25th Madurai Film Festival 2023
List of films : International Documentaries
1) Death Hotel
Dir : Gustav Hugo Olsson; 20 min; Documentary; Sweden / India
In "Death Hotel," we follow 107-year-old Gulchu Bai's final days in the holy city Varanasi, where her family has checked her into one of the city´s revered death hotels to get salvation upon death.
The film is exploring the complexities of this ancient tradition and its interplay with culture, spirituality, and mortality. A unique reflection on the circle of life, where death is not mourned but rather celebrated.
2) Apollo-Soyuz. Force of Attraction
Dir : Andrey Feofanov; 50 min; Documentary; Russian Federation
3) Wedding Night
Dir : Mevlut Karabulut; 8.47 min; Documentary; Turkey
Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi influenced humanity and strengthened the friendship and brotherhood of peoples with the magnetic and universal personality of his thought, love and tolerance being universal. This attitude and behavior, along with his works, has enabled the spread of love, brotherhood and peace Decently among people.
4) Blue ID
Dir: Burcu Melekoglu, Vuslat Karan; 84 min; Documentary; Turkey
Rüzgar Erkoçlar, a former famous actor, struggles with self-realization and acceptance in the traditional society of Turkey under the media spotlight as a trans man.
5) Part of Life
Dir : Ezequiel Romero; 19.20 min; Documentary; Spain
A group of working class colleagues decide to form a cooperative in 80s Spain to manufacture cork caps and capsules in Jerez, home of Sherry wine. 38 years later the remaining partners are about to retire and they reflect on the adventure of a lifetime and what it meant to be an entrepreneur then vs today. This part of their lives is over and a new one begins.
6) Position
Dir : Yuri Pupirin; 27.48 min; Documentary; Ukraine
The film tells the story of a group of Ukrainian soldiers from a territorial self-defence battalion that is heading to a battle position in a “gray zone” that is located several hundred meters from ‘enemy’ positions.
7) Vice Versa
Dir : Elettra Pierantoni; 10.55 min; Documentary; Italy
Vice Versa is the story of an adventure of a photographer and his father on the roof of a church in Rome. The photographer's eyes rest on his hometown from above, turning it upside down, depriving it of movement and human beings. The dream of his gaze suddenly becomes a sharp nightmare; hallucinatory and in lovesick.
8) In Search of Bengali Harlem
Dir : Vivek Bald; 85 min; Documentary; United States
As a teenager in 1980s Harlem, Alaudin Ullah was swept up in the revolutionary energy of early hip-hop. He rejected his working-class Bangladeshi parents and turned his back on everything South Asian and Muslim. Now, as an actor and playwright in post-9/11 America, Alaudin wants to tell his parents' stories, but has no idea of the lives they led as Muslim immigrants of an earlier era. In Search of Bengali Harlem follows Ullah from the streets of New York City to the villages of Bangladesh to uncover the pasts of his father, Habib, and mother, Mohima.
9) Parallels
Dir : Benoit; 65 min; Documentary; France
A wandering documentary. Images, lives and words in voiceover. Artists, workers, political prisoners, migrants, farmers, women and men wonder what they are doing with their lives. Ask, contemplate. Facing the animal world, the power of nature. Dream. Seek balance.
10) Without Stratos
Dir : Nikos Katsos; 5 min; Documentary; Greece; Student film
...a while ago they lived together... now it's different…
11) Elegy for a village
Dir : Weipeng Huang; 13 min; Documentary; China
Weave a sentimental poem about time using fragments of true images about things in your hometown.
12) Terrua Para
Dir : Jorane Castro; 100 min; Documentary; Brazil
Set in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, in Brazil, the music of the state of Pará is synonymous with lightness and joy. The film recreates this spirit, drawing a structure in stagings. Each one of them unveils the universe where the music of Pará originated. Terruá Pará registers the current moment of cultural effervescence, proposing an integrated look at the artistic movements in Pará.
13) INDOCAM
Dir : Alexander Hahn; 78 min; Documentary; United States
«INDOCAM» is an experimental travelog documenting my trip from New York to India, covertly filmed with a concealed wristwatch camera. By avoiding the intrusive presence of a traditional cinematic apparatus, I was able to engage in genuine interactions and unscripted dialogues with individuals from various domains, including private, cultural, political, and public figures in both the United States and India.
