essentia(2022)

Jodorowsky's Dune(en)

In 1974, Chilean-French director Alejandro Jodorowsky embarked on the quixotic project of adapting Frank Herbert's influential novel Dune (1969) for the big screen. After investing two years, and millions of dollars, the gigantic project ended in failure; but the artists Jodorowsky brought together to carry it out continued to work together, and ended up laying the foundations for modern science fiction cinema.

The Shift(en)

Following a tense encounter with a mysterious stranger with otherworldly powers, a man finds himself banished to a parallel, tyrannical Earth, where he fights to get back to the woman he loves.

Side by Side(en)

Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Keanu Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.

The Naked City(en)

After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.

Cameraperson(en)

As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.

Stop Making Sense(en)

A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.

Naqoyqatsi(en)

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Samsara(en)

Filmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.

Hitchcock/Truffaut(en)

Filmmakers discuss the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock and the book “Hitchcock/Truffaut” (“Le cinéma selon Hitchcock”), written by François Truffaut and published in 1966.

A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate(en)

When Marie St. Clair believes she has been jilted by her artist fiance Jean, she decides to leave for Paris on her own. After spending a year in the city as a mistress of the wealthy Pierre Revel, she is reunited with Jean by chance. This leaves her with the choice between a glamorous life in Paris, and the true love she left behind.

Son of Rambow(en)

Will is looking for an escape from his family when he encounters Lee, the school bully. Armed with a video camera and a copy of Rambo, Lee plans to make his own action-packed video epic.

I Believe in Unicorns(en)

Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.

Capturing Avatar(en)

Capturing Avatar is a feature length behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Avatar. It uses footage from the film's development, as well as stock footage from as far back as the production of Titanic in 1995. Also included are numerous interviews with cast, artists, and other crew members. The documentary was released as a bonus feature on the extended collector's edition of Avatar.

Why Worry?(en)

A hypochondriac vacations in the tropics for the fresh air - and finds himself in the middle of a revolution instead.

Being James Bond(en)

Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

I Can't Think Straight(en)

Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her elaborate Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend. Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. But Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made for her and escapes back to Jordan, while Leyla tries to move on with her new-found life, to the shock of her tradition-loving parents. As Tala's wedding day approaches, simmering tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself.

To Be Takei(en)

Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.

Back in Time(en)

Cast, crew and fans explore the 'Back to the Future' time-travel trilogy's resonance throughout our culture—30 years after Marty McFly went back in time.

Mr. Morgan's Last Love(en)

A widowed professor living in Paris develops a special relationship with a younger French woman.

Watching the Detectives(en)

Neil, a self-proclaimed film geek and owner of Gumshoe video, has always been content to live vicariously through his favorite films noir. But when he meets Violet, a real-life femme fatale, his mundane world gets turned upside down and the line between reality and the movies quickly begins to blur.

Shapeless Tracking(es)

Inside a computer a space-time is revealed in which image and sound become numbers and motion manifests as rhythm, flow and chaos. This tracking and integration experiment removes the superficial identity of video to detect kinetic disturbances in everyday environment.

Bosco(fr)

Three filmmakers bring back images of the forest. They are reworked and destructured with the means of the photochemical laboratory. BOSCO is a visual breakthrough punctuated by a contrasted and hypnotic black and white.

The Thomas Henry Experience(en)

A vlogger whose life is seemingly controlled by an unknown presence begins to spiral as he falls further into surrealism and imaginary worlds.

Paranoid Park(en)

A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".

Time Traveling Through Time(en)

A wannabe film director becomes embroiled in a battle against the laws of time and space when his attempts to recreate the iconic black and white, photograph-only, time travel film, La Jetée, spiral out of control.

La Chinoise(fr)

A small group of French students are studying Mao, trying to find out their position in the world and how to change the world to a Maoistic community using terrorism.

Inland Empire(en)

When actress Nikki Grace gets the lead role in a cursed film, her world becomes more and more surreal, blending realities and ideas of infidelity, reincarnation, and supernatural forces.

Wounded Edges(de)

In July 2022, a forest fire broke out on Monte Gambarogno in Ticino, Switzerland. Wound Edges is my emotional response to this landscape, filmed on 16mm and hand-developed with the forest’s ashes. Each frame carries physical traces of the land’s memory, blending destruction with resilience. The soundscape—field recordings, burned wood, contact microphones on trees, and the presence of fire—echoes the forest’s wounds. A reflection on human impact, impermanence, and the haunting beauty of transformation.

Fine(es)

After a period of time where her hearing begins to overtake her sight, Casandra searches for the cause of her problem, isolating herself from society. She starts having visions that remind her of the past and promise an apocalyptic future.

Friend of the World(en)

After a catastrophic global war, a young filmmaker awakens in the carnage and seeks refuge in the only other survivor: an eccentric, ideologically opposed figure of the United States military. Together, they brave the toxic landscape in search of safety... and answers.

The Brown Bunny(en)

Bud Clay races motorcycles in the 250cc Formula II class of road racing. After a race in New Hampshire, he has five days to get to his next race in California. During his road trip, he is haunted by memories of the last time he saw Daisy, his true love.

Notre Musique(fr)

A three-chapter (Hell, Purgatory and Paradise) meditation on the city of Sarajevo in the wake of the Bosnian war, on Palestine and Israel, and on war itself.

Dream of the Wild Horses(fr)

The horses in Denys Colomb Daunant’s dream poem are the white beasts of the marshlands of the Camargue in South West France. Daunant was haunted by these creatures. His obsession was first visualized when he wrote the autobiographical script for Albert Lamorisse’s award-winning 1953 film White Mane. In this short the beauty of the horses is captured with a variety of film techniques and by Jacques Lasry’s beautiful electronic score.

Anne'ye(tr)

Joanie(en)

When a girl takes up acting classes to find a semblance of self, she soon finds out that she has more within her than previously thought.

Mid/Evil Times(en)

In the near future, criminals are forced to act in art movies instead of going to jail. Ten years later, a group of theatre students attempt to recreate one of these films.

overthere(xx)

For about a dozen years, Lizama has traveled to southern Chile during the summer, mainly between the cities of Valdivia and Osorno. Years of observing birds and their collective movements, trees and their swaying, the sea and its rhythm, the rain and its whisper, the mist that turns into fog and the boats that shatter the calm. Memories and lessons embedded in cinematic time, of someone who yesterday embarked on the journey as a stranger and today does so to reach the family home. Starting from a recognizable world, we enter a more dazzling and abstract one, playing with the pixels in the frame. Recorded and (mostly) edited on a cell phone.

REBIRTH(en)

After tragedy strikes a bustling London neighbourhood, disarray ensues, and our hero becomes lost to their pain. A cherub-like spectre soon appears, embodying the change the community desperately craves. All bear witness as winds of hope and unity take shape and the seeds are sown for their growth out of grief

AGGRO DR1FT(en)

In the seedy domain of Miami’s criminal underbelly, a seasoned hitman embarks on the relentless pursuit of his next target. As shot entirely through thermal lens, he navigates a twisted world where violence and madness reign supreme. Tensions unravel, leading to a psychedelic journey that blurs the lines between predator and prey.

Electroma(xx)

Two robots embark on a quest to become human.