Category: 2023 ARFF Berlin

Original Film Title: Abracadabra

Director’s Name: Dávid Géczy, Botond Kelle

Writer’s Name: Botond Kelle

Producer: Levente B Málnay

Country of Origin: Hungary

Country of Filming: Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia

Language: Czech, English, Hungarian

Runtime: 48 minutes

Film Description:

Abracadabra introduces viewers to different branches within the adventure-packed history of magic. We can get a unique insight to the mystery of stage illusions, theatrical pickpocketing, mentalism, escapology, sleight of hand and modern magic. Many stories are recalled: how Rodolfo stole the ties of unsuspecting spectators on stage; how Uri Geller could bend spoons and how Houdini escaped from chains.

Original Film Title: 90分钟纪录片《屋脊的慧眼》

Director’s Name: Zhe Tian

Writer’s Name: Wenhua Cui

Producer: Guangdong Education Publishing House

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese, English

Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes

Film Description:

EYES OF WISDOM IN TIBET tells two stories about “wisdom eyes” on the roof of the world in a double line narrative way. One story is about the arduous process of the world’s leading edge submillimeter telescope coming a long way from the Alps and settling on Yangbajing Observatory in Tibet. Another is about the profound influence and application of the unique Tibetan traditional astronomical calendar in the folk. With this strong contrast, the documentary shows the blend of modern and ancient, the harmonious coexistence of front-line science and traditional national civilization.
Focusing on the content of science and technology and the extension of its social and cultural relationship, the documentary have made 11-year-long video records of the stories of people Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and major events in Chinese astronomy by using the methods of field investigation and ethnography, which perfectly interprets the application and value of the perspective of physical anthropology and science anthropology in documentaries.

Original Film Titlel: Longing for the Soul; A Quest for Rumi

Director’s Name: Aryana Farshad

Writer’s Name: Aryana Farshad

Producer: Aryana Farshad

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: Afghanistan, Turkey, United States

Language: English, Persian

Runtime: 1 hour 13 minutes

Film Description:

Longing for the Soul, A Quest for Rumi, a full-length documentary film, will take the viewers on a mesmerizing journey through the lands of ancient Persia, to modern days Afghanistan, Turkey and United States, to tell the story of a mystic man, Molana Jalal-El-Din Rumi, who’s message of love and peace has been passed on for centuries.

Rumi, departed from the world in 1273, late in the day of December 17. To his followers, this date is known as Sheb-Urs or the Wedding Night. At his funeral, people of all religions gather to celebrate his passing to the realm of god. Rumi reveals mysteries of the universe, in language of poetry and mysticism unfolding in the realm of science in the 21st Century?

Original Film Title: La Perouse

Director’s Name: Patrick Matijevic

Country of Origin: Australia

Country of Filming: Australia

Language: English, French

Runtime: 7 minutes 12 seconds

Film Description:

A short documentary about an 18th century explorer who spent a large part of his life at sea.

Original Film Title: Unstoppable – Inside the mind of the extreme triathlete

Director’s Name: Ben Hull

Producer: Greg Whyte

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English

Runtime: 49 minutes 28 seconds

Film Description:

The secret of success in endurance challenges goes beyond the physical to become a battle that is fought and won in the mind.

Developing the right mindset is not a chance event, preparation and planning are central to achieving what we at first consider impossible.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE is one of the worlds leading sports scientists, and endurance experts. As a seasoned endurance specialist, Greg provides an insight into the mental strategies he uses to develop the mindset of success, whilst taking on an extreme solo challenge that goes beyond performance and becomes a battle for survival. 

Through telling this incredible story, during an unprecedented time in history, this film provides anyone facing a major challenge, the mental tools to overcome adversity, and create the belief that with the right mindset, we can all become ‘Unstoppable’.

