VHYes

Life seemed so straightforward in the 1980s. A 12-year old's hilarious, bizarre home video provides a different perspective.

Oh, the 1980s! Women in tight aerobics wear and Tel Sell ads for (Truly Fantastic!) ballpoints. A deliciously crazed, retro comedy shot in VHS with a pinch of Blair Witch and ... climate porn? Hilarious fun for everyone with a fruit fly's attention span and nostalgia for fast forwarding.

Goud

A young gymnast's ultimate dream – gold at the Olympic Games – is jeopardised when he meets with the slightly older physiotherapist Irene.

Young Timo's life is dominated by gymnastics. He is training intensively for the World Championships, aiming ultimately for Olympic gold. But the powerful feelings he develops for his physiotherapist Irene call everything into question – including his complex relationship with his demanding, disabled father.

Ailleurs, Partout

Images on our computer screen allow us to cross borders in a single click. For a young migrant, stranded in an English suburb, the perspective is less bright.

Images on our computer screen allow us to cross borders in a single click. For a young migrant, stranded in an English suburb, the perspective is less bright.

Adam

In a small Moroccan bakery, widow Abla gradually opens her heart to Samia, an young unmarried pregnant woman she takes into her home.

Reluctantly giving in to the urging of her eight-year-old daughter, widow Abla agrees to temporarily take in young, pregnant, unmarried Samia. Inside the walls of Abla's small apartment and adjoining bakery, a relationship develops between three very different women in this modest, poignant feature debut.

Desterro

A young Brazilian mother walks out of her hopeless relationship and disappears. A big bang of a film, from which several films explode in different directions.

The relationship between a young Brazilian couple seems to be heading for the rocks. Some time after she disappears, he is told that her body is in Argentina. What now? An explosive, disturbing fiction debut, which seems to reinvent itself several times on its way to a poignant conclusion.

My Morning Laughter

Tied to his mother's apron strings and never had a girlfriend. It's high time 28-year-old Dejan stood on his own two feet.

His father drives him mad, his mother treats him like a child and he's never had a girlfriend. High time for 28-year-old teacher Dejan to fly out of the nest. This happens in fits and starts in this Serbian tragicomedy, in which everything seems to look deliberately unpolished.

Little Joe

Has science gone too far in this clinical bio-thriller about mysterious plants that can create permanent happiness?

In this cold-blooded thriller, bio scientist Alice (Emily Beecham) dedicates her life to the invention of a new plant that makes its owners happy. But the prototype, ‘Little Joe’, maybe works too well. The users turn into anaesthetised zombies incapable of feeling any other emotions.

Corpus Christi

A young man escaping from a youth detention centre pretends to be a priest in a village wracked by trauma. Oscar nomination.

Oscar-nominated drama about a 20-year-old delinquent sent on work experience, who ends up not in a sawmill but in the village church, where he is mistaken for the new priest. In this brand-new calling, he struggles with a village trauma, his own demons and the fear of being unmasked as a criminal.

Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains

The ups and downs of the Yu Family in the Chinese provincial town of Fuyang. Panoramic impression of radical changes, told with calm, reserved empathy.

The filmmaker started his prize-winning, hypnotically told debut with no formal training, private funding and a local cast of amateur actors. An immersion in the Yu Family's life in the provincial town of Fuyang for a year, characterised by calm humanism and reserved empathy.

G/D THYSELF: Spirit Strategy On Raising Free Black Children

This ritual space invites you to explore metaphysical transcendence, spirituality and self-expression and use the space for their own rituals and traditions.

As an extension of their short film AS TOLD TO G/D THYSELF, The Ummah Chroma provides a sacred space at Het Nieuwe Instituut entitled G/D THYSELF: Spirit Strategy On Raising Free Black Children. The ritual space invites visitors to explore themes of meta-physical transcendence, spirituality, and self-expression.

