone era that gradually becomes a portrait of a woman.

Father of the City

June 2001 •Swedish

A film about "the father" of Malmö Eric Svenning and how the city has developed during his time.

The Beauties of Billings

June 1987 •Portuguese

A travelogue through the remains of São Paulo failing 80s economy, including its in ruins film industry.

A City Runs Through the Festival

April 2007 •Turkish

A City Runs Through the Festival is an anatomy of the Festival through the eyes of its own audience.

The Moon Also Rises

February 2024 •Chinese

Just before the launch of artificial moons, a retired couple finds their harbor in the fading darkness. Trying to catch up with the pace of modernity, their daily life traces this forthcoming brightness back to its earthly origins.