
Cinema Sabaya
2021 | 95 min | Drama
Israel's Official Submission to the 95th Academy Awards is a heartwarming journey of unlikely friendships and empowering conversations.


2021 | 95 min | Drama
Israel's Official Submission to the 95th Academy Awards is a heartwarming journey of unlikely friendships and empowering conversations.

2011 | 91 min | Drama
In IF YOU DIE, I'LL KILL YOU, Kurdish-Iraqi director Hiner Saleem (MY SWEET PEPPER LAND), looks at the Kurdish community in Paris. Siba is played by Golshifteh Farahani (Paterson). Avdal dreams of staying in France and plans to bring his fiancée, Sibato, Paris. She’s due to arrive in the next few days. The two men strike up a friendship when unexpectedly, Avdal dies and Philippe has organize funeral arrangements for his friend. What should he do with the body?

2024 | 90 min | Documentary
In southern Burgenland, a region where time seems to stand still, a filmmaker encounters men of different ages and backgrounds. With her cell phone camera, she documents conversations about work, family, dreams, and the challenges of modern life. The men open up, share their stories, and reflect on their roles in a changing society. What begins as personal field research unfolds into a quiet but profound portrait of a region and its men. Initial strangeness gives way to trust. The men talk about ...

2022 | 26 min | Drama
In the Ruhr Valley, the couple Ava and Sascha run the FLINT* pub STÖRENFRIDA. A heartfelt project that serves as a shelter for the community but also as a home for the couple. Into this closed world suddenly enters Ava's father Gunter, a former miner who needs a place to stay for a few weeks. Based on this charged triangular constellation, the film depicts the inclusivity and exclusivity of shelters and critically examines supposedly feminine and masculine spaces.

2021 | 73 min | Documentary
A thought-provoking gaze of the exploitative migration and the terrible dilemmas facing women who must choose between earning money and caring for their own children. The film drives the realities underlying the domestic work and care solutions found by Middle Eastern countries, such as Lebanon. These solutions do not address continuing gender inequalities, and all too often rest on the exploitation and even dehumanization of the women who actually provide the care of children and do all the domestic ...

2021 | 76 min | Documentary
Ahmet Simsek is a hardworking paramedic in the Austrian army and talented boxer. Despite being the dutiful son of Turkish immigrants, Ahmet feels a sense of detachment from himself and his community. However, things take an interesting turn when he enrolls in acting classes and lands the lead role in A Streetcar Named Desire. But as he tries to confront his own vulnerability, he struggles to break free from traditional gender roles and conflicts with himself arise. The film provides a nuanced and ...

2023 | 91 min | Documentary
Three women in Jordan live in isolation – not by choice, but out of fear of further violence. Their home is their refuge, but it is also a prison that separates them from the outside world. What does it mean to live a life in the shadows? How do you find strength in the midst of pain? Helin Çelik's documentary addresses a reality that often remains hidden. ANQA is an intimate exploration of the survival strategies of these women, whose stories are told not in words but in images. The camera focuses ...

2013 | 99 min | Documentary
People are invited to share a personal moment. It is a thoughtful portrait of some of the city's inhabitants as they sit at the back of the van and express their innermost thoughts. Sarah Francis' documentary BIRDS OF SEPTEMBER is her debut film and was screened at CPH: DOX and the Art of the Real New York. "A portrait of a city and the people who live there, which amazingly enough manages to unite a number of otherwise highly different genres into a unified whole. An original and accomplished ...

2012 | 62 min | Documentary
"Tur Abdin" is what Aramaic Christians call their homeland in southeast Turkey, not far from the Syrian border. One of the earliest Christian settlements in the world, very few live there today. Most Aramaic Christians have fled war, violence and repression. Some even fled to Germany. Now, exiled Arameans from Göppingen want to return to southeastern Turkey to safeguard their cultural heritage and rebuild their destroyed villages. Director Anja Reiß accompanies them back home. "Migration is a constantly ...

2019 | 66 min | Documentary
What happens when a very popular village priest decides after 27 years of successful community work to finally face a lifelong issue and publicly announces his transgender identity? The rumors that he was wearing women's clothes forces pastor Hans-Gerd Spörkel to take a break. Shortly thereafter, his wife separates from him, and the village turns their backs on him. Half a year later, she resolutely returns as Elke Spörkel and holds her first service as a woman. After a controversial discussion, ...

2015 | 29 min | Icons & Media Art
Afghan wisdom says that if you have many daughters, you can raise your youngest as a boy and the next child will be a boy. "Bacha posh" are the names of these girls and Farah Noz is one such girl. But instead of becoming a "girl" again after the birth of her brother, the 14-year-old decided to remain a boy. Elaha is different, she made her own decision to wear men's clothes on the street and find her female role on her own. In their documentary installation, Ginan Seidl and Yalda Afsah show the ...