Every morning, 13-year-old Ramin’s mother tenderly wakes up her son. She then wakes up his father and little sister and they calmly start their day. The Mehdipour family seemingly live an everyday life, their life takes place in a Finnish refugee centre, however, as they have fled Iran. While Ramin is wondering how to approach the girl he has a crush on, his parents have far bigger concerns: their application for asylum will most likely be denied, which could means that they will be deported. They can still appeal, but they also know that bureaucracy in Finland is a slow-moving machine. Still, Ramin’s father keeps a positive attitude.

In his feature debut with this topical coming-of-age story, director Hamy Ramezan shows how people manage to keep their dignity even when faced with an indifferent government that can determine their future at the stroke of a pen. The story is based on his own experiences.

Hamy Ramezan (1979, Iran) is a Finnish-Iranian director and screenwriter who fled persecution in Iran. He graduated from the film school at UCA, Franham, in 2007 and has made several shorts. Listen (2015) premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2015, screened at over 200 festivals and was nominated for Best Short at the European Film Awards. Ensilumi is his feature debut.

In 2007, Swiss-born Tim Steiner had a work of art tattooed on his back by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. The work has since been sold to a collector, who is entitled to the tattooed skin after Steiner’s death. This strange story inspired a new film by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania – a satire of elitist art circles, as well as a critique of the West’s dehumanizing apathy towards refugees. Syrian Sam Ali flees his war-torn homeland and ends up in Lebanon. He wants to go to Europe, but doesn’t have the money or the right documents. Everything changes when he meets famous artist Jeffrey Godefroi. For Godefroi, Sam’s back is the ideal canvas for one of his ideas. Sam agrees to go along with it and a tattooed visa for the Schengen zone is inked on his back. The work of art is worth a fortune, which naturally has major consequences for Sam. Nominated for an Oscar, awarded in Venice.

Most dogs hate to be home alone, but Rita, the dog of Sebastián, a man in his thirties, takes things to a next level: as soon as her owner leaves the house, Rita starts howling incessantly. It is driving the neighbours crazy, so Sebastián decides to take his dog to work. Alas Rita is not welcome there either. In the end, Sebastián quits his job, which kicks off a series of strange events: he moves to the countryside, then returns to the city, hops from job to job, finds new love. Meanwhile, a global crisis of apocalyptic proportions is happening. Director Ana Katz spent several years working on this light, absurdist drama about the search for meaning and purpose in a world characterized by generally overwhelming disorder. Sebastián is played by Daniel Katz, the director’s brother, and he does so with subdued verve. Winner of the VPRO Big Screen Award, IFFR 2021.

Burkinabe

A young woman, Mariam, is ill and returns to Burkina Faso, where she was born. Having been sent away as a young child for adoption to South Africa, she hardly knows anything about her native country. Now she is planning to spend her last days in her village in the south west of Burkina Faso. She only does not know how to get there, does not speak the language, and is unfamiliar with the local customs. In the capital Ouagadougou, she befriends a charismatic bike messenger/taxi driver, Moussa, who claims to know the exact location of her village and offers to take her there. Moussa also has problems of his own: he is lonely despite his charm, and he has large financial problems. Together, they embark on the journey south.

Burkinabe is the feature film debut of directors Nthato Mokgata and Carla Fonseca, who both have already made name in the world of theatre and music. Fonseca plays the leading role herself in this self-discovery road movie.

Zombies

BALOJI | CONGO, BELGIUM | 2019 | 15′ | FRENCH, LINGALA SPOKEN | ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Baloji takes us on a journey between hope and dystopia through a hallucinated Kinshasa. From a nightclub to the culture of the hair salon, and from a dictator’s campaigning parade to a modern western – a tale of mobile technology and connectivity.

In hardly any country the death penalty is carried out as often as in Iran. In There is No Evil, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof showed what this means for the lives of those involved. Directing duo Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam now made a compelling drama that not only depicts how the Iranian legal system functions, but also which position a woman has in it. A year after her husband Babak’s execution, Mina (Maryam Moghaddam) is called to court, where she is drily informed that her husband was innocent and was in fact wrongly executed. Still, it must have been the Allah’s will, otherwise it could not have happened, the judge states. One day Reza shows up, claiming to be an old friend of Babak’s. He has come to pay an outstanding debt. Though hesitant at first, Mina gradually lets Reza into her life.

Behtash Sanaeeha (1980, Iran) studied civil engineering before writing screenplays and directing shorts, documentaries, commercials and animated series for television. His debut feature Risk of Acid Rain screened at over 30 international festivals. He made the documentary The Invincible Diplomacy of Mr Naderi with Maryam Moghaddam, with whom he also made Ballad of a White Cow.

Maryam Moghadam (1970, Iran) studied Performing Arts in Sweden. She has appeared in films including Closed Curtain by Jafar Panahi and Kambuzia Partovi, which premiered at the Berlinale and won a Silver Bear. She co-wrote the screenplay for Risk of Acid Rain with Behtash Sanaeeha, with whom she also collaborated on The Invincible Diplomacy of Mr Naderi and Ballad of a White Cow.   

