When Lidija Zelović fled the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina at the age of 22, she didn’t realize that she would henceforth be defined as a “refugee”. Nor that her life would then be spent shuttling between her birthplace and Amsterdam, between the past and the present, between being Lidija and being a foreigner.
The impeachment and removal from office of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 was triggered by a corruption scandal involving, among others, her then vice-president Michel Temer. Director Maria Augusta Ramos follows the trial against Rousseff from the point of view of her defence team. This is a courtroom drama that unfolds slowly: the appearances of the various parties gradually turn the proceedings into something akin to theatre. Inside the courtroom, grand emotions are played to full effect whilst, on the other side of the doors, lobbyists and supporters pace the corridors. Meanwhile, outside, in front of Brasília’s modernist government buildings, demonstrators are chanting like a Greek chorus. Only the main character, Rousseff herself, remains professional and aloof.
Tom, the filmmaker, receives a letter from South Africa. His long forgotten 95-year old grandmother Mariann, asks him to come and help her with her will. Tom sets off to South Africa and decides to bring his camera. This starts a journey for the filmmaker and his grandmother, looking back at her life and trying to understand his own.
What if your child turns out to be a sports talent and at an early age ends up in a world full of expectations, stress, disappointments and sacrifices – just like yourself? In this intimate documentary the director observes her gifted nine-year-old son and the way she guides him in the world of gymnastics. She also follows other parents who are in the same top-sport boat, and points the camera at the coach. How do you best support a child, while being a parent and instinctively struggling with the same expectations, stress and disappointments? On the one hand, parents hope their child will excel, but on the other they primarily want a happy child and successes are ‘really’ less important.
Seen through the eyes of a priest, a crime reporter and a hitman, this documentary examines the thin line between good and evil in one of the most dangerous cities in the world: San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
