CHEYENNE, AT THIRTY

Director: Michele Trentini, Italy, 30'

Born in Germany, seven years ago has decided to return to the place where she feels most at home, the „Valley of Rabbi“ (Trentino, North Italy), where she is shepherd. During the summer she moves her flocks of sheep from one pasture to another „for the care and maintenance of the landscape“, because nobody mow the fields any more. The construction of fences, treating diseases of sheep, the transhumance through the valley, the loneliness on the pasture and the meetings with group of tourists, characterize the summer of Cheyenne. In the film Cheyenne reveals also her dreams and her desire for change....

BELL RINGERS FROM CRNI LUG

Director: Dražen Piškorić, Croatia, 25'

This is a documentary on the carnival traditions of Crni Lug in Gorski Kotar. The film follows the events of Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday. The young boys of Crni Lug, gathered in the “Runolist”, an association for the preservation and promotion of customs, are carrying on a two century-long tradition of bell ringers....

CHHAU (Menstruation)

Director: Ramesh Khadka, Nepal, 36'

Dhungachalna is a remote village in Nepal’s far-western district of Achham. The village is a three-day walk from the district headquarters. “Pains of Chhaupadi” is a documentary depicting the hardships women undergo during their menstruation (chhau)....

GENERATION RAIN

Director: Niloufar Shaisavandi, Germany, 22'

Kabul, Afghanistan – Our image of the country is determined by the pictures of was that we see in the news. But what about the cultural life? „Return to sender“, a theatre dance project from Berlin, was invited to the 2007 national Theatre Festival in Kabul. The film accompanies five performers of German- Iranian origin on their journey to Kabul. ...

IN THE FIRE OF A GENIUS

Director: Tihana Kopsa, Croatia, 30'

Two hundred years after the death of the musical genius and composer Joseph Haydn, his homeland resonates with the music he created; his symphonies are performed at the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, at the Esterháza Castle near Fertöd, and the melodies that inspired his works are still being sung by the Croats of Burgenland. The tale of Haydn's „international language of music“ is presented through his works, the regions in which he lived, his portraits and personal effects, the beautiful landscapes of Burgenland and by the folk music of the Croats and Hungarians in Burgenland. The narrative is supplied by those whose connection to Papa Haydn is more regional, spiritual and affectionate by nature....

Into the silence and back: Expelling the Seizure Daemon

Director: Dalibor Pešić, Bratislav Kostić, Srbija, 28'

The documentary is about an archaic way of curing epilepsy by a “rite of transition”, exorcising the daemon of epilepsy, filmed in south-east Serbia, in mountain Radan....

KOMI-PERMYAK AUTUMN, 57'

Director: Indrek Jääts/Maido Selgmäe, Estonia

The documentary deals with ethnic identity, assimilation and nationalities policy in contemporary Russia, focusing on the Komi-Permyak case. The Komi-Permyaks were the only Finno-Ugric group in Russia forming the majority in their ethnic autonomous unit. Yet they voted for unification with Perm Region and hence for liquidation of their political autonomy during the referendum in 2003. The documentary sheds light on the background of this decision. Using interviews and scenes from everyday life it chronicles contemporary economic, cultural and linguistic situation in the area, one of the poorest corners of European Russia....

LA FIUMA/SHE RIVER

Director: Rossella Schillaci, Italy, 63'

This is an anthropological documentary about the Big River Po and its surrounding. A journey with legs between small villages and histories of life, songs in the night, boat bridges, legends of sheat-fish, traditions, changes and pollution....

OLGA AND TIME

Director: Manuele Cecconello, Italy, 75'

Love for mountains, a symbiotic devotion with nature, a strong dignity based upon work, represent Olga's world, solitary icon of all shepherds of this part of the region of Piedmont (Italy), the Biellese. The film catches and gives back to the public the daily rite for the Earth of a person who chose her own Time for sounding the enigma of existence. Chapter two. ...

