WHITE WOLVES – GHOSTS OF THE ARCTIC
Hanspeter Aliesch, Zürich
“FROM ZERO TO A HUNDRED” is an inspirational feature-length film that explores the life-changing journey of high school students engaged in the Winners Circle Project. Throughout the course of a year, these students embark on an extraordinary endeavor: building a real race car from scratch. As the documentary unfolds, their unwavering spirit shines amidst adversity, including the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
From overcoming obstacles to achieving success, the film celebrates their journey of personal growth and highlights the transformative power of education, opportunity, and resilience.
At the very northern edge of Canada is Ellesmere Island, where the unforgiving Arctic winds tear through the tundra, dipping temperatures to 40 below zero. Running through this shifting sea of snow and ice is one of the most hardened predators on the planet, the Arctic Wolf. But as the spring melt approaches, these roaming hunters must adapt to being tethered parents as new additions to the pack have just been born.
With never-before-seen footage of wolf family life, Ghosts of the Arctic is a dramatic and touching story of loyalty, companionship and devotion. It’s an epic true tale that reveals the struggles and triumphs of a family working to survive in one of the last great wildernesses on Earth.
Stromboli – as long as the heart beats
For many villagers of Stromboli, the volcano is both its Soul, and at the same time, a monster. And for some of them, the view of the volcano, was the last of their lives.
INactive, America's Silent Killer
This film sheds light on a world plagued by physical inactivity among both young and old.
In a world ensnared by the shackles of sedentary living, where the once vibrant rhythms of life have faded into a disheartening stillness, "Inactive" delves deep into the gripping tale of a physical inactivity pandemic. This thought-provoking film uncovers a haunting reality where children and adults alike have become prisoners of their own immobility, causing widespread health repercussions and a profound societal shift.
Englewood in Southside Chicago began to be called Chiraq when there were more deaths reported there, annually, than US soldiers killed in the combined wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. George Gittoes who has spent the last 50 years covering wars as an artist, filmmaker and photographer turns his attention to the US and spends three years on May Block, the epicentre of gun violence. The situation gets too real when three of the characters are killed during filming. Between January and October 2021 there were 700-gun deaths and 3,766 wounding’s, doubling the casualty figures of 2018, when filming began.
Singer Isabelle Cyr takes a fascinating journey in France to meet her Acadian cousins, whose ancestors were deported from Canada. During the journey, where past and present mingle with personal discoveries, she composes a song on identity and the sense of belonging.
The Mekong River is the most productive in the world in terms of fish catch and supply of nutrient-rich sediment. It is the most important river in Asia. But all that is rapidly changing. This is a satirical personal take on ecosystem collapse along the mighty Mekong, with the biggest threat being Chinese megadams in Yunnan, SW China. Take a wild ride on the Mekong from Source to Sea: 'Mekong Apocalypse' explores the devastating downstream impact of China's megadams in Cambodia's Lake Tonle Sap and Vietnam's Mekong Delta. The filmmaker shot this on the run, getting undercover footage of megadams and illegal sand-dredging. Drawing inspiration from water puppetry theatre in Vietnam, this film features characters like a talking glacier in Tibet, waltzing fish in Laos, and a talking sunflower in Vietnam to get complex concepts across. With this slapstick approach, the film does tend to meander--like the Mekong herself. With its sly nod to Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now,' this is a documentary with strong elements of a mockumentary. Background music carries a stark message--as a number of tracks have been specially commissioned for the film. This film is part four of a series of films delving into serious ecosystem problems concerning the Tibetan plateau.