Meanwhile on Earth

This remarkably entertaining documentary zooms in on the 'dead moments' in the routine existence of some employees in the Swedish funerary industry.

One man's tragedy is another man's treasure. Or in this case rather a ready-made salad and nutritious smoothie. While the deceased await their final redemption, anonymous workers take charge of their bodily remains. With dignity, but often with an unintentional hint of absurdity as well. 

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

A young widow who lives with her teenage son fills her empty life with an endless checklist of chores. Until something snaps.

Akerman portrays the life of a single, middle-aged mother with a style as detached, functional and distancing as the title of the film itself. To avoid facing the anxiety and fear of death, Jeanne organises her days with an endless checklist of chores, including prostitution. A cornerstone of feminist cinema.

The Whistlers

A corrupt policeman gets into hot water in this lively, stylish and witty thriller from Romanian maestro Porumboiu.

A Romanian policeman, a factory owner hiding drugs in mattresses, a femme fatale, a beautiful Spanish island and a centuries-old secret language. Romanian maestro Porumboiu blends these together to create an elegant, drily comical thriller in which good and evil conspire side by side.

The Long Walk

Ingenious mix of sci-fi and ghost story: a time-travelling Laotian finds out that undoing his childhood trauma leads to unexpected consequences.

If you change the past, you change the future, as an old Laotian finds out when a ghost gives him the chance to travel back in time to his youth. In this ingenious mix of lo-fi sci-fi and melancholy ghost story, undoing the tragic event that has pressed on him for decades has unexpected consequences.

Drama Girl

Vincent Boy Kars probes how he can fictionalise the life of fellow millennial Leyla – or is he making a documentary about drama?

Can drama help us understand ourselves and the world better? Assisted by experienced actors, including Pierre Bokma and Elsie de Brauw, director Vincent Boy Kars re-enacts scenes from the life of Leyla, a young woman who is subjected to a certain amount of confusion in this intriguing experiment. What is still real, and what is fiction?

Dreamlife

Do scientists dream of digital mice? Adventurous film about sensory deprivation and bizarre side effects, based on true story of Michel Siffre.

Taking a 1960s scientific experiment as its starting point, this trippy, hypnotic exploration of human sleep allows visual artist Melvin Moti to expand his vocabulary in surprising ways. While staying faithful to his long-time obsessions, he also immerses the viewer in his laboratory, and allows his imagination to run wild.

Suzanne Daveau

Passionate geographer Suzanne Daveau carried out field research in inhospitable surroundings. Her life’s story is told in stunning photo series and footage.

Rich documentary portrait of a passionate geographer way ahead of her time. Suzanne Daveau (1925, France) undertook field research in the most inhospitable environments: nothing could stop her. Using stunning photo series and footage, she tells the story of her life, in which work and private life became one.

Bacurau

A furious genre mash-up of Western, horror and sci-fi that projects Brazil’s disturbing reality several years into the future.

When a remote village in the north-east of Brazil suddenly disappears from all maps in this furious genre mash-up, it turns out to presage an invasion by trigger-happy gringos. Using elements from the Western, horror and sci-fi genres, Brazil’s pitiless reality is projected several years into the future. Winner Jury Prize in Cannes.

Vitalina Varela

Locarno Golden Leopard winner portrays the lives of immigrants as a pitch-black vacuum. Life stands still and people wander, silently.

Vitalina travels from her native Cape Verde in the footsteps of her recently deceased partner, ending up in the pitch-black vacuum of life for Portuguese immigrants. This Golden Leopard winner at Locarno is stunningly stylised by Pedro Costa, who isolates his characters in the darkness using a 4:3 ratio and bright spotlights.

Babai

The Babai is the night-time bogeyman for children: traumas determine who you are, according to this claustrophobic portrait of two Russian brothers.