14) The Saviouress The Mystery of a Buddhist Icon
Dir : Anna Koryakovtseva; 40 min; Documentary; Russian Federation
Tara means savior in Pali and Sanskrit and thangka means icon. One of the main relics of the Stavropol State Museum-Reserve is the icon of the Indian deity Green Tara. At the end of the thirties of the last century, this icon disappeared. It seemed like forever. But then she was miraculously found. The film tells about why the thangka of the Green Tara is one of the most revered in Buddhist iconography.
15) Red Hill Studio
Dir : Phillip Hester; 65 min; Documentary; Germany / China
In Hohhot, the capital of the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, a young Mongolian hip-hop scene struggles for visibility by their public. The group Red Hill is about to grant the new rap artist EK shelter in their studio and to baptize him into the art of Mongolian hip-hop. As EK’s dream of becoming a rap star seems to grow nearer, the group Red Hill finds itself suddenly at a crossroads.
16) Untold Story of Fatma Kayaci
Dir: Orhan Tekeoglu; 40 min; Documentary; Turkey
Year 1985. Everybody talks about 16-year old Ali Kayacı who died by falling into the fire, while staying with his aunt on the mountain pasture of 2000 metres. Ali’s step mother, their neighbour Aunt Emine say that the kid falling victim to this accident was because of Fatma Kayacı’s neglect.After this painful incident, when Fatma Kayacı hears about the accusations from her relatives and neighbors, she resents them tremendously and leaves her village not to see anyone from the relatives again.
17) I am not
Dir : Tomer Heymann; 99.48 min; Documentary; Israel
Oren was adopted from Guatemala by an Israeli family when he was a baby. Long unable to find his place in society, the teenager has been subject to ridicule because of his communication difficulties, while at the same time dealing with recurring false diagnoses of mental illness. Oren decides to take up a small video camera and document his own life.
18) On Mothers and Daughters in Times of Injustice
Dir : Talia Jawitz; 28.48 min; Documentary; South Africa
Through old letters, Merle revisits her past as an anti-Apartheid activist, which fractured her relationship with her mother forever. At the same time, she faces her privilege in today's South Africa and her relationship with her own daughter.
19) A Summer with Dad
Dir : Hung-chun Chen, Marcelo Novais Teles; 52 min; Documentary; France
Hung-chun, who has been living in France for more than ten years, goes to Taipei to find her father, Mr. Chen, a high court judge on the eve of his retirement. Intrigued by what happened at the time when everyone was silent, she takes her camera and tries to get her father to open up, to reveal himself.
20) Dancing the Fine Print
Dir : Ranjani Nair & Louis Norris; 3 min; Documentary; United Kingdom
Ranjini's PhD project is a practice-based inquiry into how the practice and performance of Indian classical dance replicates socio-religious hierarchies within India.
21) The Order of Things
Dir : Ramona Badescu, Jeff Silva; 62 min; Documentary; Romania
At the ripe age of 90 years old, Alexandru gardens, jokes, and continues to repair watches in the workshop opened by his father in 1909, somewhere in southern Romania. But what is invisible to everyone, and what has changed his life forever, is his past as a political prisoner.
22) Live Till I Die
Dir : Gustav Ågerstrand, Åsa Ekman, Oscar Hedin Hetteberg, Anders Teigen; 23.36 min; Documentary; Sweden
In a state-funded nursing home on the outskirts of Stockholm, a close relationship develops between Monica, a compassionate care worker, and Ella - a 99 year-old resident without a family of her own. A life-affirming emotional account of the challenges and opportunities of late life care.
23) Last Summer
Dir : Ihar Chyschenia; 40.47 min; Documentary; Poland
The film tells the story of teenage skaters from Minsk who are enjoying the summer of 2020, probably the most difficult summer in the history of Belarus. They will never forget that summer: they fall in love, argue, reconcile, disappoint, laugh, go to clubs, prepare for exams, sing songs, but most of all they skateboard.
24) Searching For Danill Ivanow
Dir : Kasia Jadlowiecka; 44.30 min; Documentary; Poland
The film spans over 100 years and dates back to 1917. It is the story of the Manko-Ivanov family – grandfather, father, son and grandson.
Grandfather (Daniil) was arrested for participating in the anti-Bolshevik peasant war in 1939 and disappeared without a trace. Father (Longin) was in Gulag and miraculously escaped execution. Son (Gennady) fought in Afghanistan and only the grandson (Anton) lives the ordinary life of modern youth: writes music and hangs out with friends. However, family riddles haunt him, too.
25) Water Mill at Badi
Dir : Khabu; 35 min; Documentary; China
Yongzhonglamu decided to fulfill her 96-year-old mother's wish to pass on their love to the children with her own hands and in her own way.
