Geislemacher

The Story of the Weeping Camel

June 2003 •Mongolian

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.

The Swiss Account

July 2011 •English

Bouldering in Switzerland.

The Noise of Time

June 2024 •Spanish

In the town of Xoco, the spirit of an old villager awakens in search of its lost home. Along its journey, the ghost discovers that the town still celebrates its most important festivities, but also learns that the construction of a new commercial complex called Mítikah will threaten the existence of both the traditions and the town itself.

Golden Door

September 2006 •Italian

The story is set at the beginning of the 20th century in Sicily. Salvatore, a very poor farmer, and a widower, decides to emigrate to the US with all his family, including his old mother. Before they embark, they meet Lucy. She is supposed to be a British lady and wants to come back to the States. Lucy, or Luce as Salvatore calls her, for unknown reasons wants to marry someone before to arrive to Ellis Island in New York. Salvatore accepts the proposal. Once they arrive in Ellis Island they spend the quarantine period trying to pass the examinations to be admitted to the States. Tests are not so simple for poor farmers coming from Sicily. Their destiny is in the hands of the custom officers.

HAND. LINE. COD.

September 2016 •English

In the coldest waters surrounding Newfoundland's rugged Fogo Island, "people of the fish"—traditional fishers—catch cod live by hand, one at a time, by hook and line. After a 20-year moratorium on North Atlantic cod, the stocks are returning. These fishers are leading a revolution in sustainability, taking their premium product directly to the commercial market for the first time. Travel with them from the early morning hours, spend time on the ocean, and witness the intricacies of a 500-year-old tradition that's making a comeback.

Round Up

January 2010 •English

This short film traces Pete Standing Alone's personal journey from cultural alienation to pride and belonging. As a spiritual elder, teacher and community leader of the Blood Indians of Southern Alberta, Pete works with youth to repair the cultural and spiritual destruction wrought by residential schools. At age 81, he has come full-circle in his dedication to preserving the traditional ways of his people.

Climbing the Matterhorn

May 1947 •English

Starting from the Swiss village of Zermatt, two people and a guide make a perilous ascent of the Matterhorn. Local villagers mount a torchlight rescue of a British couple trapped on the famous mountain. Irving Allen shot footage for this documentary while filming his feature film 'High Conquest'. Filmed in Ansocolor, the documentary won the Academy Award for Best Short Film in 1947.

Jesa

October 2019 •English

Jesa is a Korean tradition honoring one's ancestors. The filmmaker interviewed her parents about this ritual. However, it goes totally unexpected.

Ama-San

April 2016 •Japanese

A dive, the midday sunlight filtering down through the water. The air in her lungs has to last until she can dislodge the abalone. Dives like these have been carried out in Japan for over 2000 years by the Ama-San.

The Path of the Dead

November 2020 •Spanish

The Day of the Dead is one of the most deeply rooted and celebrated traditions in our country and when this festivity takes place in a magical town, the event becomes something memorable. The Day of the Dead tradition in Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca begins on October 27 with the arrival of the chá to xo´o´ and the celebration lasts six days. Hand in hand with its inhabitants, we will take a tour to witness all the colors, smells, flavors, sounds, textures, and visions that surround this ancestral festival and that of the Mazatecs.

Le lac des Quatre-Cantons : La perle bleue de la Suisse

July 2023 •German

Dream of the Wild Horses

June 1960 •French

The horses in Denys Colomb Daunant’s dream poem are the white beasts of the marshlands of the Camargue in South West France. Daunant was haunted by these creatures. His obsession was first visualized when he wrote the autobiographical script for Albert Lamorisse’s award-winning 1953 film White Mane. In this short the beauty of the horses is captured with a variety of film techniques and by Jacques Lasry’s beautiful electronic score.

Venerdì Santo - Bronte

April 2021 •Italian

Bernard Bovet le vieil homme à la caméra

September 2012 •French

The Windmill

February 1975 •French

In preparation for a feature-length film about windmills, an assistant director travels through the Vaud region to search for locations with windmills. The research leads to a serious engagement with the meaning and purpose of windmills, which has something Don Quixote-like about it in the age of nuclear power stations. The transitions between document and fiction flow constantly and result in a charming and intellectual mixture of seriousness and fun, determination and coincidence, weightlessness and the weight of meaning.

The Cellar Lanes of Lower Austria - Wine Culture and the Pleasures of Life

October 2014 •German

A Kellergasse – the cellar lane – is one of the distinguishing cultural and physical features of the winegrowing region Niederösterreich – Lower Austria. There are more than a thousand of them. Until recently, wine was not only stored in the Kellergasse, but pressed and fermented there as well. Today, the Kellergassen have less to do with occupation and more with recreation. A documentary by Georg Riha follows a year in the life of this valuable cultural legacy.

Dríades

Invalid date •Spanish

Honeyland

July 2019 •Turkish

When nomadic beekeepers break Honeyland’s basic rule (take half of the honey, but leave half to the bees), the last female beehunter in Europe must save the bees and restore natural balance.

Horämäner

April 2022 •German

The horn sledges were used throughout the Alps in forestry and agriculture for material transports on steep terrain. In the Muota valley, in the heart of Switzerland, a group of idealists is continuing to preserve the old tradition of «Mänere».

The Sacred Food

February 2007 •English

A short documentary about the Ojibwe Native Americans of Northern Minnesota and the wild rice (Manoomin) they consider a sacred gift from the Creator. The film tells the Creation and Migration stories that are central to the tribe's oral history and belief system while showing the traditional process of hand-harvesting and parching the wild rice. Biotech companies are currently researching ways to genetically modify the rice and the community is fighting to keep it wild.