Personal Documentary

Refugee Poetry

April 2016 •Kurdish

The Kurdish Iraqi poet and actor Zeravan Khalil travels with his dog through an Alpine gorge after fleeing from IS war and genocide. As he remembers the abomination, he writes a poem with the title “You drive me mad” in Kurmanji Kurdish. In his home country, Yazidic Kurds are forbidden to work in his profession. Then he eats his apple and wanders through Europe’s middle with more hope.

Tuktu and the Trials of Strength

January 1967 •English

In this short docu-fiction film, strong and hardy Inuit hunters demonstrate and test their strength in boxing, tug-of-war, and other strenuous activities. We see and hear the drum dance, a demonstration of Inuit poetry and rhythm.

On sourira de nous

May 2022 •French

Four friends tired of protests are thinking about another way to shake up capitalist society. Driven by fiction, they decide to blow up a Brussels shopping center. How to think the attack? What roles do they need to play in order to imagine taking action? Is their friendship reconcilable with such a radical act?

The Hugo's Brain

November 2012 •French

The Hugo's Brain is a French documentary-drama about autism. The documentary crosses authentic autistic stories with a fiction story about the life of an autistic (Hugo), from childhood to adulthood, portraying his difficulties and his handicap.

A Night of Knowing Nothing

April 2022 •Bengali

L, a student in India witness to the government's violent response to university protests, writes letters to her estranged lover while he is away.

ABBA: The Movie

December 1977 •English

A radio DJ in pursuit of an exclusive interview follows ABBA during their mega-successful tour of Australia.

All Five Millions of Us

August 2019 •Portuguese

"All Five Millions of Us" is a hybrid of documentary and fiction feature film about father absence, based on data released by the National Council of Justice: there are 5.5 million children without paternal recognition in Brazil.

L'angoisse du héron

March 2024 •French

Wechselspiel – Wenn Peter Stamm schreibt

January 2023 •German

Two documentary filmmakers become the plaything of writer Peter Stamm and subject of the novel whose creation they actually wanted to document.

Man with a Movie Camera

May 1929 •Russian

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

Cradle to Grave

January 2017 •English

Through our subject Adam, we reveal the incredible changes and forces that take all humankind from Cradle to Grave.

Más cinco

March 2025 •Spanish

Born in Flames

April 1983 •English

In near-future New York, ten years after the “social-democratic war of liberation,” diverse groups of women organize a feminist uprising as equality remains unfulfilled.

No One Knows About Persian Cats

December 2009 •Persian

Iranian musicians Negar and Ashkan look for band members to play at a London concert ... and the visa that allows them to leave Tehran to do so.

Exergo

May 2024 •Basque

Departing from peripheral details of some paintings of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, a female narrator unravels several stories related to the economic, social and psychological conditions of past and current artists.

Viva Stalin

June 1994 •Russian

A village meeting in communist Russia to pay homage to Stalin leads to a gossip marathon, which develops into an endurance test for the participants.

Wind, Talk to Me

February 2025 •Serbian

Stefan reunites with his family to celebrate his grandmother's birthday for the first time after his mother's recent passing. This homecoming, driven by his urge to complete a film about his mother and an attempt to make amends by rescuing a stray dog, will ignite an introspective journey for Stefan. Inspired by the director's real-life experiences and starring his actual family members in a mission to complete a lake house and a film, this is an intimate cinematic exploration of the timeless mother-son relationship.

Ils voulaient tuer de Gaulle

June 2005 •French

Based on the model of documentary fiction (alternating period films, interviews and re-enactments with actors), the film begins on September 8, 1961 with the failure of the Pont-sur-Seine attack on a road convoy carrying Charles de Gaulle, then President of the Republic, and continues with the slow preparation, the occurrence and the consequences of the Petit-Clamart attack on August 22, 1962.

Louisiana Story

September 1948 •English

The idyllic life of a young Cajun boy and his pet raccoon is disrupted when the tranquility of the bayou is broken by an oil well drilling near his home.

Moana

January 1926 •English

Robert J. Flaherty’s follow-up to Nanook of the North shifts from the Arctic to the South Seas, portraying Samoan village life with a painterly eye. Blending ethnographic detail with a romanticized “Gauguin idyll,” the film celebrates daily rituals, communal traditions, and the passage into adulthood, suffused with what Flaherty called “pride of beauty, pride of strength.”