When Norwegian-Turkish filmmaker Nefise was a child, she used to send balloon letters to Allah. Now she has decided to send a new balloon, in order to change the role of women in the Muslim culture. Following her grandmother’s “Sufi” path, she goes on a quest to find back the real Islam. The film shuttles between her actual journey and her dreams. She experiences the diversity of...

    How would YOU clean up after a nuclear war? Where could the new eugenics of genetic control take us? Do disabled children have worthwhile lives? Bibigul is a young pregnant woman with what local doctors call a "frightful, defected face." She is the daughter of Biken, a deformed survivor of a Cold War experiment where 456 nuclear weapons were secretly tested on the population of...

    Situated at the crossroads of global interests, Kyrgyzstan reflects the political rivalry between Russian and American influence, reveals the religious rivalry between Christianity and Islam, and lies between the economic predominance of China and Russia. “All That Glitters” examines how strange capitalism and democracy can be when introduced to a former Soviet country, where people who were...

      In 1998 Wojciech StaroÅ„ shooted “The Siberian Lesson”, a documentary about a young teacher who decides to live by the Baikal lake to teach Polish to the descendants of Polish exiles. Many years later, already married and with two children, the director and his film character go to Argentina. For their son, the trip is an encounter with a new language. Assisted by his Argentinean...

    In Belarus, the totalitarian regime cracks down on all opposition. Anyone criticising the dictator risks imprisonment and torture. Belarusian Waltz is on the incredible personal story of the performance artist Alexander Pushkin, who is one of very few who is not scared. Facing grave consequences he organizes public stunts that mock president Lukashenka. Through his art and sense of humour we take a deep...