Heroic women

24 films
Extremely personal and touching stories of women who are not afraid to live against stereotypes.

  • Amy

    dir. Asif Kapadia
    dok2015
    Read more
    film still Amy

  • Apolonia, Apolonia

    dir. Lea Glob
    dok2022

    Over the years, Lea Glob kept filming the charismatic artist Apolonia Sokol. The result is a fascinating portrait, spanning 13 years, of a young woman trying to find her place in the art world.

    Read more
    film still Apolonia, Apolonia

  • Before Bedtime (Regaim Lifney Hashena)

    dir. Fábio Zilberman Iuchno
    dok2022

    Michal has been bed-ridden for over three years. She suffers from an uncurable disease which prevents her from normal functioning. Between hospital stays, the woman is also a wife and mother of two children. Her son is just 7 and although he does not understand much, he becomes her most important companion.

    Read more
    film still Before Bedtime
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Between Revolutions (Între revoluții)

    dir. Vlad Petri
    dok2023

    Illustrated with fascinating archival footage, the correspondence between two friends who studied in Bucharest in the late 1970s serves as an excuse to go on a unique journey in time. What connects Iran in a revolutionary frenzy and socialist Romania where the society’s malaise is concealed by enthusiastic propaganda? In both countries, any hopes for a better future vanish in the shadow of ideological dogmas, always guarded by very much alike sad men in dark coats.

    Read more
    film still Between Revolutions

  • Daughter

    dir. Yaser Talebi
    dok2022

    A father and daughter in a conservative Iranian town. She is expected to be obedient, take care of the aging man, give up her university plans in exchange for a quick marriage, while a new wife is being sought for him. Sarah is not very fond of the idea as no one can replace her late mom.

    Read more
    film still Daughter
    Awards:Silver Dragon
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Faces of Agata (Twarze Agaty)

    dir. Małgorzata Kozera
    dok2023

    When she was 16, Agata heard that she would most likely bleed herself to death within 2 years. On that day she was born anew. After 20 years and over 30 face surgeries, she lives in London and works as an artist who turned her struggle with a lethal disease into art.

    Read more
    film still Faces of Agata
    Awards:Golden Hobby-Horse
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Free Cow (Wolna krowa)

    dir. Marek Głuszczak
    fab2023

    A mother, activist daughter and a free cow meet somewhere in the forest. The latter decided, together with its herd, to start a new life on its own account. But now, cows are to be caught and sentenced to death. Sara refuses to accept it. The girl escapes from home to defend the herd. Her mother Alicia follows the daughter.

    Read more
    film still Free Cow
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Girls of 1960 (1960.gada meotenes)

    dir. Una Celma
    dok2022

    A poignant and painfully honest film about the generation of 60-year-old Latvian women, friends from secondary school born in the era of communism. Contrasting sentimental archival footage with the interviews conducted over the years, the documentary author reveals the divide between the official image of gender equality and the crude reality.

    Read more
    film still Girls of 1960

  • Happy Ending

    dir. Élodie Yung
    fab2022

    A secret from the past combined with the drudgery of everyday life in the company of sweating machos and patronising managers may turn out to be an explosive mixture worthy of Park Chan-wook’s cinema of vengeance and passion. But the film was made by young debutante Élodie Yung, who invites us to a massage parlour where a young immigrant from Cambodia offers her services.

    Read more
    film still Happy Ending
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Inside Kabul

    dir. Caroline Gillet, Denis Walgenwitz
    dok2023

    A simple animated line and a powerful documentary story. Journalist Caroline Gillet receives unique recordings from two Afghan women she knows. In short messages, Marwa and Raha report the brutal takeover of the country by the armed Taliban. Very soon, one of the women flees her homeland.

    Read more
    film still Inside Kabul
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Is There Anybody Out There? (Czy jest tam ktoś?)

    dir. Ella Glendining
    dok2023

    The film director and protagonist in one defies stereotypes related to otherness and disability. Despite a severe body deformity, she lives her life to the fullest and finds fulfilment as a woman and artist. To find out whether there are people with a similar affliction elsewhere in the world, she sets off on a journey.

    Read more
    film still Is There Anybody Out There?
    Awards:Silver Horn / Special Award

  • It's Only/Not Only A Body... Or A Short Film About Freedom (To tylko/aż ciało... albo krótki film o wolności)

    dir. Michał Hytroś
    dok2023

    Love thyself. This is the life credo of Zosia - a photographer, traveller and free spirit. Going round the world in her camper, she uses photography to make other women comfortable with nakedness and teaches them to love their own bodies.

