Pollard and Forsyth, who have previously worked with Cave on Bad Seeds videos, turn inner states into inhabitable rooms. What is real and what is unreal is not for the audience to guess.
An intimate portrait of Nick Cave.
(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard; Stars: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Blixa Bargeld, Kylie Minogue, Susie Cave, Ray Winstone, Darian Leader, Arthur Cave, Earl Cave)
Arguably, the story would benefit from the inclusion of other voices, to verify or expand upon what we're told, but despite this there is no shortage of excitement in the tale.
How the son of a senior leader of Hamas spied for the Israeli secret services over the course of a decade.
Peyangki is a dreamy and solitary eight-year-old monk living in Laya, a Bhutanese village perched high in the Himalayas. Soon the world will come to him: the village is about to be connected to electricity, and the first television will flicker on before Peyangki's eyes.
(Country: France, Finland; Year: 2013; Director: Thomas Balmès)
North American premiere
Love Child
In Seoul in the Republic of Korea, a young couple stands accused of neglect when "Internet addiction" in an online fantasy game costs the life of their infant daughter. Love Child documents the 2010 trial and subsequent ruling that set a global precedent in a world where virtual is the new reality.
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2014; Director: Valerie Veatch)
World premiere
Mr leos caraX
Mr leos caraX plunges us into the poetic and visionary world of a mysterious, solitary filmmaker who was already a cult figure from his very first film. Punctuated by interviews and previously unseen footage, this documentary is most of all a fine-tuned exploration of the poetic and visionary world of Leos Carax, alias Mr. X.
(Year: 2014; Director: Tessa Louise-Salomé)
World premiere
My Prairie Home
A poetic journey through landscapes both real and emotional, Chelsea McMullan’s documentary/musical offers an intimate portrait of transgender singer Rae Spoon, framed by stunning images of the Canadian prairies. McMullan’s imaginative visual interpretations of Spoon’s songs make this an unforgettable look at a unique Canadian artist.
(Country: Canada; Year: 2013; Director: Chelsea McMullan; Writer: Chelsea McMullan; Stars: Rae Spoon)
International premiere
The Notorious Mr. Bout
Viktor Bout was a war profiteer, an entrepreneur, an aviation tycoon, an arms dealer, and - strangest of all - a documentary filmmaker. The Notorious Mr. Bout is the ultimate rags-to-riches-to-prison memoir, documented by the last man you'd expect to be holding the camera.
(Country: US, Russia; Year: 2014; Director: Tony Gerber, Maxim Pozdorovkin)
The film has been impressively edited by Anne Fabini, so that despite the inevitable rough and ready nature of some of the footage captured under fire, the end result feels taut and cohesive.
Documentary about rebel fighters in the besieged Syrian city.
Sepideh wants to become an astronaut. As a young Iranian woman, she knows it’s dangerous to challenge traditions and expectations. Still, Sepideh holds on to her dream. She knows a tough battle is ahead, a battle that only seems possible to win once she seeks help from an unexpected someone.
China is the first country to label “Internet addiction” a clinical disorder. Web Junkie investigates a Beijing rehab center where Chinese teenagers are deprogrammed.
We Come as Friends views colonisation as a human phenomenon through both explicit and metaphoric lenses without oversimplified accusations or political theorising. Alarmingly, It is not a historical film since colonisation and the slave trade still exist.
