​​​​​​​​​NNFestival 2017 (1 semifinal)

90 MINUTES FOR ISRAEL GERMANY

Director MATTHIAS FRICKEL
Germany
Runtime  43 min
Completion Date: May, 2015

Nowadays Bayern Munich and its players even have fans in Tel Aviv. When Israeli player Almog Cohen, who now plays for Ingolstadt, steps on the pitch at his former club Nuremberg, his German fans wave Israeli flags. Meanwhile, Michael Nees is helping to build the future of Israeli soccer as coach of Israel?s Under-21 team and as technical director of the Israel Football Federation. When Germany and Israeli established diplomatic relations 50 years ago, all this would have been unthinkable, but football plays a significant role in normalizing ties between the two countries. What is it like to be a Jewish player in Germany? And how does a German coach in Israel cope with the burden of German history and the Middle East conflict?

Gilberte's World

Director David A. Masterwille
Ghana
Runtime  1 hr 33 min
Completion Date: Aug 2016

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A quest for leisure and holidays takes David, a Ghanaian filmmaker, on a journey to the beautiful paradise of Mauritius where he is hosted by Gilberte, his renowned celebrity painter friend. When Gilbert suddenly falls into severe depression, David puts on his filmmaker’s hat and explores the dynamic life of his artist friend as she struggles through conflicts emanating from family, work and life in general.

Goodbye Darling, I'm Off To Fight

Director Simone Manetti
Italy
Runtime  01:14:00
Completion Date: April 15, 2016
1ST TIME FILMMAKER

After a painful break-up with her boyfriend in NYC, Italian actress and fashion model Chantal Ughi discovered that Muay Thai was the only way to deal with her rage and to confront the violence she suffered as a child. She went to Thailand to train for four weeks, but ended up moving there for five years, training and fighting, modifying both mind and body to become as strong as a man, stronger than a man, and reaching the highest level possible in the martial art. Now, after a one-year hiatus, Chantal is back in the ring, ready to fight her demons and to reopen old wounds, as she attempts to become world champion again.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU TOLD A STORY?

Director: Ana Belén Fernández & Paulino Cadórniga
Spain
Runtime  31:36
Completion Date: January 12, 2015

This is a promotional documentary about one of the most magical places in Spain, the Ribeira Sacra.
A journey through its Romanesque heritage, its wine, its traditions, its landscape and its people.

The Fa Boat

Director Derrick Yung-Te Wu
Taiwan
Runtime  38:46
Completion Date: July 1, 2016

A practitioner of Falun Dafa, Mr. Zhuang wants to make 4-floors high grand lantern (The biggest lantern ever and allowing people walking in) to participate the lantern festival, Taiwan, in order to show the goodness of Falun Dafa.

"Four Motherless Children"

Director Ralph Isenberg
United States
Runtime 52:19
Completion Date: December 23, 2015
 

 
This film continues where the “Discovery of Santos”; the second documentary in the “El Gringo Schindler” series left off. The third movie tells the heartbreaking story of four children, all minors and citizens of the United States, forced to fend for themselves for eleven months while their mother found herself exiled in El Salvador for making a simple human error. The mother broke no immigration law but simply read an immigration form wrong. The fact that the mother had already been in the United States for seventeen years under “Temporary Protected Status” and her renewal for an additional year was already approved was completely ignored by the United States Government.

Time to love, a backstage tale

Director Guido Bilbao
Panama
Runtime 01:09:45
Completion Date: January 14, 2016
 

 
'Time to love, a backstage tale' is the story of a group of young actors who dare to mount La Cucarachita Mandinga, a classic Panamanian play. Without previous experience on stage and under a special condition: the down syndrome. The first inclusive play in Central America. Many believe unlikely to achieve the objectives : memorizing lines , learning choreography , challenge the public. The documentary tells the artistic process as he describes the intimate world of these young people. Their fears, their hopes and their daily struggle for the adventure of their lives

The Northern Houses

Directors  Guy Bordin and Renaud De Putter
Belgium
Runtime 20:20
Completion Date: September 28, 2015
 

The short visit in the Canadian Arctic of a Kenyan priest allows an evocation of the past of this Inuit region marked by the stay of two former Roman Catholic missionnaries both anthropologists and adventurers. The film made in the 1950s by one of them and that links their fates shows their fascination with a world they advocate, while hastening its irreversible mutation.

Strangers at home

Director Isabelle / Mohamed Wekstein / Ulad
France 
Runtime  1 hr 2 min 
Completion Date: Aug 2015

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'Strangers at home' deals with the problem of integration in the suburbs of Paris (France). The film calls on these young people from the second generation of immigrants, too often excluded from public discourse.

No One Misses Me!

