德國

Today, the traditional “Lucha Canaria” or Canarian Wrestling is both a modern sport and a significant marker of cultural identity in the Canary Islands of Spain (situated off the coast of Africa). This sport and its relevance for the people’s identity as Canarios and inhabitants of their different islands and regions is shown in this documentary shot on Tenerife, Gran Canaria and La Palma. We encounter forms of contemporary wrestling through two male and one female protagonist, and we are informed about the history of “La Lucha”by the local expert and poet Borito. The film culminates in the big wrestling event held annually on the 30th of May, the “Dia de Canarias”.

A married mother of five, Duka enters a state of emotional turmoil when her husband marries again. Among the Hamar in Southern Ethiopia who live with herds and cultivate small fields of sorghum in their remote, bush-covered country, men are allowed to marry more than one wife, but few do. From dilemma to resolution, the complicated relationships between the wives, the husband and his mother are intimately investigated in the fourth film by Jean Lydall featuring Duka.

Framed by the beautiful poetry of the oppressed Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, this revealing documentary features memorable portraits of five gay men and one transsexual woman living in and around Havana. Their disparate stories and candid interviews dispel myths while demonstrating a range of experience, opinion and social status: A vibrant nineteen year old, Raudel attends illegal gay parties, since the government still cracks down on queer gatherings; Tomas is a former colleague of Arenas, still deeply in touch with the revolutionary spirit; A courageous and talented photographer, Eduardo explores the mythology of Cuban machismo through his work; Imperio is an HIV-positive drag artist performing in the illegal cabarets; Alexy is the son of a Communist official living under the radar on the Malecon; and Isabel is a transsexual woman whose triumphant spirit helps her survive in a hate-filled world. Cuba is the country where they live, but the night is where they thrive.

According to the belief of ‘Sufis’, the mystical Islamic, ‘Mast’ is someone who walks the road of love to reach his beloved Saint, one who is in a state of ecstasy, absorbed in an inner rhythm of meditation and trance in his search for spiritual love. ‘Mast Qalandar’ was a Sufi Saint, who settled down in Sehwan Sharif in the south of Pakistan at the beginning of the 13th century to spread his preaching of love, tolerance and ecstasy. Soon he became one of the most legendary mystical Islamic Saints of the Orient. Those who are in extreme love with the Saint wish nothing but meeting Him in an obliteration of the conscious self and even give up their own existence to reach the Saint. During the annual celebration of reunion of the Saint with Allah, around one million devotees, from all over Pakistan, India and Afghanistan pilgrim to his Shrine at Sehwan Sharif in search of individual and collective ecstasy.

A tribute to the syncretism of cinema and the power of imagination, Ghanaian Video Tales introduces the exciting and unique genre of African horror movies – and the filmmakers behind it. Since the early 1990s video technology has deeply changed the African media world. Easy handling and affordable cost of production have enabled filmmakers to tell their own stories for their local audiences. The result has been a growing and highly evocative modern mythology. The documentary draws the portrait of five Ghanaian filmmakers, actors and producers. It presents original clips from some of their most famous movies: from the initial blockbuster “Zinabu” to the snakeman cycle “Diabolo” about a man who transforms his female victims into money vomitting monsters to some of the more recent demonic stories such as “Babina” and “Satan’s Wife”. It includes interviews with the pioneers and protagonists of the scene, everyday observations on set, and follows the way of the films themselves – from production to projection.