WANATSA

Nazmia, as lively as she is tempestuous, dreams of becoming a teacher and of returning to Grande Comores to get married.

Nasri, a little rascal with a big heart, left to himself, struggles to declare his love for Mouniati.

Omar, poetic and puny, wants to become a man under the benevolent gaze of his brother, while waiting to see his father again.

All three of them, students of Moudjibou’s CM2 class, are preparing an end-of-year show about the abolition of slavery: Césaire’s funeral.

How does one grow up in Mayotte, the last of the French departments, when one is 10 years old, has no papers, and few prospects? WANATSA recounts their daily life in the meanders of Kaweni, the largest slum in France.

 

Areum Married

While working on her first documentary film, director Areum meets a progressive party activist and a chef, Seongman, and gets married. After getting married, she takes Seongman with her to study in France, which she has long been preparing to do. In France, the only thing Seongman can do is housework. Not being able to read or speak the language leaves Seongman in depression, when Areum, the one responsible for their financial and administrative duties, gets pregnant. In order to help Seongman get over his depression, Areum suggest they start running “Oegil Restaurant”, a project to cook and serve to a limited number of guests on specific days. But after the birth of their baby, Areum starts concentrating on her studies and filmmaking, leaving Seongman alone in parenting. This leads to frequent aggressive fights, and Seongman declares a strike. Will Areum be able to juggle both her marriage and her film?

 

TICS

TICS_Still

Daniel, Marika and Leo have Tourettes. And they are fed up of being stigmatized by society and unsuccessful therapies. So they are traveling to the European far north – trying to find the place where they can be as they are.

Upon advice of neurologist Prof. Dr. Alexander Münchau, Leo, Marika and Daniel are visiting different Tourette research facilities in France and Germany. They are interviewing doctors and therapists about current treatments and confront them with personal stories of mislead therapies. A road trip together with Prof. Dr. Münchau and psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Alvarez-Fischer brings them to the Inari region in northern Finland. In the vastness and calm of the Finnish forests and lake landscape they can tic freely without fear of social pressure, suspicion, or even sanctions. They will meet with Sami people and learn about their view on life and their shamanistic rituals. And they will try out a new form of treatment: the meta-cognitive therapy, in which conscious guidance of attention plays a crucial part. New experiences and understanding let the stigma of the tics slowly vanish. The chance of a self-determined handling of their Tourettes seems more and more possible with new every in Lapland.

REVENIR (To Return)

For years, the stories of West African migrants and refugees have been told through the lenses of foreign journalists. Now there is a story from the inside.

Part road-trip, part memoir, part journalistic investigation, REVENIR follows Kumut Imesh, a refugee from the Ivory Coast now living in France, as he returns to the African continent and attempts to retrace the same journey that he himself took when forced to flee civil war in his country … But this time with a camera in his hand.

Traveling alone, Kumut will be documenting his own journey; both as the main protagonist in front of the camera, as well as the person behind it, revealing the human struggle for freedom and dignity on one of the most dangerous migratory routes in the world.

A controversial film experiment, a courageous journey and a unique collaboration between filmmaker and refugee; which is not without consequences.

 

10/7  10:00