Director Erik Lemke
Germany
Runtime 28 min 34 sec
Completion Date: May 2016

1ST TIME FILMMAKER

Since Evelin’s amputation of both legs, friends abandoned her. She is stuck in her apartment for years now, moving only between the kitchen, computer, TV and bed. Discovered old videotapes show her previous life as a man 25 years ago: the GDR no longer exists, but not everyone manages to gain a foothold in the unified Germany.

ACROSS ANTARCTICA

Director Stéphanie Gicquel, Jérémie Gicquel
France
Runtime 30 min
Completion Date: May 2016 

1ST TIME FILMMAKER

2045 km, 74 days, -50°C. From November 14, 2014 to January 27, 2015, Stéphanie Gicquel skied across Antarctica through the South Pole. An expedition she had imagined, planned and prepared for three years. This is notably the longest ski expedition for a woman in Antarctica without kiting. This 30 minute film is not only about adventure. It is mainly about the meaning of things, fear, freedom, fulfillment, and boldness. An invitation for everyone to live intensely, without fear nor regret. And a testimony of being one with the Antarctic landmass - similar as a frozen ocean located 3,000 meters high, with ice waves shaped by the wind. A sanctuary where nature is so powerful and strong against explorers who dare to come, but at the same time so fragile

ASSAULT TO FREEDOM

Director Marcos Moreno
U S A
Runtime  1 hr 19 min  
Completion Date: Mar 2016 

1ST TIME FILMMAKER

In 1963, after four years of the start of the Cuban revolution, three young men with approximately nineteen years of age, put together a risky plan and take action by assaulting and taking over a passenger boat which leads twenty people to freedom.

Herr Israel - Hans in Luck

Director Tom Kimmig
Germany
Runtime 59 min 30 sec 
Completion Date: May 2016

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Ambivalent and full of hope: How does Israel really work? This portrait of an almost 100-year-old man speaks for itself – and the identity of a young state whose development is still in progress and doesn't seem to stop concerning us.
Hoffnungsvoll ambivalent: Warum ist Israel, wie es ist? Hier spricht das Porträt eines fast 100 Jahre alten Mannes für sich - und für die Identität eines jungen Staates, dessen Entwicklung bis heute andauert und uns nicht loszulassen scheint

Tables of Istanbul

Director Zeynep Kilic
U S A
Runtime 58 min 23 sec
Completion Date: Apr 2016

1ST TIME FILMMAKER

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Tables of Istanbul captures the personal story of a sociologist, Turkish immigrant, and passionate cook exploring food cultures in Istanbul. The documentary investigates Turkish cuisine, Istanbul’s place within it, and food movements through conversations with chefs, restaurateurs, researchers, food writers, activists and families. The film starts in Alaska (USA), investigating how identity and food come together on a dinner table, and travels to Istanbul (Turkey) in search of answers.

Courage

Director Sebastião Braga
Brazil
Runtime  01:12:00
Completion Date: December 17, 2015

Through social programs, Felipe, a young Brazilian, was introduced in an early age to classical music becoming a dedicated cello student. During his studies he meets Diana Ligeti, a Romenian expat and music teacher at the renowned Paris Conservatorie. This encounter brings up young Diana's life, creating a parallel between her story and the student's efforts of becoming a professional musician. Two people who understand that better than talent, we need COURAGE.

People of Love and Rage

Director Stefano Casertano
Germany
Runtime  01:25:00
Completion Date: February 15, 2016

Opened in the early 1980s in the southern suburbs of Rome, “Corviale” is the largest residence building in Europe, hosting some 1,200 apartments and more than 8,000 people within a total length of one kilometer. Corviale is a public housing project inspired by Le Corbusier and the principles of the renaissance “Ideal City”, yet it failed “even before opening” and has always been plagued by intense criminality and lack of vision.
Resident friends Massimo, a former drug-addict and long-time convict; and Alessandro, an artist, decide to team up and set up an association for “handcraft and arts” to provide alternatives to youngsters and unemployed in the area. Their dream must face the limits of the environment, as well as the limits inside themselves, due to their harsh upbringing.

PAIR OF DUNCES

Director Ludovic Vieuille
France
Runtime  59:40
Completion Date: February 29, 2016

Sixty minutes. The time taken on average to complete my son's homework. The weeks, months and years follow the rhythm of this daily hour spent together. Fear of academic failure versus the thirst for knowledge. An hour, a struggle, a father-son bonding exercise

Memories of Warsaw

Director Robert Webster
Netherlands
Runtime  41:00
Completion Date: May 25, 2016

 
The Dutch painter Robert Webster graduated in 1967 from the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Through a cultural exchange agreement he then studied from 1967 till the end of 1969 at the Acadmy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.In 2015 he returned to Warsaw to search of his former sources of inspiration. In the film he tries to get the audience to see things from his perspective. He shows what he saw in Warsaw in 1967/69. The reason why Warsaw looked like it was, the atmosphere in the communist period, and how he has interpreted this as an artist in paintings, prints and drawings he has made in subsequant yaers ( 1967-2013)

