14:00 Water.Earth.Fire – International premiere

Documentary, Ukraine, 2023, 43 min, Ukrainian with English subtitles

Directed and written by Natalia Shevchenko, Produced by Yevhen Tkach*

Followed by discussion with the filmmakers and research experts about the ecological consequences of war and scientific work in war zones.

The documentary shows the impact of the current war on the environment in Ukraine and how scientists from different disciplines are working to document what is happening in order to assess the consequences for ecosystems. The film was made under the difficult conditions of martial law and restricted access to mined areas.

*Natalia Shevchenko is an environmentalist and director of environmental documentaries. Yevhen Tkach is a producer of non-feature films at EXPL Films, a studio of popular science and educational films.

15:30 Sonne unter Tage

Documentary, Germany, 2022, 39 min, German

Director and screenplay: Alex Gerbaulet, Mareike Bernien*

Followed by a discussion with Alex Gerbaulet and research experts on how to deal with the future past of our environment.

Until 1990, the Soviet joint stock company SAG Wismut mined uranium in Saxony and Thuringia in the GDR for the USSR’s nuclear weapons program, until the GDR environmental movement took notice. The film follows this trail through today’s landscapes, which are marked by mining and remediation, and understands the ground as an archive. Sonne unter Tage is a deep drilling into space and time and explores the element uranium for its material, metaphorical and geopolitical rearrangements.

*Alex Gerbaulet lives and works as an artist, filmmaker and producer in Berlin. Since 2014 she is part of the production platform pong film. In her artistic work she explores, among other things, the representability of reality and memory.For her films she was awarded, among others, the prize for the best contribution at the German Competition of the Int. Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen and the Prize of the German Film Critics. Artist and filmmaker Mareike Bernien takes a media-archaeological approach in her work, questioning ideological certainties of representation, their material-technological preconditions and historical continuities. Sonne unter Tage, which premiered at the Berlinale, won awards at the Duisburg Film Week, among others.

17:00 Electric Malady – Swiss premiere

Documentary, Sweden, 2022, 84 min, Swedish / English subtitles

Director: Marie Lidén*

Followed by a discussion with Marie Lidén and research experts about society’s approach to illness and making it audible and visible as a potential of film.

Under a hood made of fabric laced with copper wires, we meet William in a remote cabin in Sweden. For ten years, he has been fighting a disease that defies scientific detection: Hyperelectrosensitivity. People who experience discomfort from electronic radiation that makes it impossible for them to continue living in their digitalized everyday lives. The powerful film depicts the experiences of a young man and his emotional world in dealing with the disease, the support of a concerned family, but also the inadequacies of a health care system in dealing with an invisible disease whose symptoms are nevertheless sheer reality for those affected.

*Marie Lidén is a Swedish-born, Glasgow-based artist and filmmaker. She focuses on documentaries, animation and sound design. Her films range from BAFTA-nominated animated films to television documentaries. Electric Malady is her first feature length film.

20:00 Alis

Documentary, Colombia / Chile / Romania, 2022, 84 min, Spanish with English subtitles

Directors: Clare Weiskopf, Nicolás van Hemelryck*

Followed by a discussion with Clare Weiskopf and Nicolás van Hemelryck and experts about fiction as a research method and its potential for the development of social counter-designs.

A group of young women tell the story of Alis. They live in a Colombian home and describe their roommate. Alis, like them, has lived on the streets of Bogotá and becomes a stand-in for the young women themselves. In the imagination, she becomes a reflection of past fears, lost people, and their own future aspirations. This special documentary format allows empathetic access to the women’s lives and shows the power of fiction to break out of social role models.

*Clare Weiskopf is a filmmaker and journalist who has been working on social issues ranging from armed conflict in Colombia to sexual violence as a weapon of war to the global spread of cumbia music for over twenty years. Her film Amazona was nominated for the Goya and Fenix Awards. Nicolás van Hemelryck is an award-winning filmmaker with a background as an architect and photographer. Together with Clare Weiskopf, he founded the production company Casatarantula. Their film ALIS won the Crystal Bear and the Teddy Award at the Berlinale.

22:00 Party

All interested are invited to join us in the REX Bar to celebrate, discuss and dance.

14:30 The Seeds of Vandana Shiva

Documentary, India/USA/Canada/Australia/Switzerland, 2021, 81 min, English/German

Director: Camilla Becket, Jeff Becket*

Followed by a discussion with protagonist Vandana Shiva and research experts on social movements and food justice.

Vandana Shiva is one of the most important activists of our time. For four decades she has campaigned for local and organic agriculture and the free availability of seeds. She fights against powerful corporations that dominate agriculture through the sale of pesticides and genetically modified seeds, inspiring an entire global movement for food justice.

*The directing team founded Becket Films to encourage people to advocate for a healthy environment and social justice through film. They have produced more than 15 documentaries, many of which have won awards, including Sons of Africa.

17:00 Short Film Block

70 min, various languages with English subtitles

In this year’s short film program, short cinematic works of various genres will be shown and discussed with the filmmakers. The films negotiate, for example, the handling of covid measures among HIV-infected youth in Zimbabwe, automobility and the consequences for the ecosystem, as well as insights into the many unknowns of the red planet Mars.

19:00 Cinema Sabaya

Drama, Israel/Belgium, 2021, 92 min, Hebrew/Arabic with English subtitles

Directed and written by Orit Fouks Rotem.*

Followed by a discussion with the leading actress Dana Ivgy and research experts about social segregation and ways to overcome it.

“Why do we all have to speak Hebrew?” asks the youngest participant in a film workshop for four Jewish and four Arab women. Guided by Rona, a young filmmaker from Tel Aviv, they learn to document their everyday world on film in weekly meetings at a community center. Their beliefs and prejudices are questioned, and by filming together, the women’s lives, which are otherwise strongly separated from each other in everyday life, become connected.

*Orit Fouks Rotem’s first feature film is inspired by her own experiences as a teacher. The film won five Ophir Awards and was Israel’s submission for the Academy Award for Best Director. It won the Best Director Award at this year’s Global Science Film Festival in Zurich.
The lead actress, Dana Ivgy, is an award-winning Israeli actress who has appeared in films such as Jaffa, Broken Wings and Zero Motivation.

21:00 Party

All interested are invited to join us in the REX Bar to celebrate, discuss and dance.