Social & External
The people behind it
Nicolás García Rivas
Nico
Mateo Quindós Adrán
Mateo
The Aït Atta tribe of the High Atlas mountain range in Morocco preserves their ancestral right of access to the agdal, a communal land management system that dates back hundreds of years. The film follows Ben Youssef family’s arduous transhumance journey from the desert-like landscape of Nkob to the green pastures of Agdal Igourdane, throughout uneven terrain of steep climbs and descents of these High Atlas mountains. They migrate each summer with their 800 goats, donkeys, mules, camels and dogs, as they embark on this formidable journey on foot.
In the Christmas holidays, a mysterious extra-terrestrial force bursts into the life of a suburban couple on the brink of divorce. However, none of them notices this otherwordly presence, so this entity will have to live with them in this grey, sad and lifeless home, observing as their relationship finally desintegrates.
A Maasai human rights lawyer fights to stop the evictions of his people from their homelands in Tanzania. On the outskirts of Serengeti National Park in East Africa, Maasai face eviction from their land to make way for international tourism and hunting grounds. Human rights lawyer Joseph Oleshangay campaigns for his community to remain on its homeland as it has done for generations. While he represents Maasai communities in court, Joseph also remains close to his traditions among the cattle at his rural home near the Ngorongoro Crater. Risking his life to gather evidence from recently depopulated villages, Joseph battles in court where he leads the fight to resist the evictions.
When an Ivy League lawyer challenges her family’s claim to their longtime home, small-town attorney LouEster Sadie Gibbs must fight a courtroom battle that pits privilege against legacy.
Tragic pages in the history of the formation of the independent Lithuanian state in 1918-20.
Jarred by the loss of his closest friend, a farmer on Tasmania’s remote West Coast, begins to mentor at-risk local youth. In an area renowned for its poverty, low literacy, and high suicide rates, Stafford Heres is determined to provide opportunities for kids who have few. Eden Alone Surpasses Thee explores his relationship with the land, loss, and the young men he takes under his wing.
Something from there is a short film on the substance of our original lands. Weaving between the voices of the artist’s parents, one a refugee and the other not, the film is personal, yet evokes a shared Palestinian experience.
Emília Pedro e Fernanda Jorge revisit childhood memories to identify over 70 land parcels inherited from their father. As physical traces fade, memory and oral tradition become the only way to 'see' what is no longer visible.
Just when everyone thought the nightmare was over, a new menace strikes the city in a savage and bloody manner.
Last Man’s Land follows Isiah, a hardened survivor navigating a post-apocalyptic America two years after the world’s collapse. When a ruthless survivalist steals a cache of desperately needed medical supplies meant for a group of sick children, Isiah sets out across a dangerous, lawless landscape to track them down and bring the supplies back—no matter the cost.
As queer trans and gender non-conforming children of the Vietnamese diaspora, we are fragmented at the crossroads of being displaced from not only a sense of belonging to our ancestral land, but also our own bodies which are conditioned by society to stray away from our most authentic existence. Yet these bodies of ours are the vessels we sail to embark on a lifetime voyage of return to our original selves. It is our bodies that navigate the treacherous tides of normative systems that impose themselves on our very being. And it is our bodies that act as community lighthouses for collective liberation. Ultimately, the landscape of our bodies is our blueprint to remembering, to healing, to blooming.
A Land Shark hunts for human prey.
In a dark, ambiguous environment, minuscule particles drift slowly before the lens. The image focuses to reveal spruce trees and tall pines, while Innu voices tell us the story of this territory, this flooded forest. Muffled percussive sounds gradually become louder, suggesting the presence of a hydroelectric dam. The submerged trees gradually transform into firebrands as whispers bring back the stories of this forest.
In Dear Home of Scars, we see celebrated visual artist Ibrahim Mahama return to his hometown of Tamale in Northern Ghana to visit Red Clay Studio, a lively cultural centre and art space he founded, where he works on a new art installation involving old colonial railcars and the reconstruction of a stretch of track. During British rule of Ghana (1821-1957), the colonisers used trains to transport gold and other resources to the coast. Remnants of track now lie abandoned as silent reminders of this history of exploitation. They are ‘scars in the landscape’, in the words of Mahama. The project brings new energy and self-awareness to local residents. Meanwhile, Mahama reflects on his role as a sought-after artist and builder of local communities.
We are in a housing crisis. We urgently need new ideas. Step forward… We Can Make. We are taken to Knowle West, South Bristol, a 100-year-old council-built estate and one of the most deprived areas in Europe. The spirit in the neighbourhood is unbroken though and this community are taking a different route to affordable housing.
