Once There Was a War

Sounds of War

March 1976 •Albanian

Bardhi, an orphan boy, goes to the city to work in the house of a rich man, where he learns how to play the violin.

I Don't Love You Anymore

September 2024 •Czech

Thirteen-year-old Marek shoots videos on social themes, making him an outsider among his classmates. At home, his peaceful relationship with his mother is disrupted by his mother's new acquaintance. In the most sensitive phase of his life, Tereza enters his path.

V hodine dvanástej

August 1959 •Slovak

Nazi soldiers committed atrocities even when sober – and if they got drunk, they did even worse. The inhabitants of a Slovak village during the national uprising learn this when they have to accept an arrogant Hitlerite guard. When two soldiers go missing, the unit commander threatens to have five hostages executed for each of them as a warning. And he refuses to change his order, even when it turns out that drunkenness is to blame for the unfortunate incident. But the villagers get justifiably angry and take up arms.

Après la guerre, les restitutions

July 2015 •French

Ravensbrück: The forgotten camp

February 2020 •French

Located nearly 80 kilometres north of Berlin, Germany, the former municipality of Ravensbrück was home to a prison between 1939 and 1945 that became a concentration camp designed specifically for women. It was built by order of Heinreich Himmler, a high dignitary of the Third Reich and head of the SS. Of the more than 130,000 people who were deported there, almost 90,000 never returned. Based on witnesses, international experts and computer-generated images, the document reveals the atrocities committed in Ravensbrück.

Final Account

May 2021 •German

A depiction of the last living generation of German participants in Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.

The Tender Bar

December 2021 •English

JR is a fatherless boy growing up in the glow of a bar where the bartender, his Uncle Charlie, is the sharpest and most colorful of an assortment of quirky and demonstrative father figures. As the boy’s determined mother struggles to provide her son with opportunities denied to her — and leave the dilapidated home of her outrageous if begrudgingly supportive father — JR begins to gamely, if not always gracefully, pursue his romantic and professional dreams, with one foot persistently placed in Uncle Charlie’s bar.

Di Bawah Umur

November 2020 •Indonesian

A new student, Lana comes to the most favorite high schools in Jakarta. Her innocent and fresh beauty catches the eyes of the young guys there, especially the school’s bad boy, Aryo.

Hollywood Spies

October 2017 •French

During the 1930s anti-Semitism was rampant not only in Germany but also in America. There was a German American Bund and pro-Nazi rallies even filled Madison Square Gardens in New York City. And the US was isolationist. Until Pearl Harbor, then, everything changed. Spymasters throughout the 20th century, and particularly during times of conflict, thought it advantageous to enlist the services of celebrities who had high level and powerful "fans" in various industries, many with easy access to politicians and high ranking government officials. Hollywood, as we now know from declassified National Archive documents, aided in the mobilization for war and its people contributed as spies, combatants, propagandists, documentary and fund-raisers, entertainers, and morale-boosters. Hundreds of celebrities eagerly answered the "call to arms" and brought their talents and patriotism to the intelligence services, military and war information offices.

Až do konce

December 1985 •Czech

Sudetenland, May 1945. A group of retreating German soldiers capture a group of young female workers, totally deployed in a chemical factory. He wants to use them as hostages during his advance to the American demarcation line. Together with them, they take refuge in a nearby castle, which soon becomes the site of the last battle that takes place both in the minds and in the backdrop of war-torn Czechoslovakia, shortly before liberation. A psychological probe as well as an intimate drama set within the walls of a small castle, it is a mosaic of mini-stories charting the fates, attitudes and thought processes of individual characters on both sides of the barricade.

JJ+E

September 2021 •Swedish

Elisabeth and John John are raised in the same city, yet they live light years apart, separated economically, socially and culturally. That is until the day they start in the same high school class.

The Scout

July 1974 •Chinese

Behind the Line: Escape to Dunkirk

August 2020 •English

Occupied France, 1940. A Nazi Commander discovers one of his prisoners, Danny is a champion boxer. He forces him to fight for his company's entertainment. But the POWs realise they can use these contests, as cover for an audacious breakout, before they re sent to Germany, where escape will be almost impossible. Their fate and freedom may all come down to how long Danny can keep fighting.

Gift of Fire

August 2021 •Japanese

Towards the end of WWII, the Navy gave the Kyoto University's physics lab the secret of a bomb that makes use of nuclear fission energy. While doing research to save Japan, the researchers there wonder if they should promote the development of weapons as scientists. Research enthusiast Ishimura Osamu tries to experiment purely but is at the mercy of the time period. His brother, Hiroyuki, also has to face the truth of the war. Asakura Setsu wants only to talk about the future. A story based on historical facts about youth during the tragedy of war.

The SS: The Barbaric State

July 2019 •French

During the Nuremberg Trials, the victors of the Second World War judge those responsible for the Third Reich.

I Love Anna

March 2016 •Finnish

Santeri (13) looks on as older guys are driving their motor bikes and wants to be part of their world. He combs his hair and goes to meet his friend Anna (13). At Anna's home childhood's anarchy meets puberty.

Stretnutie

June 1975 •Slovak

A dramatic tale of a man's life marked by two world wars. The story is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the life of the Dobrik couple after the outbreak of World War I, the second part develops the life events of their son Peter, who fought in the Red Army during World War II.

Wild Wild East

Invalid date •Polish

In occupied Poland 1943, German official Martin Wolff is sent to a remote village to investigate the disappearance of a Jewish lawyer. His arrival unsettles the fragile order between scarred villagers, corrupt collaborators, and Nazi authorities, unearthing a web of betrayal and greed tied to whispers of the lawyer’s hidden fortune. Yet as the village’s darkest truths come to light, Wolff’s search may be hiding more than it reveals.

The Hiding Place

August 2023 •English

World War II. Darkness has fallen over Europe, and the boots of the Third Reich echo through the streets. But on a quiet city corner in the Netherlands, some choose to resist. Corrie Ten Boom and her family risk everything to hide Jewish refugees by the hundreds, and they ultimately face the consequences when they are discovered.

Teenage Kicks

June 2016 •English

Miklós is at the age when everything feels high-stakes. He is coming to terms with his own sexuality, and when his best friend Dan reveals that he has a new girlfriend, this puts an end to their plans to run away together.