40 Steps

An orthodox school in southern Tel Aviv is divided in half for a new secular elementary school. In a shared playground, both schools must coexist, while the identity of different communities are put to the test.

Crows Are White

Director Ahsen Nadeem leads a double life. To find a solution for his problem, he travels to a remote Japanese monastery on a scenic mountaintop—home to an ancient, secretive sect of Buddhist monks who perform extreme acts of endurance. Will he find answers there, or are they inside him already?

Dark Red Forest

Each winter, 20 thousand nuns embark on a journey through the snowy expanse of the Tibetan Plateau. This mesmerizing intimate film follows them through one hundred very cold days of physical and spiritual tribulations, as their inner landscapes become one with the Tibetan wilderness.

Geographies of Solitude

For over 40 years Zoe Lucas has been living alone on Sable Island, surrounded by herds of wild horses and many seals, birds, and insects. Filmmaker Jacquelyn Mills gets to know the little island through Lucas’ eyes and paints a visually stunning portrait of both the island and its only human inhabitant.

Hive no. 10

Jonathan returns from kindergarten and announces that he wants to raise bees. The request surprises his mother and evokes painful memories of her own childhood in Russia. Determined to deal with past traumas, she decides to accede to his request.

In Case You're Still Around

Not everyone has the time to die. Yael did. Yael used her time to take a long, clear look at the fear of death. The film moves between then and now, as her daughter and partner continue their life.

The Balcony Movie

For two years, Polish filmmaker Paweł Łoziński stood on his balcony in Warsaw and filmed the passersby. Young and old, suspicious and amiable, happy and melancholy—all shared with him the most personal, surprising, and disturbing stories about their lives.

The Pawnshop

Poland’s biggest pawnshop hardly sees any customers anymore, its shelves laden with unwanted products. Between cigarettes and shouted arguments, the staff organizes a carnivalesque one-day sale in an attempt to breathe new life into the store and neighborhood. This heart-stirringly human film is brimming with compassion and humor.

Ultraviolette and the Blood-Spitters Gang

The passionate secret love affair the director’s grandmother, Emma, had in her youth was discovered only after her death, when letters from her lover, Marcelle, were found among her things. Wild, rebellious, and provocative, Marcelle’s persona is recreated using archive footage, scenes from films, and some very sensuous music.

Words That Remain

Six people recall the languages that cradled their childhoods: Judeo-Spanish or Judeo-Arabic, and Judeo-Persian. Today, the languages themselves are dying but they left traces that still affect those who heard them as children.