For generations, the Salamanca community of Mennonites has been living in the same modest and rigidly organized way. Modern-day scenes are accompanied by a voice-over narrating a man’s recollections of his youth. “As soon as I close my eyes,” he explains, “I go back to the past, to the moment when I made the choice that shaped my entire life.” Speaking in the Plautdietsch language, he talks calmly of the strong curiosity he felt as a young boy about the world beyond Salamanca and the Mennonite faith – a curiosity for which he paid dearly.

Salamanca

A girl — or a woman — in a bright red scarf, with a soft toy mouse in her arms. To look at her, you wouldn’t guess that she’s 50 and has been homeless for three years. Her incredible passion to live prevents her from freezing on the cold streets of Moscow.

Songs for Kit

Expatriate

This is ‘a road movie’ encapsulated in the Moscow metro system and filmed over the course of one year: a documentary film that observes cultural and social issues in modern Russia.

Where Are We Headed?

A heartbreaking portrait of 16-year-old Ukrainian refugees Andrey and Alisa, who help out at a school for refugee children in Budapest. Andrey asks the children to draw pictures of something from back home in Ukraine. What beautiful things can they recall? He offers the example of his own grandfather’s cherry orchard. The children use confrontational, adult vocabulary to describe their experiences of war. A young boy earnestly goes through a number of battle strategies, and a girl provides a vivid account of a rocket attack.

Away

Rui lives alone on the outskirts of Lisbon, making a living from illegal fishing. He sells his crabs door to door by the kilo. Using dazzling chiaroscuro effects with an impressionist touch, Ruslan Fedotow gradually reveals the daily life of a man struggling with drug addiction, and his fight to stay in touch with his son who is being kept away from him.