seriousFilm

Branko dwells on the fringes of Belgrade society. Isolated and unable to sleep, he speaks to no-one. His only obsession seems to be his younger brother, whose muddy shoes, bloodstained sheets, and murky whereabouts unsettle him. As paranoia sets in, Branko realises his brother isn't the strange one. He is.

What would you do if you could fly for one day? As 15 neighbors answer this question, we fly with them. Along the way, it becomes clear that fantasy is more necessary for some than others.

The 12-year-old black girl Ella is deprived of safety, opportunities, and freedom. Ella discovers that she has lived multiple lives in Ghana, Curaçao and Surinam as the immortal, extraterrestrial Xoxo. In this magical realistic feature with elements of science fiction, a paralleled world is created from where the aliens observe human thoughts and feelings.

The evocative narration of Charlotte Rampling guides a descent into the labyrinthine world of Chris Marker, the best-known author of unknown films, who spent a lifetime concealing himself behind a veil of pseudonyms and images of cats. Moving through a constellation of personal documents and film fragments, an archivist attempts to decode the man through the material traces he left behind.

ZAAD tells the autobiographical story of Dries Meddens. After the death of his mother, the care for Dries' bipolar father falls on his plate. He discovers how crudely and ruthlessly society and psychiatry treat patients. His father eventually dies in solitary confinement. While emptying his parent’s home, Dries discovers an old letter from his grandfather. The man appears to have led a busy, productive life. He is the founder of an internationally renowned seed breeding company and still has time to paint, write diaries and conduct intensive correspondence. Dries finds similarities between his grandfather, his father and himself. Slowly the fear grows that his father's psychiatric illness might be hereditary. Strolling through the family’s film and photo archives, with dramatic and sometimes hilarious finds, Dries tries to find answers. He also consults a psychiatrist. Together the consultations and reviewing of his archival material help Dries look at bipolarity with new eyes.

A football hooligan feels unconditional love for his club. However, being gay, he has to hide his identity in order to survive in this world that is so precious to him.

A journey at high altitude seen through the eyes of three mysteriously connected hikers. After their coincidental meeting we follow these three on their personal odysseys. The levels of concentration they exhibit in trying to avoid mistakes makes their experience of the overwhelming landscape even more intense.

Who am I? What is real? How to live in the madness of the world? These are questions posed by six people who have had psychosis and speak openly about their experience. They have in common that they think deeply, and that at particular moments in their lives, they were under intense personal and social pressure.

Set in a confined world outside time, East of Noon is the fable of prodigy Abdo (19) who uses music to rebel against his elders: showman Shawky (70), an eccentric showman who rules with a mix of performance and fear, and storyteller Jalala (75), who provides relief with stories of the Sea, which no one else has seen. East of Noon is a satire on the inner workings of an ailing autocracy and its inherent vulnerability to youth’s unchained vision of a better world.

Linguist-philologist Mark Janse discovers speakers of the Cappadocian language – previously assumed extinct, linguists worldwide are exhilarated at the discovery, but Janse realizes the rediscovered language is doomed to die anyway.

Cyprus, July 1974. President Makarios has been ousted in a coup, and a Turkish invasion is imminent. A pilot recounts the very last flight to Nicosia Airport: should he land or not?

Iggy Pop reads and recites Michel Houellebecq’s manifesto. The documentary features real people from Houellebecq’s life with the text based on their life stories.

An obsessive collector (Erik Fens) creates his own scrapbook world. The film presents analyses of the collecting impulse based on Freudian theorie and Buddhism.

In FEAST, perpetrators, victims and their spectators become involved in a dramatic reconstruction of the Groningen HIV case. The film tells a story about power and surrender, the reversibility of truth and the desire to come home somewhere.

We follow several cleaners in their daily battle against dirt. Floors are mopped, toilets scrubbed, a car washed, windows polished and a lawn cleared of leaves. These are everyday, unavoidable and universal forms of cleaning that play an obvious role in everyone’s life. Only here, the setting is highly specific: the car turns out to be a hearse, the lawn a cemetery and the interiors those of a crematorium. The everyday tragedy of cleaning is thus placed in relation to the fundamental tragedy of death.

Ferry Bertholet has a fascination for the Far East. Over the past 30 years he was specialized in collecting Chinese erotic art, which is no longer to be found in China itself, where it has been banned and destroyed. As a result, Bertholet now owns a big part of this cultural heritage. His collection is one of the largest in the world. It has also dominated his life: day and night, all he thinks about is his collection. At odds with this is the realization that his collection is basically just things. This is why he is now contemplating the idea of selling everything. If all goes well, this cultural heritage will return to its country of origin. Will it be a regret or a relief?

Ever since she found out her husband Evert was having an affair, Foekje has been living in a hotel she cannot afford. In desperate need of money, she has a plan. The area surrounding her mother’s house is being bought by the government for large sums of money, and Foekje can collect this money by having her mother Nel sign a power of attorney. Unfortunately, Nel is a doomsday prepper who lives in her basement in anticipation of the apocalypse.

Left behind at an isolated boarding school, young Will quickly becomes a target for bullying. Only the friendship from a small bird brings him solace. But as the bullying worsens, Will’s means of escaping the world grow darker.

The solidarity of the North Kenyan community and the way they align with nature’s rhythm moved us. In this honest film you can see the major changes brought about by the transition from darkness to electric light. We Westerners take it all for granted and don't know it any other way, but in Kenya the "death of darkness" brings lots of expectations, hope and struggles.