Film Catalogue

The story of a twenty-year-old long-distance swimmer who was born prematurely and has struggled since his first breath. His moving attempt to cover a distance of 42.2 kilometers in open waters without stopping. A distance that no athlete his age has achieved to date.

The documentary explores life in Cyprus before, during, and after the Turkish invasion of 1974, presenting personal stories. Refugees and enclaved Greek Cypriots describe the chaos of the Turkish military’s invasion, recounting experiences of displacement, loss, captivity, restricted freedoms, efforts to preserve cultural identity, and survival.

An Internet user enters the mental space of an artificial intelligence in search of Francine Descartes, the daughter of René Descartes. This intelligence produces an infinite number of images from a sequence of words ordered by men, until it functions on its own, without human intervention. An alternative, emaciated world, containing all the world's memory, becomes possible.

In 1943, 10-year-old-Rozina, from her hiding place (a small apartment in the center of the Thessaloniki) decides to write her diary under the fake name Roula Karakotsou. This was her only escape from the Nazis, as she endured 548 days of nameless existence in silence. The viewer experiences her adven- ture through her childish gaze, her narratives, as long as she is hiddden.

9:30 delves into the case of the vitriol attack on Ioanna Paliospyrou, documenting her recovery and the trial of her assailant that gripped Greece. The film examines the psychological impact, community response, and resilience required to navigate the aftermath of such violence, spotlighting the pursuit of justice and victim support.

Bassam Mortada, the son of political activists, was 5-years-old when he first visited his father, Mahmoud, in the notorious Abo Zaabal prison. Raised by his mother, Bassam, dredges up the faded memories of his childhood 35 years later in an attempt to comprehend the reasons behind his father’s absence and heal the wounds of his shattered family unit. Through discussions with his parents, interviews with their friends, old recordings, photographs, newspaper cuttings, and a theatrical monologue, Bassam unearths his family history as it was shaped by the political circumstances of the time. In this profoundly personal and political documentary, what moves us is not only the emotionally charged relationship between father and son, or the disarmingly honest attempt to mend their relationship but also the filmmaker’s courage in exploring, in a rare moment for Egyptian cinema, Egypt’s contemporary history.

“If the state won’t protect me, I will protect my sisters.” This phrase sums up the philosophy of the Abortion Dream Team. Every third woman in the world will have an abortion, that’s a fact. But in Poland, the abortion ban protects a fetus over a woman’s life. Luckily, there is “Abortion Dream Team”, four bold women running a hotline to support their sisters in need. Working around the clock, they brag on TikTok about facilitating 100 abortions a day and shock people with the slogan “Abortion is OK!”. They gather a huge following empowering hundreds of thousands of women while pissing off all conservatives and the government. This dangerous battle leads to a complete burnout of one team member and to the political prosecution of another, threatening her with three years in prison. As the women reach their breaking point, will the mission and sisterhood of Abortion Dream Team survive? A heartfelt movie about fighting, resistance, and women’s solidarity

“A computer will not make a film as good as mine in 4,500 years” (Werner Herzog): After a local factory worker named Dorem Clery dies under mysterious circumstances, Werner Herzog travels to Getunkirchenburg to investigate his perplexing death. But Herzog, our narrator, is not who he seems, and the film is not what we expect… About a Hero is an adaptation of a script written by an AI trained on Herzog’s body of work. The fictional narrative it produced, ironically self-reflective, is intertwined with a series of interviews with artists, philosophers, and scientists reflecting on the notion of originality, authenticity, immortality, and the soul in the age of AI.

Thirty-five years. Four empires. Twelve islands. The Dodecanese islands were always desired: by Mussolini, who was dreaming of a new Roman Empire; by Churchill, who wanted to offer them as a reward; by Hitler, whose conquest was the last battle won during WW2. For the islanders, it was an adventurous path towards freedom.

Portrait of an active bullfighting star, Andrés Roca Rey, which allows us to reflect on the intimate experience of the bullfighter who assumes the risk of facing the bull as a personal duty out of respect for tradition and as an aesthetic challenge. This challenge creates a form of ephemeral beauty through the material and violent confrontation between human rationality and the brutality of the wild animal. “Rigourous, intense, unrestrained, Albert Serra’s perfect frames lure the spectators out of their comfort zone, taking them close to the star and even closer to the death and decadence that surrounds him. Hypnotic, Afternoons of Solitude, is a dive into a world of men, where the fragility and loneliness of masculinity tries to conceal itself behind blood and broderies but eventually resurfaces in flatteries and stranded gazes. In Afternoons of Solitude, once again, beyond the capacity of conveying such an experience with an impeccable style, Serra’s ultimate talent is to leave the spectator alone with their moral compass and ideas. A mark of respect toward the viewer that defines his cinema as one of the most necessary of our times.” (Rebecca De Pas)

Conversing with the ΧR program in the Festival’s official selection, Immersive – All Around Cinema, a unique experience is presented during this year’s edition as an interactive installation. A multi-piece installation that explores the interaction between artificial intelligence and human participants. It encourages contemplation about the relationship between humans and AI, particularly focusing on the themes of judgment, perception, and the human willingness to be an- alyzed by machines. Central to this experience is The Confessional, a piece where participants are subject to AI’s unfiltered analysis, receiving a unique blend of description, imagination, and advice from the machine’s perspective. Accompanying piece AI Ego further expand this narrative, offering diverse, AI-generated interpretations of human identity and existence. The installation not only challenges our comfort with technological judgment but also provokes thought on the broader implications of having AI in our lives. The installation invites participants to reflect on their self-image when reinterpreted through the lens of artificial intelligence, thus resonating with the central tribute of this festival edition.

No one was doing Marek salmon fishing, when Shige revived the tradition in 2011. In this day and age, when living as Ainu is a choice, Shige is cultivating his own ways to maintain his Ainu identity and culture for the next generations. Every year, Shige has to get permissions from the Hokkaido government, the fishermen’s union, the organization that fosters salmon, and the police department before he can start Marek fishing. He’ll get caught as a poacher if he catches a salmon without those permissions, even though his sole purpose of this is to keep the tradition alive. Not minding the challenges he has to face as Ainu, Shige stays positive and keeps his practices in a stoic manner. Discrimination and prejudice against Ainu people have been weakening over time, which can be seen in Shige’s young son, Motoki being open about his Ainu identity to his classmates and eager to learn about Ainu culture through his father. Shige has no intention to force Motoki to do anything but hopes for him to nurture his Ainu identity in his own way. Ainu Puri explores one family's endeavor to live as Ainu in today's Japan.