RISE AND SHINE CINEMA UG

Switzerland, Germany 2016, 84 min
by Susanne Regina Meures

Anoosh and Arash are at the centre of Tehran’s underground techno scene. Tired of hiding from the police and their stagnating career, they organize one last manic techno rave under dangerous circumstances in the desert. Back in Tehran they try their luck selling their illegally printed music album without permission. When Anoosh is arrested, there seems to be no hope left. But then they receive a phone call from the biggest techno festival in the world. Once landed in Switzerland, the haze of the instant euphoria evaporates quickly when the seriousness of the situation starts to dawn on them.

Germany 2016, 95 min
by Pia Lenz

Over the course of a year Pia Lenz followed the Syrian girl Ghofran, aged 11, and the Romanies-boy Djaner, aged 7, who came together with their families to Germany as refugees, in their search to find a place for themselves. The perspective of these children offers a clear and very moving view of this new cohabitation in Germany one year after the arrival of over a million refugees. The film asks the question: How can we give a homeland to those who most urgently need a future?

Netherlands, Germany 2016, 88 min
by Daniel Abma

Once a year, two plastic surgeons from Europe fly to Havana to perform surgery on five Cuban transgender persons. The surgeons are invited by Mariela Castro, daughter of the president and head of the new state program for transgender care. Castro organizes this as a modern completion of the socialist revolution. The state helps transgender people with therapy, hormones, surgery and a new identity.Is Cuba changing into a safe haven for trans people? For more than one year, filmmakers Daniel Abma and Alex Bakker follow the three main characters Odette, Juani and Malú and show how they deal with the reality of being transgender in Cuba. As new heroes of the revolution they still face religious intolerance, discrimination, sexism, poverty and often a life in prostitution.

2015, 74 min
by Imam Hasanov

Tapdyg has a dream of bringing a European dairy cow into his picturesque village in Azerbaijan to improve the conditions for his poor family. He decides to call the cow Madona. His passion unsettles the traditional community, the Old Men see a threat in having a foreign cow among them as they say its milk will be full of chemicals. Even his wife Vafa does not want to take care of such a strange breed. But Tapdyg is ready to risk it all and challenges the conservative mentality to open up and rethink the attitude.How do human beings handle change while remaining true to their own traditions? HOLY COW questions the prejudices against the unknown and how ready we are to accept a newcomer.74 min, 52min or 43min | HD | DCP | Blu-ray | 16:9 | original Azeri version with English subtitles or voice over

2024, 104 min
by Judith Beuth

LOVE ALONE CAN'T MAKE A CHILD follows the emotional journey of two women, Maria (37) and Christiane (44), who like many couples share a dream of having a child of their own. But physical limitations, medical issues and a discriminatory system that raises legal matters make this a far more challenging undertaking. Filmed over many years with extreme candor, capturing moments both serious and humorous, it is an intimate exploration of the balance of dependency in a relationship under tremendous stress, where the limits of how far they are willing to go to achieve their dream are continually challenged.

Spain, Germany 2023, 95 min
by Paloma Zapata

In the 1960s, a young Spanish flamenco dancer named Antonia Singla captivated audiences with her strikingly passionate performances. Having lost her hearing at a young age, La Singla rose to fame with her commanding presence through a combination of her powerful gaze and thunderous movement. However, just at the height of her fame, she seemingly disappeared and decades later has been all but forgotten. When a young woman in Seville comes across La Singla’s story, a bigger picture starts to be unveiled. Through research, interviews and captivating archival footage, she starts to piece together the legend of La Singla. Through the beauty of her performances and the heartbreak of her story, La Singla celebrates and preserves the legacy of one of the greatest Flamenco dancers of all time. [30 Hot Docs, Gabor Pertic]

2023, 95 min
by Thorsten Ernst, Tobias Lickes

Four athletes from various countries live with different intellectual disabilities. Timo from Germany plays tennis with his sister. Toivo and Roope are from Finland and sail together as a unified team. Uyangaa from Mongolia wants to participate with her volleyball team, and Mary Stella from Kenya is competing to qualify with her football team.Being 'special' seems less of a challenge since they also have to cope with the troubles of growing up, finding true friendship, and figuring out what life has in store for them.All four have one common goal: participating in the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin in 2023.

