Mysteries and Crimes

16 films
  • Aferrado

    dir. Esteban Azuela
    anim2024

    Joel roams the city on a motorbike like a character from the 1980s action film. All he wanted to do was to fix cars, but additionally, he cleans up the mess left by his bosses. The animation, pulsating with disco rhythms and set in a glitchy reality, shows a disintegrating man in a violent world.

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    film still Aferrado
  • Being Related to John Malkovich (Biti u rodu s Johnom Malkovichem)

    dir. Luka Mavretić
    dok

    Father and son journey through family myths and memories in pursuit of a rumoured connection to a Hollywood star. As they explore their bond and their future, uncovering the past could bring them closer - or drive them apart.

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    film still Being Related to John Malkovich
  • Citizen-Inmate (Dar Band)

    dir. Hesam Eslami
    dok2025

    In digitally supervised Tehran, the control system stops working as planned. Those who have been watched so far are taking over the gaze. Is it possible to regain power over one’s own life in the world full of cameras? A gripping documentary about rebellion in the age of surveillance.

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    film still Citizen-Inmate
    Awards:Silver Dragon
  • Fear (Strach)

    dir. Robert Zawadzki
    fab2025

    Jola lives in Podlasie, close to the border with Belarus. Her son Marek works in the Border Guard combing the forests in search of immigrants illegally crossing the border. Jola is a taxi driver and wants to stay out of it, but one day, when her car breaks down, she is forced to confront her own convictions.

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    film still Fear
  • My Lost Russian Mother

    dir. Sam Jones
    dok2023

    The Irish director tells a story of siblings who have been adopted by an American family. Gabe decides to travel to Russia, where he hopes to find his biological mother. Meeting her turns out to be a painful experience. The story of the man and his disillusionment with his Russian family has also a dark, unexpected finale.

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    film still My Lost Russian Mother
  • People & Things (Ludzie i rzeczy)

    dir. Damian Kosowski
    fab2024

    Ukraine, 2028. The war is over and difficult issues need to be sorted out. Olena, with her daughter Kira and new partner Timur, arrives to collect the results of the DNA test confirming the death of her husband who went missing. During the procedure, the woman is overwhelmed by doubts.

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    film still People & Things
    Awards:Special Mention
  • Shadowland

    dir. Otso Tiainen
    dok2024

    This was supposed to be a documentary about an esoteric community living today in the French Pyrenees. While it was being filmed, serious accusations were made against one of the sect’s members, Hollywood director Richard Stanley. Consequently, the documentary seems stretched between a utopian fantasy and a brutal clash with reality.

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    film still Shadowland
  • Surviving the Death Commitee

    dir. Nima Sarvestani
    dok2025

    One watches this film like a gripping thriller, and at times like a courtroom drama. An elaborate plot is unfolding before our eyes: a variety of efforts are made to capture and try a man who was co-responsible for the massacre of thousands of Iranian political prisoners in the 1980s.

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    film still Surviving the Death Commitee
  • Tata

    dir. Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc
    dok2024

    In this film, the global problem of invisible slavery meets a family story of violence. When a Moldovan journalist learns that her father, who works in Italy, is being abused and beaten by his employer, she arrives on the scene and tries to record the abuse using a hidden camera.

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    film still Tata
    Awards:Silver Horn
  • The Big Chief (Wielki szef)

    dir. Tomasz Wolski
    dok2025

    He worked for the Soviet intelligence, faked his collaboration with the Gestapo and had to explain himself for it for the rest of his life. In Poland, in 1968, he was put under house arrest as a victim of the anti-Semitic campaign. Employing archival footage in a creative way, the film reveals the remarkable biography of Leopold Trepper.

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    film still The Big Chief
  • The Crooked Heads (Na krzywe łby)

    dir. Jakub Krzyszpin
    anim2025

    A young boy tries to come to terms with his brother’s absence and enters the brutal reality of his neighbourhood. This is an animation about growing up in the world of violence, silence and unresolved past – a terrifying portrait of everyday life, full of aggression, unpaid debts and unsettled scores.

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    film still The Crooked Heads
  • The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy

    dir. Håvard Bustnes
    dok2025

    Tycoons producing carcinogenic asbestos with impunity, activists fighting the global web of illicit connections and a man who was a double or perhaps even a triple agent – here is an investigative documentary whose protagonist continually eludes us.

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    film still The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy
    Awards:Special Award
  • The Prince (El Príncep)

    dir. Alex Sardà
    fab2024

    Arthur is a dancer and his dance company is to stage an important performance. He is also the younger son of a wealthy businessman, whose risky decisions could affect the future and well-being of the whole family. On the eve of the highly anticipated premiere, Arthur is faced with a moral dilemma.

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    film still The Prince
  • The Propagandist (De propagandist)

    dir. Luuk Bouwman
    dok2024

    Why did Jan Teunissen, a distinguished Dutch filmmaker, become the ‘tsar of Nazi propaganda’ during World War II? Composed exclusively of archival footage, including many materials unknown so far, the film tells a story of the man who, ‘for the love of cinema’, began collaborating with the occupier.

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    film still The Propagandist
    Awards:Special Mention
  • Tooth and Nail (După Cioate)

    dir. Radu Mocanu, Mihai Gavril Dragolea
    dok2024

    Once a local businessman, Tiberiu is now a determined Romanian activist. He documents illegal logging in state forests and publishes the evidence on his social media. Two journalists follow in his footsteps and witness the events that seem taken out of a hard-hitting thriller.

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    film still Tooth and Nail
  • Two Cigarettes (Dwa papierosy)

    dir. Rafał Łysak
    dok2024

    After his father’s death, Rafał meets his killer. Daniel is 21 years old and has just left a reformatory. Although Rafał only wants to understand the motives behind the crime, his involvement quickly begins to exceed the boundaries he had previously set.

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    film still Two Cigarettes