The footage of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein crawling out of a hole in the ground in 2003 is iconic. Now, 20 years later, the man who dug that hole tells the fantastical story of how he, an ordinary farmer, hid the deposed president beneath a flowerbed in his garden for eight months. On camera, he discusses the day his house was selected as a hideaway for this wanted man, hunted by 150,000 US soldiers.

The Iraqi farmer had no choice but to assume the role of presidential hairdresser, physician, and bodyguard—and something akin to a friendship seems to have grown between them as they ate together and helped wash each other’s backs. His story is richly illustrated with re-enacted scenes interspersed with clips from news reports of the time.

The farmer had no plans to violate his duty as a host, even when the US offered a reward of $25 million. He talks in detail about how this huge secret was able to remain hidden for so long.

Egyptian documentary maker Ibrahim Nash’at travelled with a camera and an interpreter to Afghanistan in 2021, just days after the U.S. Army withdrew. He came to see, as he puts it, in whose hands the country had been left. He gets permission to follow a Taliban commander who has taken over Hollywood gate, claimed to be a deserted CIA base. The Taliban is in the process of transforming itself from a guerilla movement into a military regime.

What’s the best way of working under the control of an organization like this, one that sees you as a pawn for their propaganda? This film’s answer is to capture those seemingly trivial moments that serve to puncture that image—of an absurd inspection of abandoned gym equipment, and of a night-time military operation during which Nash’at is told to wait at the side of the road.

Rather than stopping filming, he points his camera at the moon and records the sounds of gunfire in the distance, undermining the Taliban narrative without downplaying its dangers. A complex tightrope walk performed with great verve.

During the Russian siege in 2022, unspeakably gruesome and bloody images of the countless dead and wounded victims of bombings and shootings in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol were seen around the world—thanks in part to the work of Ukrainian AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov. With great difficulty in this city lacking electricity and internet coverage, he managed to share these shocking and now-iconic images, such as the pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher from a bombed-out maternity clinic.

This documentary offers an even more powerful and mind-boggling impression of the siege—if such a thing is possible. The crystal-clear quality of the video footage makes for an almost 3D viewing experience. The camera captures the entry into the blasted clinic, the hurriedly dug mass graves containing dead children, and emotional exclamations from the doctors working in operating rooms. The footage is pin-sharp, though sometimes jittery due to the explosions.

In his soft-spoken voice-over, we hear Chernov talking about his emotional response to the 20 days that transformed this normal city into a shattered ruin.

Q&A

After the screening, the filmmakers will join us on stage for a short Q&A with the audience.

Altijd als eerste op de hoogte van onze programmering, De Balie podcasts, Tv fragmenten en de nodige verdieping.

Beneath the cool-blue glaciers, gushing waterfalls, and crisp green deciduous trees, we hear the soft tick-tick of 84-year-old Jørgen’s hiking poles as he cautiously navigates the boulders he encounters on his route. His daughter, director Margreth Olin, films him over the course of a year as he guides them through Oldedalen, a spectacular valley in Norway which he knows like the back of his hand.

Margreth left many years ago, but her parents and the generations before them have tended to stay put. They grew up, fell in love, and raised families here. The occasional earthquakes and floods, and the resulting loss of loved ones, are all part of life in this capricious natural environment. As the elderly can be, her father is voluble when it comes to that sort of family tale, as well as trivia about the village and anecdotes from his childhood. But he is quiet when he walks among the rocks and animals—and the drones.

The breathtaking shots of the landscape are mostly accompanied by sounds of nature transposed into melodies by the London Contemporary Orchestra. It’s a sweeping natural spectacle rooted in a personal history.

Q&A

After the screening, the filmmakers will join us on stage for a short Q&A with the audience.

Altijd als eerste op de hoogte van onze programmering, De Balie podcasts, Tv fragmenten en de nodige verdieping.

The streets have names such as Proton Lane and Nuclear Lane, and there is an annual Atomic Frontier Day Parade. Welcome to Richland, Washington, which grew from a hamlet into a town of 25,000 residents between 1943 and 1945. Its rapid growth was due to the arrival of thousands of workers for the production of plutonium used for atom bombs at the Hanford nuclear complex near Richland. The Native Americans living there at the time were driven from their land.

Richland uses archive footage and excerpts from recent interviews to show how Richland residents have made “the bomb” into their identity. People used to say they were “proud of the cloud,” according to a local. But there are also residents who are troubled by the town’s destructive past: the unimaginable human suffering caused by the bomb, the radioactive pollution of the environment, and the premature deaths of workers at the nuclear complex due to radiation exposure.

Richland shows the deep divide in today’s highly polarized America between those in denial of America’s violent past and those who are willing to confront it.

Q&A

After the screening, the filmmakers will join us on stage for a short Q&A with the audience.