Russian brothers Mark and Gesha struggle with their strict father, while their tough youth illustrates how fear and sadness are unavoidable elements of aging. Using claustrophobic close-ups, Russian filmmaker Artem Aisagaliev provides a universal impression of a human existence characterised by trauma.

A Frenchman

A mellow look back at the Soviet Union when it was sizzling, by Brežnev-era cinema star Andrei Smirnov.

In the late 1950s, Pierre Duran travels to Moscow as an exchange student. While falling in love and making friends in the underground scene, he never loses sight of his real aim: to find his long-lost father. A mellow look back at a still sizzling Soviet Union by Brežnev-era cinema epitome Andrej Smirnov.

Fortezza

A remote military garrison has long since lost its defensive function and now serves as a prison. The staff feel no less trapped in the situation.

In every prison, the same dialectic can be found between resignation and hope of redemption. Inside, time does not fly. There is only the opportunity to look inside oneself. Real inmates act out The Tartar Steppe, the classic, existentialist novel by Dino Buzzati.

Ema

Dance and drama combine seamlessly in this audiovisual spectacle in which a foster mother tries to get her adopted child back.

Platinum blonde Ema comes up with a master plan to get her adopted child Polo back. This audiovisual spectacle full of dance shows the smouldering streets of Valparaiso in all their glory and takes us into the (night)life of a group of young adults. With an ambient-reggaeton soundtrack by Nicolas Jaar.

La Fortaleza

In Venezuela – a country creaking on its foundations – a man retreats into the jungle to battle his inner demons.

Stories from his father, who also plays the lead, inspired the filmmaker to make this intense drama. To escape the crisis in Venezuela, and his alcoholism, a man retreats into the jungle and meets old friends. But their former happiness is transformed into evil intentions by the lure of gold.

Les enfants d'Isadora

Four women struggle with the choreography Mother by Isadora Duncan, created after the death of her two young children.

Director and dancer Damien Manivel follows four women attempting to understand and bring the challenging Mother to life. This choreography was created by renowned dancer and groundbreaking choreographer Isadora Duncan to process the tragic deaths of her two young children in 1913.

Balloon

Cheerfully melancholic story of Tibet in the 1980s, as China's one-child policy encroaches on Buddhist traditions and condoms can become balloons.

In this cheerfully melancholic story of Tibet in the 1980s, China's one-child policy comes up against belief in reincarnation, and condoms can become balloons. Mother Drolkar is at the heart of a family of shepherds as modernisation slowly starts to encroach on Buddhist tradition in their everyday lives.

Atlantique

In Dakar, two young lovers have a star-crossed relationship. Fate may bring them together in this beautiful, darkly romantic tale.

In Dakar, two young lovers have a star-crossed relationship. Souleiman is a construction worker who needs to leave the country for a better future, while Ada is the bride-to-be of someone else. Fate may bring bring them together in this beautiful darkly romantic tale, where realism can definitely be magical.

Los fantasmas

By day, Koki is a nice tourist guide in Guatemala City, but at night he lures men to a hotel – where they are relieved of their property.

In dangerous Guatemala City, handsome Koki lures men to a hotel where they are robbed. He accepts this life as a matter of course – until it suddenly disappears. Using the power of authentic locations and situations, the young director delivers a convincing and exciting character study, and one that makes us stop and think.

I diari di Angela – Noi due cineasti. Capitolo secondo

Gianikian created a montage of images from work trips to the USA and Jerusalem to accompany his deceased partner Ricci Lucchi’s wonderfully illustrated diaries.

Sublime sequel to the film Gianikian made last year after the death of his life- and film-partner Ricci Lucchi. Diary and film excerpts provide insight into their lives and oeuvre as well as the artistic mission and methods of two of the most important filmmakers of the past 50 years.

The Halt

The Philippines descend into darkness under a crazed dictator whilst facing a huge volcanic eruption in this political science fiction film by grand master Diaz.

