Erhan Arik, a young Turkish photographer, grew up in a house where Armenians once lived, driven out by the massacres in 1915. He had never been interested in this episode of history, but when a voice in a dream starts to haunt him about that past, he decides to set out to meet Armenians, who live just across the border. In search of that voice, Erhan visits several families, who live not far away, a few kilometres from their original land, from where they were driven out by the genocide. This film tells the story of this quest, on the other side of the silence.

I first encountered Ivo at an kind space he ran in Sofia. His unapologetic presence what electric-unabashedly gay, brilliant, and wildly provocative. Kristina Nikolova (director)

Ivo Dimchev is on international acclaimed Bulgarian multidisciplinary artist, a theater maker, choreographer, visual artist, singer- songwriter known for his extreme and colorful mix of performance kind, dance, music, visual arts, and queer activism. Renowned for pushing creative boundaries and challenging societal norms, Dimchev's contemporary artistic projects are celebrated worldwide for their boldness and innovative approach.

Following the screening, Ivo will give an exclusive concert on the cinema stage.

Only on Earth is an immersive, visually striking film anchored in moments from a summer marred by extreme heat and drought, where inextinguishable wildfires rage for days. The film is deeply rooted in the mountainous landscapes of Southern Galicia, one of Europe’s most vulnerable forest fire zones. Kilometers of wind turbines extend across these lands as ghostly white behemoths cloaked in mountain mist.  Below them graze las bestas: the small, hardy European wild horses that have roamed these lands freely for centuries under the watch of local cowboys. They are indispensable when it comes to fire prevention as they keep down the flammable undergrowth. But the horses are becoming fewer and fewer in number, and some fear they may soon vanish entirely in the clash between human progress and nature. At the same time, the true cowboy lifestyle is becoming a thing of the past. The film takes on multiple perspectives. Extraordinary firefighter San, who specializes in forest fire analysis, a job taking him to the frontlines of the most dangerous fires; ten-year-old Pedro, an aspiring cowboy; Cristina, who lives a life close to nature, for better and for worse, as both a farmer and a firefighter; warm-hearted vet Eva, who works with horses, both wild and tame, and who’s also a genuine cowboy on par with the guys; and the animals, especially the horses, who are always returning our gaze when we look at them.

Everest Dark tells the epic journey of a professional Sherpa climber, who has the objective to honor the mountain gods by retrieving those who died while climbing Everest, and whose bodies are lost in its iced faces. Despite the risks and dangers posed by nature, he organizes an expedition that could be his last, while offering a rare local perspective on Everest and all the precautions a climber must take to face the tallest mountain of the world.

Chloe decides to leave Athens and travel to the other side of the country. On the way, she happens to meet a group of young people who are driving around Greece in a motorhome and helping people who live on the edge of poverty. Chloe is immediately taken by the group’s ideals and unconventional lifestyle and joins them. Travelling with the group, she discovers aspects of her country, and also of herself, that she previously did not know existed. She learns what it is like to care for others and to be cared for, to have a chosen family and how much you may have to sacrifice not to lose them. She learns the rituals of her new tribe, finds love, is disappointed, experiences fear, hunger, danger and freedom. Chloe’s journey on the frantic road of rebellion takes her over the threshold into true adulthood, and to the realisation that it only becomes less painful when you are not alone.

This documentary, spanning a decade of filming by director David Bingong, offers a firsthand perspective on the perilous journeys of young West African migrants aiming to reach Europe. The narrative centers on a group of young men in Morocco as they prepare to cross the heavily guarded border into Spain in 2015, a dream shared by many hoping to support their families back home.

In a North-Macedonian village called Kanatlar, Ayten and Erdoğan raise their family, balancing the ancient Bektashi-dervish doctrine with the challenges of modern life and economy. This tobacco-growing valley is home to a few hundred Turks of the Bektashi Sufi order, an 800-year-old branch of Islam that teaches progressive ideas, even by today’s standards. They believe everyone and everything is equal, which gives women freedom and power that many other Muslims find blasphemous. Ayten and Erdoğan love each other deeply, but this love is mostly shown through their work for the family. This hard-working couple shows gender equality blooming where you would least expect it – in a rural community of Muslims devoted to religion, family and tradition in one of the poorest regions of the Balkans.