Altijd als eerste op de hoogte van onze programmering, De Balie podcasts, Tv fragmenten en de nodige verdieping.

Filmmaker and writer Milisuthando Bongela was born in Transkei, which was then an “independent” Black republic in South Africa. At the time, she didn’t realize that the territory’s freedom was embedded in apartheid—beyond its borders, inhabitants had to deal with harsh discrimination and inequality. In this personal and poetic documentary, Bongela explores the different worlds in which she grew up: her childhood in the former Transkei, the small coastal city of East-London in the 1990s, and post-apartheid Johannesburg.

At the same time, she recounts the history of her native country during and after apartheid. Intense music and Bongela’s voice accompany the extraordinary archive footage, as she reflects on complex issues of power, fear, intimacy, friendship, and love, and her relationship with her white friends, who struggle with intergenerational guilt.

We also see friends, family, and historical figures. Together they highlight the subtler sides of racism. Milisuthando is both an honest and poignant self-portrait and a portrayal of a torn country.

In the Chinese farming village of Wenlou, nearly sixty percent of the population is infected with HIV. This is the high price they now pay for selling blood, which was a way that the inhabitants of the Chinese countryside could eake out a paltry living in the 1990s. In this film, Shengyi Ma’s family is followed for a year, from the summer of 2001, during a period in which AIDS is already manifest in mother Leimei.

Shengyi cares for his wife and their three children—their youngest daughter and baby son are also seropositive. He’s desperately trying to make ends meet, supported by a ludicrously pitiful allowance from the government. The film is divided into seasons, the fierceness of which parallel the circumstances of the family’s life. When the sulky autumn and an endless winter are finally over, spring brings new hope.

Filmmaker Weijun Chen intermixes scenes of austere daily life with ever-saddening monologues by Shengyi Ma, and moving interviews with the children.

During the rehearsals of a theatre adaptation of Émile Zola’s book L’Assommoir, the real and fictional lives of actress and artistic director Anne and her stage character Gervaise appear to intertwine. Experimental and intimately filmed scenes provide insights into the constantly shifting parallel worlds between which Anne and Gervaise are navigating.

The fascinating play between reality and fiction leads to a constant tension: are the intimate scenes she plays with her neighbour Benoît real or part of the play? And the outbursts of anger, the arguments, and the tears? Meanwhile, serious themes are explored, such as alcohol addiction, domestic violence, the consequences of divorce, the impact of harsh Parisian life on love, and working in a male-dominated environment.

The ambiguous play within a play contributes to the realization that there may actually be no distinction between reality and fiction. This inevitably leads to the question: what role are we playing ourselves?

Q&A

After the screening, the filmmakers will join us on stage for a short Q&A with the audience.

Altijd als eerste op de hoogte van onze programmering, De Balie podcasts, Tv fragmenten en de nodige verdieping.

Justina, now in her late 50s, lives with her queer daughter Alexia in a castle-like country estate on the Pampas of Argentina. Justina inherited this property from the family for whom she worked as a housekeeper. The only condition was that she would not sell it to anyone. Inside, the cluttered but charming decor is all velvet upholstery and crystal glass. A little black lamb is left free to roam undisturbed. The paint is peeling, the walls are damp, and the drains are blocked. When a bill needs to be paid, yet another cow is sold. Only occasionally, when there’s something to be celebrated, do the descendants of the old family come and stay. Alexia has had enough of this way of life and wants to go to the city and be a car mechanic—or, even better, a race car driver.In this hybrid film—part documentary, part feature—the chief protagonists remain themselves as they re-enact events from their own lives. The result is a dreamlike parable about a mother-daughter relationship, racism, class, and decay. The jazzy 1950s-style music composed especially for the film perfectly complements the story being told.

During this screening, the films Where Am I From? and Boyz will be followed by a Q&A.

Where Am I From?

In Where Am I From? Nouf is repeatedly asked, “where are you from?” She turns to AI for an answer. She and AI talk about the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and the AI narrator analyses images to find an answer for her. A clever way of showing the limitations of our perception of the other, as well as the limitations of machine learning.

Nouf Aljowaysir – 12′ – United States, Saidi Arabia – Arabic, English

Boyz
Boyz portrays three smart, fun, popular boys as they enjoy partying, hanging out and talking about their future. They are close friends, but will soon have to part ways as student life draws to an end. This film is refreshing in how it depicts intimate male friendships in a way we rarely see, as the friends discuss vulnerabilities, insecurity about penis size and wanting the first time to be special.

Sylvian Cruiziat – 72′ – Germany – English, German

Q&A

After the screening, the filmmakers will join us on stage for a short Q&A with the audience.

Altijd als eerste op de hoogte van onze programmering, De Balie podcasts, Tv fragmenten en de nodige verdieping.