Lesya has committed a crime of passion which brings her a seven-year sentence in one of Odessa’s women’s correctional facilities.

With great intimacy, we follow three kids finding friendship and hope as a group of dedicated social workers create moments of joy and respite in this war-torn and impoverished corner of Eastern Ukraine.

With the 2011 tsunami in Japan as a backdrop, All of Our Heartbeats are Connected Through Exploding Stars is an astonishing journey told as an essay on cosmos and how all living things are connected. A contemplative narrative about nature's merciless potential, its delicate qualities - and the forces trying to destroy it.

As we follow L, and her letters to her estranged lover, we go on a journey through memories and dreamlike exploration of emotions, and political and social disruptions in India.

Is it possible to bury the immortal? Burial is a study of the man's extreme capabilities and innovative efforts, in an exploration of the paradox between our technological advances and our increasingly complex relationships with nature.

Two solitary souls finds common ground as the master of slow cinema is back with yet another delicate and profound poem on the human need for connection, or as an ode to loneliness.

The best film from this years Cannes Festival. A film that opens up and dives into the human body. An overwhelming experience and exploration of the capacity of modern surgery, five hundred years after the body was opened up for the first time for science.

Mercenaries set sail for a life of action against Somali pirates. Yet, the sea is full of surprises. Or lack, thereof.

This hybrid western features sisters Chitarra and Léa, tough leaders of an all-female gang that refines oil drawn from an illegal underground pipeline in the Sol Nascente favela in Brazil. Interspersed with street protests and dance parties they sell gasoline to working-class motorcycle-delivery riders who depend on it to survive.

“Everyone chews to get away. Their flesh is here, but their soul is gone.” Jessica Beshir’s haunting feature documentary debut is a spiritual, dreamlike and hypnotic journey into the highlands of Harar.

The Moroccan desert has recently experienced several large meteor showers. In its arid lands now, rest some celestial pieces. A group of nomads, a scientist and a business man are all on a meticulous hunt for those tiny stones in the desert. Stones they hope can change their lives.

Just like the mountain; harsh and relentless, the landscape of Mount Ararat contains the stories and testimonies of the Yezidi people. Inner Lines is simply a magnificent film that takes your breath away, makes you cry, angry and fascinated at the same time. A must see from this years program.

In “Pyramiden” at SALT you get to immerse yourself in an audiovisual world with the screening of In Spring.

Undeniably, the masterpiece of artistic documentaries and an ultimate classic in film history. Co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola, shot using 35 mm film and with the specially composed music score by Philip Glass, this is certainly not only an astounding audiovisual experience but also an immense contribution to documentary as an art form.

Already with a cult status, and one of cinema history's finest and most daring documentaries. Leviathan takes you on a roller coaster journey, experiencing the cacophonic craziness of commercial fishing, as experienced from even the fishes point of view.

Mother Lode is an archetypal fairytale where reality blends with magic, dream collides and melts with the material world and the myth of richness is built on sacrifice. Without superiority, pity or judgment, director Matteo Tortone, makes us all enter a hellish world where now and then miners mysteriously disappear, since gold belongs to the Devil.

Inside the remnants of an abandoned utopian architecture project, a young girl takes us on a journey through her adventurous but challenging life. A beautifully tender and sensitive story of family relations and broken dreams.

Explore the intimate relationship of sisterhood between two sisters, Hayat and Leila. A touching story told in the perspective of sailor Hayat where we get to see how the two sisters have sticked together throughout their troubled upbringing in to adulthood where they stay in touch even though they are worlds apart.

Establishing a caliphate was the ultimate dream of members of the Islamic State, currently detained in prison-camps. ROJEK encounters members of the Islamic State from all over the world, as well as their wives detained in prison-camps, who are sharing a common dream: establishing a caliphate.

"Britain’s most exciting and innovative film festival” (Lonely Planet) takes the curatorial baton for this special screening. Coming up to its 17th edition, Birmingham’s Flatpack Festival has been steadily making waves on the international festival circuit for its open, inventive and unique take on film; in particular its distinct BAFTA qualifying short film competition programme. Head of Programme Sam Groves picks out a few of the more playful short docs that have graced their festival programme over the last few years. 

A collection of Norwegian Short films by directors Paul Tunge, Frøydis Fossli Moe and C.S Nicholson

A time machine of passed memories. A fascinating journey shows the recorded experiences of some of the first western women to record their travels on film. A female gaze on the world around us, and a journey coming to life again through cinema. A fantastic film that lets us see the world from a feminine viewpoint.

First Norwegian screening of this award winning movie, internationally acclaimed for its intimacy and delicate beauty. The 1999 solar eclipce serves as a central motif in a meticulous portrayal of how ex-Yugoslavias dark past lingers in the present.