Peru, 1980s: Georgina and her husband Leo live in a shabby shack on the outskirts of the capital Lima. Life is hard as it is, but now but now even more so because Georgina is pregnant. When she hears of a clinic offering free maternity care, she decides to give birth there. Her new-born baby is whisked away moments after its birth, supposedly because a health check is necessary first. She can come back the next day, but when she does, both the clinic and the baby have disappeared. She immediately goes to the authorities for help, only to be endlessly referred to one department after another. In desperation she turns to a major newspaper and meets the lonely journalist Pedro. He dives into the case. Director Melina Léon, who wrote the screenplay herself, dedicated her award-winning film to her father Ismael, who researched organized child trafficking as a journalist. The black-and-white images and 4:3 format emphasize the hopelessness and bleak nature of the story.

Melina León (Peru) is a director based in Lima and New York. Her short El Paraíso de Lili won 11 awards at over 20 international festivals, including Best Latin American Film at the Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival. Her debut feature Canción Sin Nombre is inspired by a true account of child trafficking originally reported by her father.   

Gustavo Pizzi and his ex-wife Karine Teles are a productive filming duo, writing screenplays together and with him directing and her playing the lead. This was the case with the films shown at previous WCA editions, Riscado (2010) and Benzinho (2017), and yet again in The Last Days of Gilda, originally made as a four-part TV mini series. The screenplay, based on a play by Rodrigo de Roure, is an ode to freedom and sensuality. Gilda (Teles) – a colourful, independent woman who loves good food and good sex – lives in a Rio de Janeiro suburb. Not everyone in the neighbourhood appreciates the way she chooses to live and there is a lot of gossip going around. Usually this does not bother her, but things change when she has to deal with Cacilda, a supporter of the reactionary Christian pastor Isaías, who seems to be gaining increasingly more influence in the neighbourhood. There is no place for “Gildas” in their world.

Gustavo Pizzi (1977, Brazil) is a producer, writer and director. He wrote and produced his first documentary Pretérito perfeito in 2006 and his debut feature, Riscado, screened at WCA in 2011. His award-winning feature Benzinho screened at WCA Open Air in 2018. His latest project, mini-series The Last Days of Gilda – competing at WCA – was also selected for the Berlinale Series 2021.  

Stel je voor: de bel gaat, je doet open, en voor je staat een man met een grote videocamera op je gericht. Zwijgend wacht hij tot jij de stilte verbreekt. In de experimentele documentaire A man and a camera is precies deze situatie het uitgangspunt. Wat te doen? Zwervend door Nederlandse woonwijken onderzoekt regisseur Guido Hendrikx tot hoever hij mag gaan. Een beleefde afwijzing, een dichtgeslagen deur, een uitnodiging voor een kop thee; steeds opnieuw is de vraag hoe er wordt gereageerd op de ongenode gast. Voordeur na voordeur zien we opengaan en langzaam borrelt er een ongemakkelijk gevoel op. Is het de camera die ontregelt, of het feit dat de man erachter niet praat? En is het wel passend om schaamteloos naar mensen te kijken op deze onbewaakte momenten? Zo zuigt Hendrikx zijn publiek de film in. Want A man and a camera bevraagt net zo goed de relatie tussen mens en camera, als de machtsverhouding tussen maker, subject en publiek.

Let op; voor deze filmvertoningen geldt een afwijkend prijzenschema.

De Italiaanse zanger, pianist, componist en tekstschrijver Paolo Conte is al decennia lang een beroemde muzikale persoonlijkheid. Zijn muziek heeft de kracht om, net als een mooie film, verhalen te vertellen en emoties op te wekken. Hij is door de New York Times ook wel vergeleken met Tom Waits en Randy Newman. Paolo Conte. Via con me (it’s wonderful) van regisseur Giorgio Verdelli, strekt zich uit over een periode van 50 jaar en gaat over meer dan enkel muziek. De kijker wordt meegevoerd langs de meest bekende liedjes, grote concerten en niet-eerder-uitgebracht materiaal. Maar ook de vriendschappen, gedachten en reflecties van de artiest komen aan bod. Verdelli heeft voor deze film gebruik gemaakt van het rijke persoonlijke archief van Conte, waarin beelden te zien zijn van zijn internationale tours en unieke momenten die zijn bijzondere carrière hebben gevormd. De film is een voortdurende ontdekkingsreis in de buitengewone wereld van Paolo Conte.

Het Chileense Andesgebergte vormt het decor voor een op het eerste gezicht gezellig toeristisch attractiepark: Villa Baviera. Maar wie een rondleiding boekt, hoort over het schrikbewind dat ex-nazi Paul Schäfer hier in de jaren zestig voerde. 

Ruim honderd Duitsers zijn na de dood van hun sekteleider in voormalig Colonia Dignidad blijven wonen. Soms openhartig, soms schoorvoetend vertellen de inmiddels bejaarde bewoners over de mishandelingen en het seksuele misbruik. En over de misdaden die ze zelf moesten uitvoeren. Iedereen heeft een eigen kijk op het duistere verleden. “Ze bedoelden het goed”, zegt een man over de elektroshocks die hij kreeg.

Op documentairefestival CPH:DOX in Kopenhagen won Songs of Repression de internationale hoofdprijs en de prijs voor beste Deense documentaire. De film laat zien hoe een traumatische gebeurtenis een mensenleven kan veranderen. Het landschap dat aan het begin van de film zo sereen overkomt, verwordt tot een naargeestige getuige van het verleden. En de liedjes die velen als kind in de kolonie onschuldig meezongen, roepen nu bij de meesten een gevoel van woede en walging op.