In this political fantasy of a future highly reminiscent of today, volcanic eruptions have thrown the Philippines into darkness, while a crazed leader threatens rebellious neighbourhoods with poison gas. Resistance is not an easy option. After a stirring rock intermezzo, grand master Diaz calmly heads for the unexpected denouement.

Black Mercedes

Warsaw, 1942: when police investigator Rafał Król starts to dig deeper into the murder of Aneta Holzer, cans of worms galore get opened.

Rafał Król serves as an investigator with the 'Blue Police'. The year is 1942, the place Warsaw, the crime murder. Things get murkier still when the victim, Aneta Holzer, seems to have been someone quite different from she was said to be... An elegantly directed, quizzically smart piece of historical crime fiction.

The Makavejev Case or Trial in a Movie Theater

Reconstruction of a debate held in Yugoslavia in 1971. Should a daring film by Dusan Makavejev be banned, or not?

In June 1971, a public debate was held in Novi Sad on WR: Mysteries of the Organism, a controversial film that caused a dilemma for the Yugoslavian authorities. How far did the Tito regime's democratic freedoms really go? In the mirror of history, a homage to filmmaker Dusan Makavejev (1932-2019).

Un fils

Tunisian parents stand to lose son to a gunshot wound, as neither may donate an organ in this intense family drama.

It is 2011, just after Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution and things are changing, but Fares and Meriem have lost hope. Intense family drama in which their son who has been shot is in danger of dying because they are not permitted to donate their own organs.

Cageman

A social critique of class-based ultra-dense living conditions; a political critique of anti-democratic politics; and a masterpiece of Hong Kong cinema.

Cageman is focused social critique of a city beset with an outrageous income and wealth gap: a microcosm of Hong Kong's class-based ultra-dense living conditions; a political critique of anti-democratic politics; and an example of brilliant filmmaking, writing, cinematography, and performance. A masterpiece of Hong Kong cinema.

Sammy-Gate

In this deranged psychedelic trip, Sammy Davis Jr uncovers a right-wing conspiracy against black activism while working for president Nixon.

A psychedelic, deranged satirical trip into the heart of Nixon’s political darkness. Working for Nixon, celebrity Sammy Davis Jr uncovers a right-wing conspiracy set up by billionaire Howard Hughes, aiming to get the young black inner-city youth addicted to heroin. Why? Make war, not love.

Tora-san, Wish You Were Here

Bittersweet tribute to Japan's biggest post-war comedy-cinema phenomenon and a reflection on times lost, loves regained and laughs remembered.

In 1969, Yamada Yōji made the first film featuring irascible anti-hero Tora-san, played by comedian Atsumi Kiyoshi, who went on play the role another 47 times before his death. To mark this 50th anniversary, all surviving key members of the Tora-san family came together to create a moving elegy for a lost world.

Jallikattu

When a water buffalo escapes in an Indian village, the men wildly hunt it down. What is ultimately the difference between man and beast?

An escaped water buffalo leaves a trail of havoc through an Indian village, prompting the male villagers to set out on a wild hunt. Rising levels of adrenaline and testosterone cause tempers to fray, and the differences between man and beast become ever more blurred.

Atlantis

Grim but urgent portrait of a traumatised Ukraine, in a crisis of almost apocalyptic proportions following the war with Russia.

Traumatised Sergey joins volunteers who recover the bodies of fallen soldiers in eastern Ukraine. This brings him into contact with archaeologist Katya, who is literally and metaphorically digging into her past. Atlantis presents a grim but urgent portrait of Ukraine today, and the horrific consequences of the war with Russia.

Ten Years

Five shorts by young directors asked to imagine, in 2015, what their city might look like ten years later. Surprisingly prophetic.

Five short films by five young directors who were invited to imagine, in 2015, what their city might look like ten years later. Little did they know how prophetic this exercise in imaginative dystopian filmmaking would be. Ten Years struggled to be released in Hong Kong, but won best film at the HK Film Awards in 2016.