    Read more
    film still It
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Knowing the Score

    dir. Janine Hosking
    dok2022

    Not until recently was the world ready to accept a female orchestra conductor. Simone Young, an Australian with a baton, is one of the first women who paved the way. The document was produced by Cate Blanchett, the star of ‘Tár’, who takes the role of the renowned maestra this time.

    Read more
    film still Knowing the Score
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • La Singla

    dir. Paloma Zapata
    dok2023

    As a teenager, she was a great discovery in the flamenco world, not only because this Roma girl from the outskirts of Barcelona was deaf. Due to her exceptionally passionate expression she became a star of Europe’s stages, and then she disappeared for fifty years. Today. a contemporary dancer walks in the footsteps of La Singla.

    Read more
    film still La Singla
    Awards:Special Mention
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Machina Faust

    dir. Kaupo Kruusiauk
    dok2022

    Meet a saxophone virtuoso who breaks glass ceilings – her name is Maria Faust and she is an eminent Estonian jazz artist who improvises on stage and in her life with equal bravado. She lets the camera in as close as possible; therefore, an intimate portrayal of this expressive and independent women can be achieved.

    Read more
    film still Machina Faust
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Mommies

    dir. Maria Sidiropoulou, Elvira Krithari
    dok2022

    There are many legends that surround the in vitro procedure. The film directors decided to give voice to the women who have experienced this form artificial insemination from two different perspectives. Ioanna is a recipient who owes her maternity to the procedure, while Rosa, who has never wanted to be a mother, becomes an anonymous donor.

    Read more
    film still Mommies
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • My Blonde GF

    dir. Rosie Morris
    dok2023

    An awarded author, Helen is a public person. Her photographs can easily be found online and on her social media profiles. Has someone used these public sources to create vulgar illustrations containing her image and illegally placed them on porn sites?

    Read more
    film still My Blonde GF
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • My Name Is Happy

    dir. Nick Read, Ayse Toprak
    dok2022

    In 2015, Turkish-Kurdish singer Mutlu Kaya was shot in her own house. The film authors follow the life of the girl who decided to bring the culprit to justice and put up a fight for the recovery of her voice becoming the symbol of opposition against the impunity of perpetrators of honour killings.

    Read more
    film still My Name Is Happy
    Awards:Golden Horn
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Natalia LL - Art is like Love (Natalia LL - Sztuka jest jak miłość)

    dir. Andrzej Sapija
    dok2022

    In 2019 she became famous again when the decision to censor her works taken by the Director of the National Museum spurred a wave of protests. But the art of Natalia LL was controversial as early as in the 1960s. In collaboration with her husband, an artist himself, she created art that was shocking at the time.

    Read more
    film still Natalia LL - Art is like Love

  • The First Woman (La primera mujer)

    dir. Miguel Eek
    dok2022

    Eva is a woman in her forties. We meet her when she is a long-term patient of a psychiatric hospital. She is looking forward to the day when she will be able to leave the facility. As she repeatedly states, she dreams of ‘going at large’ and ‘being a normal person’. Yet what is a ‘normal life’ for her?

    Read more
    film still The First Woman

  • The Land You Belong

    dir. Elena Rebeca Carini
    dok2023

    From Northern Italy to Bucharest is a long way to go for the film director in search for her biological family. This journey is also an expedition inside her own identity. Adopted by an Italian couple in her early childhood, she has no idea what the missing Romanian piece of the puzzle will be like.

    Read more
    film still The Land You Belong

  • Ula

    dir. Agnieszka Iwańska
    dok2023

    ‘This is the cradle of our beloved music. We need to verify our skills there’, said Michał Urbaniak to Polish jazz vocalist Urszula Dudziak to convince her to go and conquer the US with him. The film is a recording of the fascinating and tumultuous journey reported from off-screen by the artist herself.

    Read more
    film still Ula
    Awards:Golden Heynal
      Online edition of the 63rd KFF
    • VOD
      From 2 to 18.06KFF VOD

  • Vika!

    dir. Agnieszka Zwiefka
    dok2023

    Vika, who is 84, is one of the eldest DJs in the world. Because of her attitude, she is far from any stereotypes about senior citizens. Bittersweet documentary musical about consistence in following your own path and fighting for your dreams.

    Read more
    film still Vika!

  • Whitney

    dir. Kevin Macdonald
    dok2018

    Directed by the Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald ('The Last King of Scotland', 'Waiting for Joe'), this moving documentary is dedicated to the memory of pop and R&B legend Whitney Houston. "A gripping" (The Guardian), yet intimate and strikingly honest cinematic portrait, offering a unique insight into the life, dizzying career and slow decline, of a star gifted with unparalleled talent. Filled with the memories of the artist's loved ones, previously unreleased films and music that has already achieved the status of immortality.

    Read more
    film still Whitney