All Love Schmidt

Director Lars Pape
Germany
Runtime  01:42:00
Completion Date: May 1, 2016

 
„AlleLiebenSchmidt“ (AllLoveSchmidt) is a documentary movie about a remarkable person, Bruno Schmidt, 51 years old and a passionate bicyclist, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – an un -curable disease. Bruno got the diagnosis ALS in December 2014 and has one remaining big dream: a bicycle tour through Germany to encourage others with the disease, and to drive the awareness for ALS. Every day, Bruno is faced with bringing home to his wife and daughter the mere fact what ALS will do to him; straight down the line, mercilessly, raw and emotional. Nevertheless, he always looks on the bright side of things, not least due to the fantastic people he encounters on his journey.

Good Thinking, Those Who've Tried to Halt Nuclear Weapons

Director Anthony Donovan
United States
Runtime  03:38:08
Completion Date: January 15, 2016

 
Feature Length documentary about those who've tried to halt nuclear weapons. For over 70 years humanities greatest minds and leaders around the world, including our scientists who knew best, have spoken clearly about the continued threat, the waste, the terrible cost and gravest danger of nuclear weapons. From Einstien to today. This is an attempt to recognize and honor them, connect with what they shared with us, and recognize that millions of citizens took the time in their lives to stand up, speak up for a better world, a deeply meaningful life for future generations. This work covers much archival footage, as well as current interviews with a wider spectrum of humanity than, simply put, the extremely dangerous narrow view of those who order, make and ready these inconcievable weapons in a secret world with a great portion of our public money, for profit, in the name of your security. With the U.S. Presidential candidates (Except Bernie) making public dangerous and uninformed comments about these weapons,
the general public needs much more information and a solid historical background. Good Thinking a comprehensive tool from which we can all move forward to a safer more secure world.

SIMPLE: EL CUERPO IMPORTA

Director DAVID LEON VEGA
 Spain
 Runtime  92 minutes
 Completion Date: June, 2016 

 
 Dance, an art that is intrinsic to humanity, and that fulfills us as human beings, is a mystery that could seduce any sensitive spirit. Observing it with the obsessive eyes of a lover who, by getting to know the object of his love, gets to know himself better, in an attempt to decipher her mysteries, I started to investigate, lockingmyself in for days to talk to my lover, discover her body, which it was three forms: Athletic, Picnic, andLeptosomatic, and each showed me a temper like serpent: Choleric, Sanguine, Melancholic and Lymphatic.

An essay on electoral fraud

Director Joao Ramos de Almeida
Portugal
Runtime 01:11:00
Completion Date:March 31, 2016
 
 The movie is the story of a book, told in the first person. The storyteller is invited by a friend to meet someone who wanted to denounce the biggest electoral fraud in the Portuguese History. This fraud took place in the local elections of Lisbon, Portugal, in 2001 and helped Durao Barroso to lead the new government, months before his promotion to Brussels. That person had written a book, but nobody understood it. He needed a ghost-writer. But, suddenly, when the author was supposed to meet his ghost-writer he was found dead. The ghost-writer becomes the author. And step by step the new author enters into another world, “bumping” into the black side of democracy. This movie is about his thoughts, about other cases in the west countries and about how fragile democracy can be.
 

The Moving Theatre

Director Ben Mallaby
United Kingdom
Runtime 50:00
Completion Date:May 2, 2016
 
 
War, Hope, Fortune & Love.
Sometimes it takes the eyes of others to make us realise just how extraordinary our own lives have been. The Moving Theatre presents the four life  changing journeys of real people who left everything they had in search of a better life.
Told through the power of theatre and film, this eature length documentary explores the universal human need for freedom; the freedom from what holds us back and the freedom to live our dreams.

Artists In Absentia

Director Marc Kornblatt
United States
Runtime 30:00
Completion Date:April 15, 2016
 
Shifting back and forth from behind bars to the world outside, this short documentary follows the work of volunteers who help inmates at a Wisconsin minimum-security prison mount a multi-media exhibition at the state capital's central library.

NOMA: FORGIVING APARTHEID

Director Sarah Townsend
United Kingdom
Runtime 40:00
Completion Date:November 30, 2015
 
 
During the 1970's, the apartheid regime in South Africa was at its height. Seven-year-old Noma Dumezweni only knew a life on the run from the police until one day, her mother chose to leave Noma's father and his life of activism for refuge in the UK. Fast-forward to 2014, Noma, now an award winning stage actress in London has been offered the role of a lifetime portraying a legendary South African psychologist famous for her interviews with convicted apartheid-fueled mass murderer Eugene De Kock. Noma gladly accepts the role but in doing so, plunges herself into a journey of self discovery as the play moves to South Africa and forces her to reconnect with her childhood, her present life and a father she has not seen in over 30 years.