An experimental documentary featuring care-led practices of audiovisual archive remix, interviews and collaborative performances. The film features the home movies of Paul Berry, who was an Oscar-nominated animator, whose personal Super 8 collection is a sadly rare example of queer domestic life in film archive collections. Supported by research at the North West Film Archive, these moments of queer joy, chosen family, rural trips, and celebrations are reimagined alongside other regional film collections to a newly composed original score. Five portraits of specially featured artists discuss narratives that reflect how queer and trans creatives understand themselves, their histories, and their representation in relation to environment and landscape. These interventions weave through each artist’s practice in photography, spoken word, performance, sculpture and music, moving towards an expansive language of BODY(s) and LAND(s).
Sand is the second-most exploited resource in the world. In Southeast Asia, escalating demand fuels an opaque and often illegal trade. Hourglass, an immersive documentary short, juxtaposes Singapore's ever-rising skylines to the sinking shores of Vietnam's Mekong Delta, creating an unsettling portrait of an urgent crisis carrying profound human costs.
Chile, early 20th century. José Menéndez, a wealthy landowner, hires three horsemen to mark out the perimeter of his extensive property and open a route to the Atlantic Ocean across vast Patagonia.
On the eve of Earth Day, a precocious seven-year-old learns about the wonders of the planet from his parents—and a mysterious exhibit at the aptly named Museum of Everything.
Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector, and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history.
The story of the last Seal Child’s journey home. After their mother’s disappearance, Ben and Saoirse are sent to live with Granny in the city. When they resolve to return to their home by the sea, their journey becomes a race against time as they are drawn into a world Ben knows only from his mother’s folktales. But this is no bedtime story; these fairy folk have been in our world far too long. It soon becomes clear to Ben that Saoirse is the key to their survival.
When an unsuspecting town newcomer is drawn to local blood fiends, the Frog brothers and other unlikely heroes gear up to rescue him.
John Garrity, his estranged wife and their young son embark on a perilous journey to find sanctuary as a planet-killing comet hurtles toward Earth. Amid terrifying accounts of cities getting levelled, the Garritys experience the best and worst in humanity. As the countdown to the global apocalypse approaches zero, their incredible trek culminates in a desperate and last-minute flight to a possible safe haven.
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
After paleoclimatologist Jack Hall is largely ignored by UN officials when presenting his environmental concerns about the beginning of a new Ice Age, his research proves true when a superstorm develops, setting off catastrophic natural disasters throughout the world. Trying to get to his son, Sam, who is trapped in New York City with his friend Laura and others, Jack and his crew must travel to get to Sam before it's too late.
Mild-mannered Clark Kent works as a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside his crush, Lois Lane. Clark must summon his superhero alter-ego when the nefarious Lex Luthor launches a plan to take over the world.
An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order.
When a disease turns all of humanity into the living dead, the last man on earth becomes a reluctant vampire hunter.
Max Rockatansky returns as the heroic loner who drives the dusty roads of a postapocalyptic Australian Outback in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other scraggly defendants of a fuel-depot encampment are the bizarre warriors commanded by the charismatic Lord Humungus, a violent leader whose scruples are as barren as the surrounding landscape.
When Travis, the mouthy son of a criminal, disappears in the Amazon in search of a treasured artifact, his father sends in Beck, who becomes Travis's rival for the affections of Mariana, a mysterious Brazilian woman. With his steely disposition, Beck is a man of few words -- but it takes him all the discipline he can muster to work with Travis to nab a tyrant who's after the same treasure.
In the year 2019, a plague has transformed almost every human into a vampire. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vampires on a way to save humankind.
Geophysicist Dr. Josh Keyes discovers that an unknown force has caused the earth's inner core to stop rotating. With the planet's magnetic field rapidly deteriorating, our atmosphere literally starts to come apart at the seams with catastrophic consequences. To resolve the crisis, Keyes, along with a team of the world's most gifted scientists, travel into the earth's core. Their mission: detonate a device that will reactivate the core.
In Ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by Maui reaches an impetuous Chieftain's daughter's island, she answers the Ocean's call to seek out the demigod to set things right.
The ultimate weapon, claimed to be safe for mankind, produces global side-effects including time slides and disappearances. The scientist behind the project and his car are zapped from the year 2031 to 1817 in Switzerland where he meets Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and others.
An astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands to exotic jungles.
When scientists exploring the Amazon River stumble on a “missing link” connecting humans and fish, they plan to capture it for later study. But the Creature has plans of his own, and has set his sights on the lead scientist's beautiful fiancée, Kay.
Fifty years into the future, the sun is dying, and Earth is threatened by arctic temperatures. A team of astronauts is sent to revive the Sun — but the mission fails. Seven years later, a new team is sent to finish the mission as mankind’s last hope.
With the end of the world only hours away, self-absorbed James heads to the ultimate party-to-end-all-parties. On his way there, he saves the life of a young girl named Rose who is searching desperately for her missing father. This simple act sets James on a path to redemption.
