Stories From The Heart Never Say

As Florida's violent legislation dominates headlines, LGBTQ2S+ communities are also on the frontlines of accelerating climate change. “Can’t Stop Change: Queer Climate Stories from the Florida Frontlines” weaves interviews with 14 LGBTQ2S+ artists, organizers, and educators across Florida (and the new Florida diaspora) into an intersectional climate justice narrative.

On November 25, 1940, the SS Patria sank in the port of Haifa killing 267 people. The ship was carrying almost 1,800 Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe whom the British authorities were deporting from Mandatory Palestine to Mauritius because they lacked entry permits. Opposed to the deportation, the Haganah planted a bomb intended to disable the ship to prevent it from leaving Haifa. However, they miscalculated the effects of the explosion and the bomb sank the ship in less than 16 minutes (Dir. Pavel Štingl, 2006, 45 min.). Pavel Stingl an award winning documentary filmmaker studied at the Film and Television Academy of the Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). The screening is part of the ongoing “Docs in Salute” film series presented by the Library of Congress in collaboration with the Embassy of the Czech Republic.

On the night of April 26, 1974, the prison doors of Caxias opened and the political prisoners were released. Two women: Diana Andringa and Maria José Campos relive their detention in Caxias in this film. Even though they did not suffer the torture and other forms of violence that most of their companions were subjected to, both speak with great emotion of isolation and the so-called “normal regime” period in which they shared the space of a cell with other prisoners and learned to live in prison.

A film that satirizes politics and portrays family relations and romance, played by child actors.

The long awaited sequel to the classic animation, Story from North America. This time, the Dad and his son are working as guards at an animal prison and are faced with yet another ethical dilemma when a gang of evil monkeys breaks in to bust out their friends.

Donetsk is the coal-mining area of Ukraine. Here most people work for low wages in the run down mines, while others make a lot of money. No matter which side of the social divide you are on, coming from Donetsk you will almost certainly be an opponent of the Orange Revolution and a fan of the local football team, Shakhtar Donetsk. Billionaire Akhmetov invests heavily in the club, which is becoming a major European force during the season followed by the film. Yet this sporting success funded by an Oligarch fortune only seems to highlight the wider social and political stagnation of the region. Off the pitch, the outlook appears bleak...

Convict son revenges innocent father's death.

The story of Chang and his Magic Paintbrush as extracted from the Chinese folklore explains how a poor talented man named Chang was gifted a magical paintbrush by a wish fairy, making all his drawings come to life.

Raï Story is a musical journey in search of the Raï legend, Cheikha Remitti, in Oran, Algeria, where the Raï musical tradition began. In 1923, the first Raï singers performed behind screens during ceremonies to protect their identity. It was only when the music of singer Cheikha Remitti began to gain popularity among the general public that Raï music was made public, in the 1940s. Cheikha Remitti, who lives between Paris and Oran, is nowhere to be found, the filmmakers then decide to meet producers, musicians, singers like Cheba Dalila or Cheba Djenet, for whom Remitti created a wake. The opportunity, through these unique stories, illustrated with archive images, to retrace the important place of women in this musical tradition and the transformation of Raï music from the 1960s to 2000.

Akina (Umika Kawashima) and Takumi (Kodai Asaka) have been dating since high school. Akina started working as a bus tour guide in Saga Prefecture after graduating from high school. On the other hand, her boyfriend Takumi stayed in town, got a job in a factory. Being 1 hour train ride away from her boyfriend, romance oriented Akina struggled not to miss her boyfriend Takumi so much. But one day, on their date, one Akina’s action made Takumi’s mind to end their relationship. Was Akina the only one who was madly in love?! Three years later, Akina was living changing job to jobs, not having a particular goal in her life. She still had a feeling for Takumi, and one day her friends announced her the shocking news about him. Takumi was dealing with a disability. Leaving everything behind, Akina goes to see him. Can she get close to Takumi’s deeply hurt, closed heart? The second chapter of their romance begins!

This documentary shows us the lives of 10 people from the Wixarika (Huichol) and Nayeri (Cora) cultures. They live in different areas of the Sierra Madre Occidental but face new forms of conquest by present-day society, which constantly threatens their ancient culture and natural resources, which are vital for the enactment of their most sacred ceremonies.

Agriculture and technology both have a long history in California, but have rarely intersected. Tech is focused on disruption and innovation, while much of Central Valley and Central Coast’s agriculture is still managed with clipboards and pencils. One commonality is that women and minorities have historically been underrepresented in both industries. Now, a new generation of startups led by minority women are seeking to solve agriculture’s problems with tech innovation. "From Farms to Incubators" tells the stories of women entrepreneurs dedicated to agtech, a fast-growing sector within agriculture.

A film, music and aural presentation by Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records, Portland, USA. Featuring archival film, images & stories spanning 1890 to the present day, illustrating Eric's own special history of underground music movements and bonafide individuals. The live footage performances are culled from rarely seen film shot during Alan Lomax's North American travels between 1978 to 1985 and Mississippi Record's own enormous library of folk blues, gospel, esoteric, international & punk music.

Ascoli Satriano, Apulia. A small town in the internal areas, depopulated as one would expect. A place of “there’s nothing here”, as everybody tells Eleonora when she arrives in the town after spending most of her life in Milan, a place of “there’s everything there”, where her parents moved in the Sixties. She is emigrant, but not for her choice. A second-generation emigrant. Always being separated from this “here” she could never know, but that has always been in her mind in an image made by stories told by others. Eleonora goes down to the town in order to provide images to other’s words: those by her family and those by Adele, the kid from the town met during the only visit Eleonora made with her parents when she was very little. Adele wrote letters for years and Eleonora rarely replied. Eleonora starts today an impossible conversation with Adele: a conversation disconnected from a synchronized time and localized in a largely imaginary space.

“Love Stories From Fukuoka” is a series of real-life stories submitted by viewers in Fukuoka about their personal experiences with love, loss and longing. All the stories are based in Fukuoka, the capital city of the Fukuoka Prefecture on Kyushu Island. The stories feature many actors, celebrities and athletes who have ties to Fukuoka, including a few members of the popular Japanese girl group AKB48. In "Sensei and I", several years after graduating from high school, Rui meets her teacher from who was known as a "blunt demon" and they fall in love.

In 2007, the French filmmaker and my dear friend Agnès Varda called me before coming to L.A. with a question: would I agree to let her film my L.A. story? The video you are about to watch is the story of our first encounter in Paris in 1996 and in the years since, how our shared reverence for cinema formed the bonds of an everlasting friendship, and how the Cinematheque became like home.

Love Bus is an omnibus film composed of five different episodes, each of them taking place in a different district of Bucharest, Romania.