With her hard work and the inherited skills, she saved enough money to change phones and complete the repair of the water mill, sending love to the children in this way.
26) Unhusk
Dir : Jue Wang; 57.20 min; Documentary; China
A decade after her photos spotlighted China’s rice farming traditions, a photographer returns to document vanishing lifeways. As landscapes and villages empty, who will grow the rice now? This lyrical requiem explores how once-thriving cultural heritage erodes when communities disperse and young inheritors dwindle
27) NUESTRA VENGANZA ES SER FELICES
Dir : Malena Villarino; 75 min; Documentary; Brazil
‘Our revenge is to be happy’ is a documentary about the life of Sonia Sánchez, and her transformation from a victim of sexual exploitation to a subject of rights, a writer and a feminist activist. The film urges us to inquire about sex work, and raises various questions such as: Is prostitution the oldest job in the world or is it the oldest form of exploitation of women’s bodies?
28) A Hero of Our Time
Dir : Svetla Tsotsorkova, Svetoslav Ovcharov; 58 min; Documentary; Bulgaria
Georgi is a village builder contractor. He's honest and direct. His values and moral system often clash with contemporary society's. Seen as crazy by some, he is a source of endless aphorisms to others. To live your life with dignity and without compromise in our time is heroic.
29) Lost Images
Dir : Cesare Bedogne; 35.33 min; Documentary; Italy
This film is about a life left behind in a distant land, about a final departure, memory and loss, love and dead birds, visions and blindness.
A visual poem also inspired by a drawing by Egon Schiele.
30) Thirty Five
Dir : Ashique Mostafa; 70 min; Documentary; Bangladesh
A farewell to the generation who grew up making 35mm movies. In this hybrid documentary, we watch a mock attempt to produce the last celluloid film in Bangladesh investigating the emotion and nostalgia for the good old days of celluloid cinema that have faded into obsolescence. It’s a farewell to celluloid.
31) Congo Calling
Dir : Stephan Hilpert; 90 min; Documentary; Germany
In crisis-ridden eastern Congo, three European development aid workers are forced to question what it means to help. Deeply personal insights into coexistence and cooperation between Europe and Africa – and the question: how helpful is the help of the West?
List of films : International Documentaries
1) Death Hotel
Dir : Gustav Hugo Olsson; 20 min; Documentary; Sweden / India
In "Death Hotel," we follow 107-year-old Gulchu Bai's final days in the holy city Varanasi, where her family has checked her into one of the city´s revered death hotels to get salvation upon death.
The film is exploring the complexities of this ancient tradition and its interplay with culture, spirituality, and mortality. A unique reflection on the circle of life, where death is not mourned but rather celebrated.
2) Apollo-Soyuz. Force of Attraction
Dir : Andrey Feofanov; 50 min; Documentary; Russian Federation
3) Wedding Night
Dir : Mevlut Karabulut; 8.47 min; Documentary; Turkey
Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi influenced humanity and strengthened the friendship and brotherhood of peoples with the magnetic and universal personality of his thought, love and tolerance being universal. This attitude and behavior, along with his works, has enabled the spread of love, brotherhood and peace Decently among people.
4) Blue ID
Dir: Burcu Melekoglu, Vuslat Karan; 84 min; Documentary; Turkey
Rüzgar Erkoçlar, a former famous actor, struggles with self-realization and acceptance in the traditional society of Turkey under the media spotlight as a trans man.
5) Part of Life
Dir : Ezequiel Romero; 19.20 min; Documentary; Spain
A group of working class colleagues decide to form a cooperative in 80s Spain to manufacture cork caps and capsules in Jerez, home of Sherry wine. 38 years later the remaining partners are about to retire and they reflect on the adventure of a lifetime and what it meant to be an entrepreneur then vs today. This part of their lives is over and a new one begins.
6) Position
Dir : Yuri Pupirin; 27.48 min; Documentary; Ukraine
The film tells the story of a group of Ukrainian soldiers from a territorial self-defence battalion that is heading to a battle position in a “gray zone” that is located several hundred meters from ‘enemy’ positions.
7) Vice Versa
Dir : Elettra Pierantoni; 10.55 min; Documentary; Italy
Vice Versa is the story of an adventure of a photographer and his father on the roof of a church in Rome. The photographer's eyes rest on his hometown from above, turning it upside down, depriving it of movement and human beings. The dream of his gaze suddenly becomes a sharp nightmare; hallucinatory and in lovesick.
