Apocalypsever - Franco Maresco

Our Baby: A Modern Miracle

July 2020 •English

What's it like starting a family when you're both transgender? This intimate film follows Hannah and Jake Graf on a journey through prejudice and surrogacy to birth during lockdown.

Vojta Lavička: Nahoru a dolů

April 2013 •Czech

When Borat Came to Town

October 2008 •Romanian

A look at what happened after Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was filmed in the Romanian village of Glod. It follows the life of one girl who longs to escape the poverty as foreign lawyers arrive with the promise of suing 20th Century Fox for millions of dollars.

De caballos y guitarras

March 2024 •Spanish

A musical, and also a reflection on watching, on trying to escape an anthropocentric gaze and also on watching itself in cinema. Featuring mares and horses: Triana, Víctor K, Bambi Sailor, San Special Solano, Buck Red Skin, Onkaia, Cool Boy, the donkey Agostino, the mule Guapa. And also Alfredo Lagos, Raül Refree, María Marín, Pepe Habichuela, Virgina García del Pino, María García Ruiz, Pilar Monsell, María Pérez Sanz.

2020: A Very Particular Year

December 2020 •German

At the beginning of the year 2020, a relentless plague sweeps the planet and, as a consequence, a global lockdown is gradually decreed: how did people from very different latitudes, living necessarily very different situations, experience this shared solitude? How did people adapt to the restriction by decree of their personal freedoms and the transformation of many bustling metropolises into ghost cities?

Brothers of the Night

February 2016 •German

Soft boys by day, kings by night. The film follows a group of young Bulgarian Roma who come to Vienna looking for freedom and a quick buck. They sell their bodies as if that's all they had. What comforts them, so far from home, is the feeling of being together. But the nights are long and unpredictable.

In Delusion: Trump and the American Catastrophe

October 2020 •German

In 2020, the USA experienced a multiple catastrophe: No other country in the world was hit so badly by the coronavirus pandemic, the economic slump was dramatic, and so was the rise in unemployment. A rift ran through society. In the streets there were protests of both camps with violent riots, authoritarian traits were evident in the actions of the leader of the nation. And all of this in the middle of the election year, when the self-centered president fought vehemently for his re-election. From the start of his presidency, Donald Trump had divided American society, incited individual sections of the population against one another, fueled racism, hatred, xenophobia and prejudice, insulted competitors and denigrated critical journalists as enemies of the people. The documentary shows how this could happen and what role the targeted disinformation of certain sections of the population through manipulative media played.

Black and White in Colour

December 1999 •Czech

A vivid documentary portrait of Véra Bílá (1954-2019), a Gypsy singer acclaimed in the international music world. The film explores Romany culture and what it means to be part of a marginalized minority group. She was dubbed the Ella Fitzgerald of Romani music. The Czech singer enjoyed international success in the late Nineties when she was signed to the German record label BMG.

COVID-19: The System

November 2020 •Dutch

COVID-19. The whole world is in Lock Down. There is panic in society. What is going on? Is this actually about our public health?

Vierka, or The Mystery of Family B's Disappearance

April 2006 •Czech

When Czech singer Ida Kelarová meets the young Roma singer, Vierka Berkyová, she discovers an extraordinary and vibrant talent. Determined to develop her musical abilities and career, she brings her and her family from their home in Slovakia to live in the Czech Republic. They are encouraged to learn new routines and develop their lives in a variety of 'productive' ways. Then, one day they disappear without trace. What began as a document about Verika develops into a mystery. [taken from the London Film Festival 2006 catalogue]

Martin Scorsese's Quarantine Short Film

May 2020 •English

Director Martin Scorsese talks about life in isolation.

Bulletproof

May 2020 •English

"Bulletproof" observes the age-old rituals that take place daily in American schools: homecoming parades, basketball practice, morning announcements, and math class. Unfolding alongside these scenes are an array of newer traditions: lockdown drills, teacher firearm trainings, metal detector inspections, and school safety trade shows. This documentary weaves together these moments in a cinematic meditation on fear, violence, and the meaning of safety, bringing viewers into intimate proximity with the people self-tasked with protecting the nation's children while generating revenue along the way, as well as with those most deeply impacted by these heightened security measures: students and teachers.

Lockdown Generation

August 2021 •Italian

In the beginning it felt like a holiday, then everything changed due to Covid19.

Gideon: Searching for truth

March 2022 •Dutch

'Gideon: Searching for the truth' takes the viewer with Van Meijeren on his quest for answers to questions about the current global health crisis. Questions that are common among the population, but to which he, and therefore the people in the country, do not get an answer in the Dutch House of Representatives. A place where Van Meijeren says he often feels like 'crying in the desert'. Where he gets no answers to his 'justifiably pressing' questions. Where instead he is invariably framed and judged by form, which makes any form of democratic debate impossible in advance.

Generation C

February 2022 •Dutch

Due to the measures taken by the government, students have fewer and fewer prospects for a meaningful future. Life is on pause and society is kept in fear. The confidence in a bright future is gone. Even after 18 months, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel. The many promises have not yet changed this situation. In this moving documentary, young people give an idea of the impact of the measures on their lives. Is there still hope or has the damage already been done?

Worthless

May 2021 •English

Worthless Tells The Story Of Steve Walker's Journey Through Lockdown, How He Coped & How He Sees The Future Of The World.

The Essential Church

July 2023 •English

When governments use Covid emergency act edicts to restrict the gathering and worship of the Church, three pastors facing the risk of imprisonment, unlimited fines, and their own Churches splitting apart take a courageous stand and re-open in the face of a world that has chosen to comply.

Tongóbriga (El espíritu de un lugar)

Invalid date •Spanish

Valentina

February 2016 •Romanian

Valentina lives among her extended family in the poor quarters of a Roma neighbourhood in Skopje, Macedonia. The ten-year-old girl is a tomboy and a highly gifted storyteller. To its charismatic heroine, the film is a roaming companion. Via quirky anecdotes, surreal daydreams and painful memories, Valentina introduces us to her family.

Silence

November 2020 •English

In lockdown isolation, a young man decides to stay in contact with the outside world through the vocal messages of his friends and lovers. But those voices, which initially seemed to fill the silence and keep him company, become increasingly full of suffering.