In ‘Still by my side’, people share why they choose to have their deceased pets preserved through taxidermy. While the taxidermist uses foam, clay, and glass eyes to try to bring back the animal’s soul, the owners reveal what drives them: a longing for something to hold onto, for comfort, and for keeping alive a bond too precious to let go.

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Exceptionally talented actor and bridge-builder between black and white, a political icon and artist at the same time: that was Sidney Poitier. He made Hollywood history in 1964 when he became the first black man to win an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role − and thus became the first international black superstar.

He grew up in poor circumstances in the Bahamas − with only a few years of schooling. Despite this humble start, Sidney Poitier became a film legend committed artistically and politically against all odds. What compromises did he have to make? What shaped him? This documentary gives an intimate insight into the eventful life of the actor and director, who died in January 2022 at the age of 94.

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In nature, a couple is a male and a female. Well, not always! A couple is also a female and a female. Or a male and a male. You may not know it, but LGBTQI+  isn’t just a human story. This is a celebration of diversity in the animal kingdom.

AWARDS

• Swiss Film Prize 2022 – Best Short Animation
• The Special Distinction of the Jury, Insomnia International Open-Air 2021 – Russie
• Best LGBT – Animation Film – Colors of Love International Queer Film Festival 2021 Penjab – Inde
• Best animation – Festival of Nations 2021, Lenzing – Autriche
• Honorable mention – ANIMASYROS International Animation Festival 2021 Syros island – Grèce
• Special mention – Rising of Lusitania – AnimaDoc Film Festiva 2021 Gdansk – Pologne
• Special mention – Scream Queer – Eros and Thanatos 2021 Rome – Italie
• Best Animated Short Film for Young – ANIMAPHIX 2021 Bagheria – Italie
• Grand Prix des P’tits Loups – Montreal Festival du nouveau cinema 2021 Montreal – Canada
• Meilleur Film Thématique- Crossroads International Short Film Festival 2021 Istambul – Turquie
• Bronze octopus award – TAF Thessaloniki Animation Festival 2021 – Grèce
• best short – prémio del publico – International Film Festival of Lanzarote 2021 – Espagne
• prix du public – Good Natured: A Conservation Optimism Short Film Festival 2021 Oxford – UK
• runner up (2nd place) – Good Natured: A Conservation Optimism Short Film Festival 2021 – UK
• best picture – Global Assembly on Everyday Life, Gender and Sexuality Film 2021 – Philippines
• best script – Filmambiente Film Festival 2021 Rio de Janeiro – Brésil
• people’s choice award – Filmambiente Film Festival 2021 Rio de Janeiro – Brésil
• Rosa Brille Award – QUEERSICHT queer film festival 2021 Bern – Suisse
• Sparks award (jury jeune) – Winterthur Internationale Kurzfilmtage 2021 – Suisse
• Best Foreign Short Festival Mix Brasil de Cultura da Diversidade 2021– Brésil
• Prix public (under 35) Sedicicorto International Film Festival 2021 Forlí – Italie
• best short – Global Scientific Film Festival 2021 Zurich – 2021
• JUDGE’S SPECIAL MENTIONS London International Animation Festival 2021 – UK
• Guido Manuli Award for its powerful comedy – Sardinia Film Festival 2021 Sassari – Italie
• prix du public pour un film d’anim – Festival int. du film de montagne d’Autrans 2021 – France
• Best Animation Film Award, International queer film festival Merlinka 2021 Serbie

World Premiere – 2021 International Animation Film Festival Annecy
2021 Guanajuato
2021 Ottawa International Animation Festival
2021 Animatou – Geneva
2021 Cinekid – Amsterdam
2021 Dok-Leipzig
etc. etc.

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Film classics like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Doctor Zhivago” made Omar Sharif a world star. He was an actor, bridge player, nomad, womanizer and loved life. This portrait shows a man full of contradictions, who loved playing bridge more than the film business and who lived half of his life in hotels.

