
Jon Lester

Father Frank

Holly Michelle
Ragini Patel

Diana Goldberg

Twelve years ago, a plague swept through, wiping out most of the population; in San Francisco, only 186 people remain. Two of them use jury-rigged batteries to power a camera and make a documentary. We see a variety of approaches to survival, from the artist and engineer who trade for their needs, to the surfers and woodsmen who fish and hunt, to the scavengers, and a communal farm. We also see how the community deals with those who threaten it, and how the youth are growing up with different values from those who knew our world.

Native Americans clash with the Canadian government as they struggle for independence in this factual Canadian drama set in Quebec during the summer of 1990. Eddie Laroche, a rebellious native leader spawned a national crises when he and his supporters declared the independence of Aki territory in a far-flung area of northern Quebec. He refused to negotiate without the presences of television cameras to record his people's plight. Jean Fontaine was the reporter assigned to the story and much of the film is told from his viewpoint. To reach Laroche's land, negotiators, government officials, and the film crew had to travel by boat. Fontaine is initially cynical and reluctant to do the story, but after he spends time on the boat interviewing it's passengers, his cynicism has dissolves and he realizes he is faced with the presentations of a terribly complex situation. His dilemma provides a main focus for the film.

In April 1985, I started to make a film with my friend Kamioka as the main character. But even after three months, the whole film was still unknown. I started to work alone with the camera. One day, the rabbit he keeps at home gives birth to a stillborn baby. As he buries her under a tree in the garden, it made me think of his father, who died the year before. He is no longer with us, but only the gaze he left behind. And so I set off on a journey. In a town in the Hokuriku region, he met a woman who once appeared in one of his films. When I dozed off on the train to Tokyo, she appeared to me in a dream and tells me that I will soon find the exit. Back in Tokyo, I told Kamioka that I'm going to start filming again. I came back into the room, turned on the microphone and pressed the flame against the lens.

Will the life of the video blogger Gorin of Lugansk change after he encounters a UFO? "Monkey Ostrich and Grave" is the story of the video blogger Genadi Gorin of Lugansk (the capital of a new pseudo-republic occupied by Russia), whose life floats parallel to the horrific reality of the unfinished war.

On National day, Sheng Liming, a junior high school teacher, is bored and sits around in his single-room dormitory. Meanwhile, his former student Dong Jie plans to take a documentary about Sheng's life. During the filming, one of Dong and Sheng' friends tells them about the news that Dong's former classmate Li Yanwu is missing for quite a while. It seems to infuse some fresh excitement into Sheng's difficult holiday. Sheng‘s desire to find Li Yanwu is getting intenser with the hidden aches and pains of life and work. Dong Jie's attitude towards the expression of his film also turns different during the week.