Cinemateket presents: As part of the MIRAGE Classics Agnès Vardas magnificent The Gleaners and I. (Les glaneurs et la glaneuse) is both a diary and an essay which is both personal and political simultaneously, while also being a deeply reflective and entertaining film, influenced heavily by Vardas own humour and enthusiasm. We follow Varda on a journey around France, where she is in the company of a small DV-Camera, while they trace and document alternative culture’s.

Following the life of Elder, we are brought along on a journey through fantastical genres, from documentary themes to dance videos. A narrative that brings suffering and redemption, while following the path of physical work.

A masterful mosaic story that digs deep down into the untold story of intense love, of sickness and resilience. The story of a first love that marked two teenage girls forever.

With its sublime 16mm black and white images and incomparable soundscape, Under the Shelter Sky stands out as one of last year's great artistic experiences. A shepherd roams the Chilean plains with thousands of sheep in this evocative journey portrayed as a nostalgic dream of lost time.

A CUP OF COVID is an innovative and experimental short film. Welcome to "Reflections Over a Cup of Tea".

The magnificent Swedish/Italian director opens up a visually striking tale set in the not-so-distant future, and poses the question: what will we do when work is no longer necessary, when robots and AI have taken over all our jobs?

An innovative and visually captivating film that delves into the echoes of Asia's late 20th-century modernization through the wide-scale export of wigs during the Cold War, where every wig harbours a tale of its imperial past.

The sensitive gaze of cinematic poetry gets help from gas stoves, layers of thick insulating curtains and colourful woollen blankets to warm and care for the stories of three strong yet traumatised women, trapped in the confinement of their own apartments.

Presented through the lens of a fellow artist attuned to Tait's cinematic poetry, Luke Fowler pays tribute to the forgotten artist, but also to the importance of the Orkneys, and how a place contributes to shaping the artist. The short film Ex Nihilo will be screened as a double bill together with Being in a place - a Portrait of Margaret Tait. Two films about artists, both of which also shed light on the artistic process by making films about artists, about representing others, about defining a legacy, or how to create something out of an encounter with another.

Teheran and Bucharest are merged together in a deep-dive into history and events that keeps echoing its relevance. Turnaround events that show the delicacy and strength of friendship, the power of many, and the fragility and impact on the individual.

A 90s cult classic, a bloodthirsty, stylistically daring vampire-slayer film that sets the mood for MIRAGE Cinema Club at Vega Scene. Sink your teeth into this film that, from the very first minute, establishes a legendary atmosphere.

A simple dialogue between two people, who shockingly represent many, reveals a reminder that war crimes and horrific actions are not committed by monsters, but by ordinary people who are capable of great evil.

Balancing between the daily life in the jungle and the inner world of the girl Eami as she enters a trance, the spirits, the haunting tale of escape and the spiritual life of the forest is revealed. An otherworldly sensory journey through the beauty and chaos of our world.

As one of Norway's most influential painters, Olav Christopher Jenssen is closely followed by director Lars Erlend Tubaas Øymo, who seems to be searching for a connection between their work, approach, and artistic process. The director Lars Erlend Tubaas Øymo will be participating in a conversation after the screening.

Seen as a pioneer of independent film, of underground cinema and as the godfather of the avant-garde, Jonas Mekas has left a legacy of dedication to the art of film, to the “art of the real” and the beauty of the everyday.

An incredibly beautiful, detailed, and sensory portrait of Sable Island and the solitary researcher and conservationist Zoe Lucas, who, along with the horses, plants, and rarities the sea has washed ashore, constitutes the entirety of this microcosm.

Programmer Jasper Hokken from the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA) has made a fantastic selection of the finest, most daring short films from the past few editions, representing the festival's focus on showcasing cinema from all around the world. Hokken will introduce both IDFA: World Shorts programs on Thursday. In between the two screenings he will participate in an extended conversation and Pick-My Brain Q&A-session to help craft a strategy for short film distribution. The second screening of this program will be a part of MIRAGE Cinema Club with free entry.

Programmer Jasper Hokken from the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA) has made a fantastic selection of the finest, most daring short films from the past few editions, representing the festival's focus on showcasing cinema from all around the world. Hokken will introduce both IDFA: World Shorts programs on Thursday. In between the two screenings he will participate in an extended conversation and Pick-My Brain Q&A-session to help craft a strategy for short film distribution. The second screening of this program will be a part of MIRAGE Cinema Club with free entry.

MIRAGE in collaboration with Re:Voir Presents a selection of shorts by the godfather of avangarde and independent cinema, Jonas Mekas. His distinct personal diary form, melancholic voiceover, poetic and humoristic take on film and on life is an essential part of film history, but also films that will heal and clean your soul. See also the documentary about Mekas: Fragments of Paradise

Be it cannibals, heavily armed individuals, including a reverend aiming to console lost souls, or a group of ravers who use music to rise above their fears of destruction; Knits Island welcomes all into the film, inside the game, inside the real world.