Original Film Title: Hothat: Friendship Is Music

Director’s Name: Ilajar Islam, Arafat Kazi

Writer’s Name: Arafat Kazi

Producer: Arafat Kazi

Country of Origin: Bangladesh

Country of Filming: Bangladesh

Language: Bengali

Runtime: 1 hour 6 minutes 44 seconds

Film Description:

Bangladeshi drummer Arafat Kazi gathers a group of musicians–ranging from rock stars to inexperienced teenagers–to write, record, perform, and film an album from scratch in five days. 

Original Film Title: Panting Outside the Lines

Director’s Name: Maxwell Joseph

Producer: Maxwell Joseph

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: Bhutan

Language: English, Other

Runtime: 1 hour 23 minutes 7 seconds

Film Description:

Painting Outside the Lines follows Gyempo, Tin Tin, Asha Kama, and the pioneering contemporary artists of Bhutan as they navigate the age-old questions of life, family, meaning, and art in a country that is finding its way through the turbulent pressures of Westernization and modernity.

Original Film Title: SONJA

Director’s Name: Sanela Prašović – Gadžo

Writer’s Name: Arijana Saračević – Helać

Producer: Nehrudin Gadžo

Country of Origin: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Country of Filming: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Language: Bosnian

Runtime: 1 hour

Film Description:

In the documentary film “Sonja”, we witness the struggle of one man to survive in the camp. Prisoner Haris Hastor describes the days spent in captivity, torture, mistreatment, facing death, struggle, fear, powerlessness and finally escape. 
Haris Hastor will tell the story of the struggle for bare life, about hopes and fears, and about the life he lives today. 
During the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the siege of Sarajevo, Serbian paramilitary forces as well as military formations of the RS Army committed numerous crimes against the civilian population. 
Haris Hastor was 21 years old when he was captured and taken to the Vogošća camp. The days of torture he spent in the camp still goes trough his mind. This is documentary about his survival. 
In the „Sonja“ and the „Bunker“ camp, many citizens of Vogošća were detained, women were raped and some were executed after being raped, and the detained men were tortured, mistreated, raped and many never got to experience freedom. 

Original Film Title: Zen Brownie

Director’s Name: Alison Bartlett

Writer’s Name: Alison Bartlett

Producer: Alison Bartlett, Michael Pirson

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 12 minutes 52 seconds

Film Description:

What does the Big Lebowski, Ben and Jerry’s Brand, Brownies and Monks have in common? Narrated by Oscar WINNER Jeff Bridges, ZEN BROWNIE tells the tale of Buddhist Monks and a local Bakery, in Yonkers, NY, and how leading with inclusivity, kindness, and compassion has created a well-known profitable business in Greyston Bakery. Emmy Nominated & Award-Winning Actress/Writer/Director Alison Bartlett in partnership with Professor Michael Pirson (Stoner Chair for Global Sustainability – Fordham University) delve into the Humanistic Model Management and the philosophy behind and applying it to real world business through Open Hiring. 

Eat a Brownie, Change a Life 

Original Film Title: Кислород

Director’s Name: Vitaly Lazo, Olga Borodina

Writer’s Name: Olga Borodina

Producer: Rafael Minasbekyan, Vadim Vereshagin, Vitaly Lazo

Country of Origin: Russian Federation

Country of Filming: Pakistan, Russian Federation

Language: English, Russian

Runtime: 3 hours 43 minutes

Film Description:

Documentary drama — a testament to the unprecedented courage of two climbers who, risking their lives at an altitude of almost 8000 meters above sea level, are trying to save the famous Korean climber Kim Hong Bin from the ice abyss.

Members of several expeditions, returning from the summit, passed by the man in distress. All of them refused to help, citing fatigue and oxygen starvation.

In international mountaineering it is considered that at an altitude of about 8000 meters, the laws of morality cease to operate. If the situation is close to critical, you only need to save your life. Such are the laws of high mountains and commercial ascents. But the heroes of the film actually prove that moral qualities, nobility and courage do not depend on height, oxygen and a fear for one’s own life.