With an essayistic-poetic approach, Generations of Images embarks on a search for traces through the profound transformation processes of Albanian history. In archives, forgotten places and memories of different generations, ruptures and continuities become visible, left behind by the transition from communist dictatorship to capitalist democracy. Through an ambiguous poem, interpreted both as a wake-up call for revolution and an authoritarian lullaby, the film delves into regime images and image regimes, bringing forth hidden narratives and depicting how deeply Albania’s history is inscribed into the texture of its present.

Landi is a father who secretly camps in the marshlands of Zapata, where he hunts crocodiles with his hands to feed his family. The radio reports hundreds of daily deaths from the pande-mic and strong social tensions in Cuba. On the coast, his wife Mercedes searches for charcoal to cook and takes care of their son, who suffers from severe autism. Days go by, and Mercedes becomes impatient. Landi should have returned by now, and there is no news of him. She fears something has happened to him, but she cannot say anything to avoid giving them away. He finally appears, carrying the food that enables them to survive, before having to return to the marsh. Their lives are a cycle, plagued by need and absence.

Massie, Addi, Lylybeth and Joy are four non-binary artists at a turning point in their careers on Brussels’ burgeoning drag scene. While this chosen family is close-knit and supportive, their blood family often has difficulty understanding their identity and their profession. Many truths and emotions remain unspoken.

Their shows, sometimes very funny, sometimes very dark, often both, are directly inspired by their daily struggles. The stage allows them to express their gender identities. It’s also their livelihood and the place where they draw the energy to force their way into our society.

As their performances become increasingly notable, a quest for identity and artistic recognition takes shape. These artists aspire to something essential: the need to embrace who you are and, above all, to be accepted for who you are.

Mothers talk about their experiences. What expectations are placed on them, and what are the personal and social challenges they face? From nuclear families and single parents to homosexual parents and motherhood through artificial insemination, everything is represented. Layer by layer, outdated and reversed role models and the breaking of social norms become visible. Motherhood between hard work and euphoria.

A brother and sister return home from the capital for Christmas. They are the "prodigal sons" who left the countryside but are now returning after a long absence to reunite with childhood friends and first loves. They hold a party. They drink heavily. Nothing is the same as before.

On the outskirts of Budapest, deep in the woods, stands a small, crumbling hut. Inside, two social outcasts have created an unlikely bond. Fanni, a 19-year-old transgender girl, and Laci, a 60-year-old homeless man, support each other as a makeshift father and daughter, building a fragile sense of home on the margins of Hungarian society. Life is harsh, but it is theirs.
This intimate coming-of-age documentary explores home, family, and acceptance while reflecting the struggles of Hungary’s LGBTQ community. Since 2020, government laws have banned gender changes on official documents and restricted access to LGBTQ content for minors, fueling fear, censorship, and hate. Created without state funding and supported only by private and foreign sources, the film stands as both a personal story and a quiet act of resistance.

“When I file a complaint against the former priest Olivier de Scitivaux, I compulsively pick up the camera. I've forgotten everything about my childhood, and my parents are entangled in denial. I didn't expect the procedure to take so long. Above all, I never thought I'd ask myself one day: what happened to my body? And who knew? ”

In a cinematic gesture in the first person, both intimate and political, This is My Body examines the micro-histories that make up rape culture, memory as an unfathomable drawer.
 

Twin Fences by Yana Osman is a quirky documentary that follows her journey through Russia, Ukraine and Afghanistan, with the focus on fences, exploring their meaning as both physical and metaphorical concepts. The film focuses on the PO – 2 fence, a concrete fence design that became a symbol of the Soviet era architecture and uses it as a starting point to examine how architecture divides and contains communities and nations. The film uses physical fences to depict the figurative ones created by history, war and ideology thus posing the question: “Who creates these fences?”