Albert Serra is one of the finest and most uncompromising directors of our time. Winning the Special Jury Prize in Cannes 2019 Liberté is a wild and dark tale of desire. A mental film experience that leaves you mesmerized and stunned.

Listen to the Wallflowers is a poetic and cinematic short documentary which will be screened as a part of our curated short film program.

LOOK! is a testament to the magic of childhood and the art of storytelling by Magnus Lysbakken and will be screened as a part of our curated short film program.

As perhaps China's most respected modern classical composer, the now nearly legendary filmmaker; Wang Bing, has literally undressed and confronted the 85-year-old Wang Xilin with his past and his incredible body of work.

A film for every food-lover. You may never get to visit this restaurant yourself, but this film, soaks up the atmosphere and buries you in the smells, the juicy tastes and aura of both the food and the life of the 4th generation running La Maison Troisgros.

Imagine being a tiny ant in a thunderstorm, fighting raindrops the size of your whole body, or a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. This film allows for precisely that, to feel and experience life in the Microcosmos.

Johanne Wilbrink, Magnus Lysbakken, Juno Jensen, Nefise Özkal Lorentzen have created films that explore tranquility, a cinematically sensitive perspective, and the possibilities and limitations of the short film format in a tactile manner. Four Norwegian filmmakers all leaving us with lingering film experiences.

Connecting the past, the present and the future: Nick Cave, AI, blockchain and an intangible concept of our loneliness in the digital sphere, NOTES FROM EREMOCENE is an otherworldly playfully dystopian sci-fi essay unlike anything.

Following star actor Benoit Magimel as De Roller through a myriad of meetings with remarkable characters, actors, real-life persons and total absurdities.

Inspired by 19th-century writers like Chekhov and Flaubert who used clichés to depict life, this film taps into a modern set of clichés: toys.

Lalo remains under constant camera scrutiny, living a solitary existence where his mobile device is his companion. However, his hyperactive virtual life stands in stark contrast to the lack of genuine human connection.

One of the finest, most touching, nostalgic and romantic films discovering the beauty of family, of cinema and of time passing. But also at the same time the fragility of all these factors. Mekas said: You don’t really see how Lithuania is today: you see it only through the memories of a Displaced Person back home for the first time in twenty-five years.

Getting access to the raw material from a TV show with Thelonious Monk, director Alain Gomis has made a fabulous remake of the show revealing the chaos and circus behind the scenes, and how unfairly the jazz legend is treated.

ROOM 999 is Lubna Playoust's remake of Wim Wender's 1982 classic ROOM 666. In both films, set 40 years apart, the most profiled, cutting-edge filmmakers gather to give their testament on the future of cinema and film as an art form. This is a double screening where ROOM 666 will be screened last to nuance the experience of these works.

Nestled in a dense forest by a lake, like a fairytale setting from another time, a group of naked women perform their full body and soul cleansing rituals. The smoke sauna becomes a therapeutic room for old wounds and stories.

A journey through the deep forests of Finland and an encounter with a beautiful, quirky, and poignant cast of characters who, probably like the entire Finnish population, are desperate for sauna, no matter what, everywhere, always.

In the remote village of El Eco, that exists outside of time, the children care for the sheep and their elders. While the frost and drought punish the land, they learn to understand death, illness and love with each act, word and silence of their parents.

The Island by Juno Jensen blend storytelling with a sense of mystique and artistic expression. This film will be screened as a part of our curated short film program.

Through a fictitiously constructed news channel, director Ellen Ugelstad sheds light on topics that otherwise don't receive much attention in society. THE RECOVERY CHANNEL delves deep into our challenges related to modern psychiatric treatment and what it means to be deprived of one's freedom.

A series of mysterious disappearances of tubas, stolen from several high schools in the Los Angeles area between 2012-2013, kicks off this symphony of a film that explores the richness, capacity and limitation of the senses.

Curated by Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF) and Taiwan Docs, MIRAGE is very happy to present the finest of short- and mid-length documentaries from Asia.

Curated by Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF) and Taiwan Docs, MIRAGE is very happy to present the finest of short- and mid-length documentaries from Asia.

As part of MIRAGE's effort to highlight classics from film history, VIDEOCRACY is a study of rhythm, pacing, and the manipulative qualities of the art of editing. With Silvio Berlusconi's passing earlier this year this cinematic gem from 2009 shows one side of his legacy. Director Erik Gandini will introduce this screening.

An aesthetically uncompromising revelation of the essence of the dark and tragi-comic core of the Scandinavian soul. A sociological gaze depicting the saga of winter's grip on the minds of its inhabitants.