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Rain or shine, storm or chill; all year long the world is queuing up to see the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Who are all these visitors? Where are they from? And why are they here? This film watches the queue through the course of the four seasons, in search of stories from all over the globe.

Interviews with people from the line – both before and after their visit to the Secret Annex show how repression, discrimination, and dehumanization transcend the boundaries of time. We also learn that everyone in his own way feels connected to this extraordinary place. Personal stories are interspersed with passages from Anne Frank’s diary, read in many different languages by girls about the same age as Anne at the time.

Meanwhile we get an impression of everyday life as it unfolds around those waiting in line the canal boats, the street musicians, the ticket seller, the homeless man – For all its poignancy ”In Line for Anne Frank” is a document that also inspires hope.

Nominee Rockie Awards (History & Biography)

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He calls himself „Catman“. Christian lives with his two cats Marmelade and Katjuscha.
They are inseparable. As he is yearning to become a father, he decides to fertilize his beloved cat Marmelade by an exquisite tomcat from abroad. “All Cats Are Grey In The Dark” is a melodrama that portrays an unconventional relationship between animal and human.

44th Toronto Int. Film Festival – IWC Short Cuts Award for Best Short Film
52th Festival Dei Popoli Best Short Film
38th Uppsala International Short FD  Audience Award
37th  Sulmona Film Festival  Best Short Documentary
27th  Hamptons International Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Originality
72th Locarno Filmfestival Mention Special Premio Giuria dei Giovani

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A recently discovered archive reveals the story of the extraordinary life of the model agent Emmeline Snively, who ran the Blue Book Model Agency in Hollywood in post-war America. Many famous models, including Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield, started out at this modeling agency. Emmeline Snively was a Mother of Beauty for hundreds of models. She taught them how to walk and talk and even sent them out to get platinum blond hair or plastic surgery. The need to be pretty in post-war Hollywood was a phenomenon, and Emmeline Snively understood that.

This documentary reconstructs the way Emmeline created beauty and shows what’s left of it after all these years. The theme throughout the entire film is the meaning of beauty. Memories of youth, experience, aging and mortality create a history of time and place filled with humor, sadness and everything in-between, as these men and women navigated Hollywood and all its promises. A film about dignity, beauty and getting old.

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Ida Haendel is considered a legend among professional musicians and listeners of classical music alike. This documentary utilizes footage that was shot between 2009 and 2017, showing the life and work of British-Polish violinist Ida Haendel.

After having given her final performance, her everyday life oscillates between nostalgia and joy of living, between loneliness and hopefulness. Ida Haendel is a person of wisdom and humor, whole-heartedly accepting the challenge of spending her remaining years in a self-determined way. Though at some point she has to accept she can’t play the violin anymore, she refuses to stop singing.

“The Haendel Variations” is not an ordinary music documentary, it is not just another portrait of a world-renowned classical musician. Its rather restrained, more intimate approach focuses on the inner life of an extraordinary woman and on the two things that still give her life meaning: her love for music and for her fellow human beings.

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In the 1920s, Jewish businessman Max Emden made a fortune with department stores such as KaDeWe or Oberpollinger and was one of Hamburg’s most important patrons. On Lake Maggiore he led a glamorous life with speedy boats and beautiful women, but the long arm of the Nazis reached him there too – Emden lost everything. To this day, his heirs are fighting in vain for adequate compensation.

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After a traumatic encounter, a young, gay Egyptian joins the LGBT rights movement. When his safety is jeopardized, he must choose whether to stay in the country he loves or seek asylum elsewhere as a refugee. HALF A LIFE is a timely story of activism and hope, set in the increasingly dangerous, oppressive, and unstable social climate of Egypt today.

Film Festivals & Screenings

*2017 MOMA
*2017 Docfest Sheffield
*2017 International Animation Film Festival Annecy
*2017 Frameline
*2017 Outfest

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