8) In Search of Bengali Harlem
Dir : Vivek Bald; 85 min; Documentary; United States
As a teenager in 1980s Harlem, Alaudin Ullah was swept up in the revolutionary energy of early hip-hop. He rejected his working-class Bangladeshi parents and turned his back on everything South Asian and Muslim. Now, as an actor and playwright in post-9/11 America, Alaudin wants to tell his parents' stories, but has no idea of the lives they led as Muslim immigrants of an earlier era. In Search of Bengali Harlem follows Ullah from the streets of New York City to the villages of Bangladesh to uncover the pasts of his father, Habib, and mother, Mohima.
9) Parallels
Dir : Benoit; 65 min; Documentary; France
A wandering documentary. Images, lives and words in voiceover. Artists, workers, political prisoners, migrants, farmers, women and men wonder what they are doing with their lives. Ask, contemplate. Facing the animal world, the power of nature. Dream. Seek balance.
10) Without Stratos
Dir : Nikos Katsos; 5 min; Documentary; Greece; Student film
...a while ago they lived together... now it's different…
11) Elegy for a village
Dir : Weipeng Huang; 13 min; Documentary; China
Weave a sentimental poem about time using fragments of true images about things in your hometown.
12) Terrua Para
Dir : Jorane Castro; 100 min; Documentary; Brazil
Set in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, in Brazil, the music of the state of Pará is synonymous with lightness and joy. The film recreates this spirit, drawing a structure in stagings. Each one of them unveils the universe where the music of Pará originated. Terruá Pará registers the current moment of cultural effervescence, proposing an integrated look at the artistic movements in Pará.
13) INDOCAM
Dir : Alexander Hahn; 78 min; Documentary; United States
«INDOCAM» is an experimental travelog documenting my trip from New York to India, covertly filmed with a concealed wristwatch camera. By avoiding the intrusive presence of a traditional cinematic apparatus, I was able to engage in genuine interactions and unscripted dialogues with individuals from various domains, including private, cultural, political, and public figures in both the United States and India.
14) The Saviouress The Mystery of a Buddhist Icon
Dir : Anna Koryakovtseva; 40 min; Documentary; Russian Federation
Tara means savior in Pali and Sanskrit and thangka means icon. One of the main relics of the Stavropol State Museum-Reserve is the icon of the Indian deity Green Tara. At the end of the thirties of the last century, this icon disappeared. It seemed like forever. But then she was miraculously found. The film tells about why the thangka of the Green Tara is one of the most revered in Buddhist iconography.
15) Red Hill Studio
Dir : Phillip Hester; 65 min; Documentary; Germany / China
In Hohhot, the capital of the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, a young Mongolian hip-hop scene struggles for visibility by their public. The group Red Hill is about to grant the new rap artist EK shelter in their studio and to baptize him into the art of Mongolian hip-hop. As EK’s dream of becoming a rap star seems to grow nearer, the group Red Hill finds itself suddenly at a crossroads.
16) Untold Story of Fatma Kayaci
Dir: Orhan Tekeoglu; 40 min; Documentary; Turkey
Year 1985. Everybody talks about 16-year old Ali Kayacı who died by falling into the fire, while staying with his aunt on the mountain pasture of 2000 metres. Ali’s step mother, their neighbour Aunt Emine say that the kid falling victim to this accident was because of Fatma Kayacı’s neglect.After this painful incident, when Fatma Kayacı hears about the accusations from her relatives and neighbors, she resents them tremendously and leaves her village not to see anyone from the relatives again.
17) I am not
Dir : Tomer Heymann; 99.48 min; Documentary; Israel
Oren was adopted from Guatemala by an Israeli family when he was a baby. Long unable to find his place in society, the teenager has been subject to ridicule because of his communication difficulties, while at the same time dealing with recurring false diagnoses of mental illness. Oren decides to take up a small video camera and document his own life.
18) On Mothers and Daughters in Times of Injustice
Dir : Talia Jawitz; 28.48 min; Documentary; South Africa
Through old letters, Merle revisits her past as an anti-Apartheid activist, which fractured her relationship with her mother forever. At the same time, she faces her privilege in today's South Africa and her relationship with her own daughter.
19) A Summer with Dad
Dir : Hung-chun Chen, Marcelo Novais Teles; 52 min; Documentary; France
Hung-chun, who has been living in France for more than ten years, goes to Taipei to find her father, Mr. Chen, a high court judge on the eve of his retirement. Intrigued by what happened at the time when everyone was silent, she takes her camera and tries to get her father to open up, to reveal himself.