"Images are not something that you make but something that you find." This concept is at the core of Kamal Aljafari's ideology, as he creates an immersive time-machine journey that reclaims stolen Palestinian heritage.

Pushing at the limits of non-fiction cinema, "A Man Imagined" follows the street life and the psychology of a man troubled by both the present and past, revealing the existential solitude of a man at once gentle but marred by a storied past.

Cinema in its purest and most magnificent form. This immersive symphony explores the capabilities of cinema to evoke fascination with the world around us. What could be more fascinating than water?

Cinema, in its purest form, immerses us in delicate imagery of mountains, stones, sand, and concrete, and explores how these elements relate to architecture's devastating reality and destructive magnitude.

A scorpion's tale provides a perspective on the real-life challenges that young kids and criminals face, offering us a 'backstage view of violence.

Visual artist, alchemist, and filmmaker Gaëlle Rouard explores nightscapes, revealing the unseen and unknown qualities of chance and magic through hand-processed photochemical techniques. This mesmerizing audiovisual meditation can only be fully understood by experiencing it.

Yet another hypnotic visual and masterful cinematic exploration of Philippine history from Lav Diaz.

Featuring three-time Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen, "Eureka" is a graceful refraction of history and place, marking it as Alonso’s 'most expansive and ambitious film to date.'

For an exhibition that never took place, the Centre Pompidou asked the legendary filmmaker behind “Holy Motors” and “Annette” to reply, in pictures, to the question: Where are you at, Leos Carax? He attempted to answer a question full of questions.

Double Oscar-nominated composer Jóhan Jóhannsson, famed for his work with Denis Villeneuve, directed just one film before his tragic death at 48 —a symbolic sci-fi documentary showcasing his unique talent.

A tribute to one of our finest and most original directors—the Norwegian Agnes Varda. Personal and universal, intimate and humoristic, sensitive and spontaneous.

Postcards From the Verge | Doe Dream | Inherent

Shotplayer | Accidents & Emergencies | Almost 18 | Maybe There Were Elephants

Who Loves the Sun | Levitations | Under Land

Move fast! Breaking news! transforms the tools of journalism into artistic expression. Through images, performance, and storytelling, the project explores democracy and disinformation, hope and fear — revealing the fragile balance between truth and illusion in our time.

A remarkable and cinematic film that provides a sensual rendering of both past and present Cuba.

“Realm of Satan” is a ritualistic documentary that casts a spell on viewers, luring them into a mystical world of magic, mystery, and misanthropy.

A collective work between artist and inmates that reinvents the musical genre, framed by a Buenos Aires prison, these women get to relive their past, the present and the imagination of a possible future for themselves.

Davud and Sura are under siege. They wait for the Hunter. Hunter is omnipresent.

With deep sorrow and overwhelming darkness, Sara Broos excavates memories, experiences, and events impressively woven with myths and dreams. This film explores the search for meaning in a fragmented reality, reflecting our difficult and strange times.

Two sisters, 4-year-old Juliette and 8-year-old Carmen, discover a passage between their world and the one in a book titled ‘The Kingdom of Air Streams.’ To return home, they need to find Sirocco, a terrifying character who can control the wind.

This dynamic film journeys through the 20th century, juxtaposing political turmoil with the magic of jazz. It showcases the era’s key musical and cultural talents—from Miles Davis to Miriam Makeba, Louis Armstrong to Nina Simone.

This unique and incredibly delicate fusion of ethnography and poetic cinema blends the present and past, reality and fiction, to create a portrait not only of the Krahôs but also of the struggle of all indigenous peoples across the world.

If it were possible to send a camera crew back into the past, the result would be something close to what Minervini delivers in this quietly intoxicating and existentially real war movie.

Three young sisters are set apart by the eruption of Fogo. But they sing. One day we’ll know why we live and why we suffer…

Strange things are happening in Joe's flat. A run-down apartment block in Belfast transforms into a haunted inner landscape in this dark, cinematic film, where the echoes of the Northern Ireland conflict still reverberate through the corridors.

The remains of shattered dreams are scattered across the riverbanks and paths, and as daily life in the tiny border village between Croatia and Bosnia goes slowly by, it is haunted by the parallel tragedy of the recent Balkan wars and the contemporary brutality of the EU border policy.

In this mesmerising and hypnotic film set in Mozambique, a young director embarks on a journey to his grandmother's village, seeking to unveil and preserve his grandmother's fading memories of the long and violent civil war.

One of the most successful photographers of our time, Joel Meyerowitz, and his artist wife, Maggie Barrett, put their 30-year relationship under the microscope, revealing the fragile dynamics of relationships.

"Home is a place where you can feel the time pass" lies at the heart of Azerbaijani filmmaker Hilal Baydarov's poetic exploration of homecoming.