Voices from the Fire
By Helen Simon
2022 | 79 min | Documentary
This powerful documentary puts the spotlight on a harrowing abuse: modern slavery and human trafficking.
Helen Simon
DirectorHelen Simon is a renowned British actress known for her work in theater, film, and television. She has appeared in a variety of roles across different genres, showcasing her versatility as an actress. Some of her notable film credits include "The Queen," "The Duchess," and "Calendar Girls." Simon has received critical acclaim for her performances and has been nominated for several awards throughout her career.
Films
No Lullaby
By Helen Simon
2015 | 74 min | Documentary
A terrible family secret that spans three generations and a society that refuses to acknowledge the reality behind the house facades.
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Moments of Resistance
2019 | 99 min | Documentary
Politically engaged women of today respond to the voices of historical resistance to National Socialism and make connections to current events. This film weaves together current and historical portraits of women to create a multi-voiced collage of resistance spanning several decades. "In my family there were active Nazis and those who remained silent, as well as a resistance fighter and a concentration camp survivor. When I started this film in 2014, I wanted to make something about resistance ...
No News
2021 | 81 min | Documentary
For months, the crew of the Mission Lifeline sea rescue ship is stuck in the port of Malta. The ship's captain is on trial for rescuing hundreds of refugees. This feature debut portrays the crew during their wait for a redemptive and anchor-releasing verdict. Ten months during which life, and death, continues in the Mediterranean. Sober shots of everyday life on the ship alternate with distress calls from the ship's radio, about boats in distress or of the isolated rescue of survivors. "This documentary ...
Rising Sun Blues
2022 | 83 min | Documentary
Two women from completely different walks of life meet. A filmmaker and a sex worker begin a creative process together in which they exchange experiences and renegotiate boundaries. As they introduce each other to their techniques, the roles between documentation and staging, between director and protagonist, become blurred. What does it mean to show oneself? And how does the narrative change when you stop just observing and start actively shaping it? RISING SUN BLUES by Renata Ferraz and Maria ...
In Heaven's Meadow
2018 | 30 min | Drama
Maya awakes suddenly in Heaven Meadow. She is not dead, she is in Vienna. It is night. She checks out her body. What is she missing? Her shoes, that's for sure. The culprits are gone. Injured and without shoes, Maya runs back to the city - home. Without further ado she goes to Italy, to Daniel, her boyfriend. Daniel does not know what happened to her in Vienna, but he senses something is different. Maya wants to regain control over her life, not be a victim. And yet she's just drifting through ...
Of Neo-Nazis and Superheroes – How the Far Right is Changing a Small German Town
2018 | 56 min | Documentary
This small town has hosted right-wing rock concerts in the past, but now, remarkably, a diverse group of anti-right activists has emerged to challenge local right-wing organizations. The film offers new insights into how the societal shift to the right took place and how a right-wing parallel world that was able to establish itself in town and how creative forms of protest can flourish.
GDR Experimental: First Leipzig Autumn Salon
2006 | 22 min | Icons & Media Art
In 1984, the artists Lutz Dammbeck, Günter Firit, Hans Hendrik Grimmling, Frieder Heinze, Günter Huniat and Olaf Wegewitz occupied a trade fair building in the center of Leipzig to stage one of the first independent and public exhibitions in the GDR – the 1st LEIPZIGER HERBSTSALON. The event was an act of resistance against the GDR's system of state control and a creative form of self-assertion. The artists defied the restrictive guidelines of cultural policy and created an autonomous space for avant-garde, ...
Among the Palms the Bomb
2024 | 85 min | Documentary
On the shores of the Salton Sea in Southern California, the ground itself begins to speak. What appears to be sand is in fact a dense layer of fish remains, plant matter and insects — the residue of an ecosystem increasingly pushed out of balance. Falling water levels, rising salinity and environmental stress are visibly transforming the landscape, turning the lake into a site of ongoing decay. Voices from the region, including members of the Cahuilla community, reflect on the complex relationship ...
Recycling Medea: Not an Opera Ballet Film
2013 | 75 min | Music, Dance, Theater
While the classical play MEDEA by Euripides is performed on stage, young people on the streets of Athens fight against a state that steals all their opportunities. In associative form, the film interweaves the ancient myth of a mother who kills her children with images of violent street protests and lines from Anne Frank's diary. Six solo dancers - including an extraordinary Maria Kousouni as Medea - in expressive close-ups, in a mixture of classical ballet and modern expressive dance, interwoven ...
Angry Spirits
2024 | 90 min | Documentary
ANGRY SPIRITS follows Ainur, a young Mongolian erotic dancer in Ulaanbaatar, as nightmares and a growing sense of illness leave her feeling lonely and uprooted. She believes evil spirits may be taking hold of her, and the film opens on her search for relief and direction. Guided by shamans, Ainur travels back toward her family's land in northern Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, hoping to reconnect with her roots, her ancestors, and the spirits of nature. The journey is both physical and emotional, ...
Barricade
2021 | 83 min | Documentary
In the tree tops, climate activists create their own utopia, a free and alternative living space where they employ their bodies and creativity to challenge the state authorities. Since 2020, David Klammer has repeatedly been to the 'Danni'. With patience and on his own - without a crew - he was able to gain the activists' trust. In the film they talk about their commitment, their fears, their motivation and thier hopes. This is contrasted with the militaristic images of the eviction and clearing. ...