20) Dancing the Fine Print
Dir : Ranjani Nair & Louis Norris; 3 min; Documentary; United Kingdom
Ranjini's PhD project is a practice-based inquiry into how the practice and performance of Indian classical dance replicates socio-religious hierarchies within India.
21) The Order of Things
Dir : Ramona Badescu, Jeff Silva; 62 min; Documentary; Romania
At the ripe age of 90 years old, Alexandru gardens, jokes, and continues to repair watches in the workshop opened by his father in 1909, somewhere in southern Romania. But what is invisible to everyone, and what has changed his life forever, is his past as a political prisoner.
22) Live Till I Die
Dir : Gustav Ågerstrand, Åsa Ekman, Oscar Hedin Hetteberg, Anders Teigen; 23.36 min; Documentary; Sweden
In a state-funded nursing home on the outskirts of Stockholm, a close relationship develops between Monica, a compassionate care worker, and Ella - a 99 year-old resident without a family of her own. A life-affirming emotional account of the challenges and opportunities of late life care.
23) Last Summer
Dir : Ihar Chyschenia; 40.47 min; Documentary; Poland
The film tells the story of teenage skaters from Minsk who are enjoying the summer of 2020, probably the most difficult summer in the history of Belarus. They will never forget that summer: they fall in love, argue, reconcile, disappoint, laugh, go to clubs, prepare for exams, sing songs, but most of all they skateboard.
24) Searching For Danill Ivanow
Dir : Kasia Jadlowiecka; 44.30 min; Documentary; Poland
The film spans over 100 years and dates back to 1917. It is the story of the Manko-Ivanov family – grandfather, father, son and grandson.
Grandfather (Daniil) was arrested for participating in the anti-Bolshevik peasant war in 1939 and disappeared without a trace. Father (Longin) was in Gulag and miraculously escaped execution. Son (Gennady) fought in Afghanistan and only the grandson (Anton) lives the ordinary life of modern youth: writes music and hangs out with friends. However, family riddles haunt him, too.
25) Water Mill at Badi
Dir : Khabu; 35 min; Documentary; China
Yongzhonglamu decided to fulfill her 96-year-old mother's wish to pass on their love to the children with her own hands and in her own way.
With her hard work and the inherited skills, she saved enough money to change phones and complete the repair of the water mill, sending love to the children in this way.
26) Unhusk
Dir : Jue Wang; 57.20 min; Documentary; China
A decade after her photos spotlighted China’s rice farming traditions, a photographer returns to document vanishing lifeways. As landscapes and villages empty, who will grow the rice now? This lyrical requiem explores how once-thriving cultural heritage erodes when communities disperse and young inheritors dwindle
27) NUESTRA VENGANZA ES SER FELICES
Dir : Malena Villarino; 75 min; Documentary; Brazil
‘Our revenge is to be happy’ is a documentary about the life of Sonia Sánchez, and her transformation from a victim of sexual exploitation to a subject of rights, a writer and a feminist activist. The film urges us to inquire about sex work, and raises various questions such as: Is prostitution the oldest job in the world or is it the oldest form of exploitation of women’s bodies?
28) A Hero of Our Time
Dir : Svetla Tsotsorkova, Svetoslav Ovcharov; 58 min; Documentary; Bulgaria
Georgi is a village builder contractor. He's honest and direct. His values and moral system often clash with contemporary society's. Seen as crazy by some, he is a source of endless aphorisms to others. To live your life with dignity and without compromise in our time is heroic.
29) Lost Images
Dir : Cesare Bedogne; 35.33 min; Documentary; Italy
This film is about a life left behind in a distant land, about a final departure, memory and loss, love and dead birds, visions and blindness.
A visual poem also inspired by a drawing by Egon Schiele.
30) Thirty Five
Dir : Ashique Mostafa; 70 min; Documentary; Bangladesh
A farewell to the generation who grew up making 35mm movies. In this hybrid documentary, we watch a mock attempt to produce the last celluloid film in Bangladesh investigating the emotion and nostalgia for the good old days of celluloid cinema that have faded into obsolescence. It’s a farewell to celluloid.
31) Congo Calling
Dir : Stephan Hilpert; 90 min; Documentary; Germany
In crisis-ridden eastern Congo, three European development aid workers are forced to question what it means to help. Deeply personal insights into coexistence and cooperation between Europe and Africa – and the question: how helpful is the help of the West?
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