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Jonathan Stavleu explores, in a stream-of-consciousness video essay, the relationship people have with water and what happens when access to it is taken away. For this work, he examines anecdotal histories he has heard from Estonians, as well as stories from his own family history in the Netherlands, weaving them together into a journal-like narrative.
The end of the Cold War did not bring about a definitive thaw in the former republics of the Soviet Union, so that today there are several frozen conflicts, unresolved for decades, in that vast territory. As in Transnistria, an unrecognized state, seceded from Moldova since 1990. Kolja is a silent witness of how borders and bureaucracy shape the lives of citizens, finally forced to lose their identity.
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain an estimated four million children have found themselves living on the streets in the former countries of the Soviet Union. In the streets of Moscow alone there are over 30,000 surviving in this manner at the present time. The makers of the documentary film concentrated on a community of homeless children living hand to mouth in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. Eight-year-old Sasha, eleven-year-old Kristina, thirteen-year-old Misha and ten-year-old Andrej all dream of living in a communal home. They spend winter nights trying to stay warm by huddling together on hot water pipes and most of their days are spent begging. Andrej has found himself here because of disagreements with his family. Kristina was driven into this way of life by the hatred of her stepmother and twelve-year-old Roma by the regular beatings he received from his constantly drunk father. "When it is worst, we try to make money for food by prostitution," admits ...
Uzbek youth confess their dreams, take flight, and negotiate the reality around them. Directed by Kirill Kulagin. In this documentary directed by Kirill Kulagin, Uzbek teenagers share their innermost dreams. And rather than talk of only fantasies, these dreams unearth the reality these youth face and how they negotiate with it. In Central Asia, talking about oneself can seem impolite. From an outsider perspective, emotions in this culture are only spoken about indirectly, lest they “air [their] dirty laundry in public.” But talking about dreams can break through this social barrier. For the film, Kulagin ran filmmaking labs with Uzbek youth to explore their real stories and real feelings surrounding dreams. These dreams served as jumping-off points to discuss deeper fears and desires, which turned into metaphors and a visual language based on how they navigated the boundaries of intimacy.
Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, Afghanistan has drawn growing international attention for its enormous reserves of rare earths and strategic minerals essential to the global energy transition. The country is believed to hold more than €1 trillion in resources, including copper, lithium, cobalt, iron, uranium, chromite, mercury, and rare earth elements, as well as valuable gemstones and gold. Often described as the “Saudi Arabia of minerals,” Afghanistan has become the focus of a geopolitical race for supplies. While Europe and the United States remain hesitant to engage with a regime accused of serious human rights abuses, countries such as China, Russia, Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, and India are already positioning themselves in Kabul to secure access to these critical resources.
Russian-speaking Katja was born in 1992 in the Estonian city of Narva, not far from the Russian border. She represents the entire generation of the 1990s, which sees itself as a house with no address or railway tracks leading nowhere. In the ruins of the Soviet Union, she searches for her national identity and learns to breathe freedom.
Some of the most iconic images in Latvian visual history were taken 30 years ago, when the so-called Singing Revolution took place. This documentary that includes well-known and previously unseen 35 mm footage, is about those who took these shots, told in their own voices, their own emotions and memories.
More than twenty years after Vladimir Putin came to supreme power in Russia on May 7, 2000, Russian society is deeply divided. A young, modern generation opposes the growing repression by the regime, which still retains the support of many members of previous generations. Who are these ordinary citizens who dream of living in a different Russia? What price will they have to pay to achieve the freedom and justice they so desire?
