
The Beast Within
2008 | 72 min | Documentary
Dog fights and other blood sports are banned in most countries, but they still are practiced widely in alleyways and backyards around the world.


2008 | 72 min | Documentary
Dog fights and other blood sports are banned in most countries, but they still are practiced widely in alleyways and backyards around the world.

2019 | 76 min | Documentary
What inspires people to take the initiative and organize communal living for themselves? What ideals drive them and how does the financing work? On the basis of six self-managed residential buildings in Austria from 40 years, this documentary sets out to find answers. The pioneers of the cooperative living project in Graz-Raaba talk about their experimental ideals of the 1960s and about growing old in community. The most recent buildings, the housing project Vienna Nordbahnhof and the project willy*fred ...

2010 | 52 min | Documentary
"This doc is an important contribution in a time when many people think of meat only as an industrial, supermarket product wrapped in plastic." (Sarah Wiener) On a winter morning, a group of old men gather in a little village to slaughter a pig the traditional way and process some sausages. The film shows the itinerary from the living animal to the edible product in the course of a single day. Director Nikias Chryssos went to a southern German rural area to document an original artisanal procedure, ...

2024 | 27 min | Documentary
Not long ago, countless fireflies swarmed through fields and backyards on summer nights. Today in Iowa, a place known for its uniform landscape and monocultures of corn, fireflies are increasingly rare to find: points of light that blink off just as quickly as they light up in the dark. In POINTS OF LIGHT, filmmaker Annika Juliane Schilling sets out to search for these magical-seeming insects and the reasons for their disappearance. She takes a look at farm work and front lawns, as patterns of ...

2014 | 29 min | Documentary
Landscapes change and people change with them. This happens over centuries and decades, but sometimes also in the fleeting moment of transition from night to day. Then everything changes and nothing remains as it was. "The snow hid everything beneath itself, until people finally forgot." Director Martin Prinoth (DIE GESCHÖPFE DES VESUV), born in Bolzano, is a graduate of the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg. He is a member of the German-Italian artist collective YOVO! YOVO! and co-founder ...

2020 | 43 min | Drama
In a remote mountain village where the main form of communication is an ancient whistled language, lives a 12-year-old boy who does not know how to speak the language. Berat is an outsider, but his connection to a mysterious hybrid creature – half sheep, half dog – leads him on an unusual journey. The sick creature urgently needs medicine, and Berat does everything he can to get it. At the same time, the hybrid teaches him another, equally fascinating form of communication that creates a magical ...

2015 | 82 min | Documentary
This environmental documentary by young, Berlin based filmmaker Philipp von Becker looks at the various issues surrounding the so-called 'energy shift' to green power in Germany. Wind power is a preferred energy source. As a result, ever-increasing numbers of wind turbines are built across the country, casting an expanding mark on previously unspoilt landscapes. In the countryside, the construction of wind parks faces huge opposition - especially if the plants are built in forests. By examining ...

2024 | 74 min | Documentary
FIGHT follows 16-year-old Karine in rural Armenia, where she cares for her father’s dogs who were injured in brutal dogfights. Her dream is to become a veterinarian. This dream clashes with her family’s traditional expectations. Her father expects a different, more “feminine” future for his daughter, yet he was the one who introduced her to this trade, and is glad that she oversees the care and medical treatment of the animals; this creates a quiet but palpable tension. The film juxtaposes everyday ...

2019 | 72 min | Documentary
Alex lives as a hermit on the imposing cliffs of Ireland's Atlantic coast and shares his home with injured animals. After he nurses them to health, he releases them into the wild. Geese, donkeys and especially wild birds find refuge with him until they are strong enough for the harsh outdoors again. But smaller creatures also receive his protection. With a diamond magnifying glass, he observes flies and spiders, and he makes sure that the law of eat or be eaten isn't applicable in his kingdom - ...

2022 | 105 min | Drama
13-year-old Mora lives in the Patagonian steppe with her Swiss Italian ecologist parents. Disenchanted with the conventional life and schooling imposed on her, Mora yearns for the freedom and rugged individuality of a gaucho's existence. Her life takes a pivotal turn when she decides to aid Nazareno, an old Mapuche gaucho, in finding his lost horse, ZAHORÍ. This journey of solidarity with Nazareno becomes a profound voyage of self-discovery, challenging Mora to confront societal norms and her own ...

2017 | 83 min | Documentary
For years, Iris P., alias "Iris Schneider", investigated the left-wing scene and the "Rote Flora" in Hamburg until her exposure in the media in 2014. A few months later, two other undercover detectives in Hamburg were uncovered: Maria B. (cover name "Maria Block") and Astrid O. (alias Astrid Schütt). What are the consequences of surveillance for the individual and for society as a whole? How free are people who are under surveillance?