ON THE ROAD WITH MARUCH

Director: Florian Walter, Germany, 46'

The anthropological documentary takes us into the world of the indigenous woman Maruch de la Cruz Perez. Maruch is a 42-year old, unmarried woman from Chiapas, Mexico who rarely travels but loves to explore other cultures and learn from them. As she embarks on a journey through Chiapas her dilemma unfolds; she is restrained by the traditions of her village Zinacantan on the one hand, but yet marginalized by wider Mexican society, which subjects her to racism and sexism while traveling. ...

PESNIKI/Bell ringers

Direktor: Luka Šešo, Domagoj Jović, Croatia, 19'

The documentary was filmed in Crni Lug, a small village at the footage of a national park Risnjak. Every year they celebrate almost unknown, but extremely interesting carnival custom. Beside the tradition of bell ringers, in the focus of the film is the life of young people who are carrying on the tradition and who live in a rural environment with a population deficit. The film observes their thoughts on the bell ringer tradition and the future in a small village. ...

PRAYER IN LUKAVICA

Director: Suzana Anastasov Marković, Dalibor Pešić, Serbia, 12'

The religious superstition in the village Lukovica, not far from Dimitrovgrad near the Serbian- Bulgarian border, is an important element of identity in a local community “Šopa”....

PROCESSION OF BUŠO

Director: Redatelj: Luka Šešo, Domagoj Jović, Croatia, 25'

The documentary is about a Hungarian town of Mohach, near the Croatian border, where from the 19th century there is a tradition in the carnival season of wearing a specific masks called “buša”. According to the legend buša was used for the first time when a Croatian invited escaped inhabitants of Mohach to mask themselves with terrifying masks to frighten the Turks who have seized the town. They were successful and manage to scary off Turks. From that day the inhabitants of Mohach mask themselves and organize a folk theatre, making the whole town a stage, wearing masks which repelled the Turks. ...

RUEGA POR NOSOTROS /Have mercy on us

Director: Caroline Mieling, Lucia Rosati, Austria/Mexico, 35'

„Bitt für uns“allows us to look into the social microscope. It opens a window to a cultural kaleidoscope, where the reality of women, Mexican traditions, colors, tastes and modern trends intermingle and evolve....

SALAAM ALEYKUM COPENHAGEN

Director: Sašo Niskač, Slovenia/Slovakia/Denmark, 19'

Salaam Aleykum Copenhagen is a short documentary about Haluk, Allan and Iman – two boys and a girl with Turkish, Kurdish, Lebanese and Danish backgrounds living in Copenhagen. The film is a portrait of their attitudes towards the questions of immigration and integration, their daily problems and challenges, family values, their view of Danish society and Copenhagen itself....

SEVDAH

Director: Marina Andree Škop, Croatia, 66'

Sevdah is a feeling of a life coloured with melancholy, longing and pleasant sorrow, which in Bosnia is presented with traditional song -sevdalinka. Musical author, interpreter and researcher Damir and director Marina were brought together by the death of Farah, their mutual friend, a passionate singer of sevdah. Coping with their loss and sorrow, they have created a documentary about sevdah, turning it into an emotional, musical, lyrical and visual journey through the soul of Bosnia, their own feelings and memories. ...

To take the bull by the horns

Director: Anna Marie Shefer, Germany, 23'

The topic of bullfighting (la corrida de toros) highlights the cultural difference between Catalonia and Spain. The filmmaker took a demonstration against bullfighting in June 2007 in Barcelona as occasion to explore the limits and intersections between these two cultures. The fact that Barcelona tries to abolish the “fiesta nacional” as soon as possible adds the film a high actuality. ...

VJESH/SINGING

Director: Rossella Schillaci, Italy, 57'

With sharp voices, the women of St. Costantino and St. Paul Albanese sing the most heart-rending songs. These are the ancient vjeshet, handed down from mother to daughter. They tell of the Albanian escape to seek shelter in southern Italy, five centuries ago. Today the women are trying to make the wider world aware of their songs by giving concerts throughout Italy, and even as far as Albania and France....