Germany 2022, 105 min
by Markus Weinberg, Steffi Rostoski

The multiple world record holder and extreme athlete Jonas Deichmann plunges into his next adventure – the most spectacular and longest triathlon ever attempted, from Munich to Munich around the world. The journey – a 120 times Ironman distance – will take him to his physical and mental limits. 460km swimming, 21.000km on bike, 5.000KM running. Jonas begins his journey in the midst of the pandemic: travel routes are closed overnight; border crossings become a feat of strength, presenting him with unforeseen challenges. On top of that, he grapples with the impact of humanity's ecological footprint in nature and the way climate change affects our planet earth. [35 IDFA Docs for Sale]

Austria 2020, 93 min
by Iva Svarcová, Malte Ludin

Germany, Switzerland 2019, 118 min
by Marcus Vetter

Every year, leading figures from international politics, business and academia gather in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. For the forum’s 81-year-old founder Klaus Schwab, it’s all about improving the world through dialogue. But how are you going to challenge the status quo if you keep on inviting exclusively establishment figures?Marcus Vetter was the first filmmaker to be granted behind-the-scenes access. The impressive procession of princes, presidents and other guests—predominantly male and all fluent in English—confirms our preconceptions about this private initiative being an opportunity for the super-rich to hang out together and make business deals, while masquerading as do-gooders. But there’s also the occasional critical voice. Dutch journalist Rutger Bregman raises the subject of tax avoidance in front of an audience packed with company heads. And during an informal gathering, Jennifer Morgan, CEO of Greenpeace International, goes up to her new arch enemy, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil.And when 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg shows up, it starts looking like Schwab really is doing his best to drag the forum into a new era. The question remains: What is dialogue without action? (IDFA)“Vetter strikes an admirable balance between more serious diplomatic moments and quirkier interactions”Amber Wilkinson (Screendaily)

Germany 2017, 87 min
by Monika Hielscher, Matthias Heeder

To predict a future crime scene and to prevent a murder seems like something from a sci-fi movie. It is, but it’s also real – and happening right now. To make this possible, powerful computers and omnipresent cameras capture data from all sources, which is then evaluated and analyzed with the help of algorithms. At the same time, we, the citizens are transformed into carriers of recorded data – our every move, message and purchase tracked and mapped. Ratings of how likely we are to commit a crime are attached to our personae. Computers spit out lists of tomorrow´s criminals. But what if it´s you who ends up on this list? What if the data is wrong? Or biased?? How can we be guilty of things we haven’t done?PRE-CRIME travels to Chicago, London, Paris, Berlin, Munich and other places to show predictive policing techniques in action, to investigate their opportunities and dangers and to meet people who use them and those who have been victims of them. Who is – and who isn’t – protected by the algorithm?

Denmark, Germany, Syria 2017, 103 min
by Feras Fayyad, Steen Johannessen

The White Helmets are struggling to keep it together. Aleppo is close to collapsing, the last months of the city’s life, as we know it. People are constantly put their life at risk. How do they deal with their fear of death? After 5 years of War in Syria the remaining 350.000 citizens of Aleppo are preparing themselves for a siege. Through the volunteers from The White Helmets we experience daily life, death and struggle in the streets of Aleppo. Khalid, Subhi and Mahmoud are founding members of The White Helmets and are the first to enter the destroyed buildings, scouring through the rubble in search of bodies and signs of life. They have chosen to stay in Aleppo in order to save their people during the never ending siege. A lot of lives including many small children and infants are lost during the bombings. But every day is also a dilemma and a conflict for the men – should they stay and risk death themselves or should they try and get out and save their own families like so many others? The film is collaboration with Aleppo Media Center which contains an extraordinary story of real heroes in a massive human tragedy played out right in front of a numb international society.