De Cinema, Antwerpen

A slideshow records the infatuation of two trans men over a one-year period. The creators collect photographs of real events: their first kiss, meeting each other's parents, a staged wedding, a medical procedure, and the accompanying recovery. The images are, at times, reminiscent of Nan Goldin’s work: raw, fragile, and exceptionally intimate.

The work of French activist, novelist, and essayist Jean Genet was considered controversial in the forties and fifties, because of its explicit homosexuality. Genet made only one film in his entire life, but Un Chant d’amour went on to inspire both David Bowie and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 

The Seasons shows humanity trapped in a cruel but stunningly beautiful existence. Vast cloudscapes speedily glide across the Armenian highlands: to the melodious rhythm of camerawork, editing, and a lyrical score, Artavazd Peleshian elevates this into a full-blown symphony of life.

In deze bijzondere korte documentaire wordt in een kleine bakkerij alles in gereedheid gebracht voor het maken van brood. We volgen dit alledaagse proces stap voor stap, inclusief het wachten. Net zoals in tal van Alexandre Koberidzes kortfilms toont hij in Linger on Some Pale Blue Dot bijna woordeloos hoe je met verwondering naar de wereld kan kijken.

Ostensibly filmed to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War, production of Kyiv Frescos was discontinued by Russia’s Goskino. It now exists only a series of screen tests that Sergei Parajanov pieced together. But even in its abbreviated form, the film is impressive.

With her films, pioneering journalist Jocelyne Saab gives exiled warriors and displaced people a voice. Her work is poetic but also has a strong awareness of her subjective role as a documentary filmmaker.

Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman, who passed away in 2015, has gained worldwide fame. Nothing is quiet about her first short film, Blow Up My Town (1968). Her character is abrupt, energetic, and explosive. Something is teetering. This short film is a visionary prelude to the filmmaker’s oeuvre and life.

Time travel, still images, a past, present and future and the aftermath of World War III. The tale of a man, a slave, sent back and forth, in and out of time, to find a solution to the world’s fate.

A portrait of a leper colony in the north of Iran, where 'ugliness' is juxtaposed with religion and gratitude.

Eén maal per jaar mogen de voormalige inwoners van Ma’loul terug keren naar hun door Israël bezette dorp. Tijdens de traditionele picknick documenteert de Palestijns-Belgische filmmaker Michel Khleifi hoe de geschiedenis van deze plek in de herinneringen van de oude generaties en in de verbeelding van hun kinderen verder leeft.

Large parts of Goma were covered with lava after the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano in January 2002. Today kids live in the ruins on the lava. They sell paper hankies to grown-ups in the city, and lava rocks to construction builders.

Surrounded by the sound of nocturnal animals, a girl falls into a deep sleep. Gradually we slip into her dream that takes us on a cosmic journey through the meadows of Erpe-Mere.