Seed (Belgium) by Dries Meddens

After his mother passed away, Dries discovers his father’s bipolarity. The care this mental illness imposes in his young adult life leaves no place for mourning over his mother’s death. Countering the way society and psychiatry crudely and ruthlessly treat his father absorbs all his attention. Eventually – while in a closed section of a mental hospital – his father dies of a heart attack. Emptying his parent’s home, Dries discovers, among an overload of left behind projects of his father, an old letter from his grandfather. The man appears to have led a very busy and productive life. He was the founder of an internationally renowned seed breeding company (Nunhems Zaden, now owned by BASF) and still had time to paint, write diaries and be the father of 11 children. At first Dries is happy about his discoveries and feels a strong link to his grandfather. But the more he digs into the past, the less he can avoid a growing fear that his father's psychiatric illness might be hereditary, from grandfather to father to son. And what then germinates in Dries' children?

Running time: 01:15:38

Ice Breath (Romania) by Leonard Alecu

Between 2015 and 2024, Leonard Alecu filmed the melting icebergs off Greenland's East coast. Sailing dangerously close to icebergs, Alecu handled his camera to record the ice masses yielding to the ruthless ocean. Filmed in black and white, Ice Breath is a cinematic poem whose only elusive actor is the filmmaker's gaze. In 43 minutes, a sequence of flat pictures turn into dynamic tableaux, an existential journey from genesis to extinction. The hypnotic feature of the film is enhanced by the soundtrack Become Ocean, a haunting composition by John Luther Adams suggestive of a relentless tidal surge, of melting polar ice and rising sea levels. Become Ocean received critical acclaim, earning the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the 2015 Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. More than an environmental documentary, Ice Breath and Become Ocean is an experimental fusion exploring the vast, inscrutable meanings of climate change. 

Running time: 00:42:50

Let it Dance (Australia) by Carolyn Corkindale

Born of a poor family in Paris, Guy Detot transforms himself through passion and luck into an international ballet dancer, dancing with Pina Bausch in The Rite of Spring and the Ballet Rambert. In 1982 Guy moves to Australia for love,  and  works with the Australian Dance Theatre, before being retired out of ballet and embarking on a journey to use his love of movement to create emotion-driven wood sculptures, based in Penola, South Australia.

Running time: 01:20:25

A Human Ride (Germany) by Kristian Gründling

The transformation of transportation is on everyone's lips, and the future of mobility has become one of the most talked-about topics. But why does it matter so much? If transportation presents such enormous challenges, why don’t we just stay at home? Is mobility a fundamental human need?

Running time: 01:00:00