Documentary

Luxembourg. One of the world’s smallest countries, a green and peaceful place bordered by Belgium, France and Germany. The birthplace of two brothers, Andy and Fränk Schleck, two of the world’s best professional cyclists. Following Team Leopard Trek and the Schleck Brothers, this film focuses upon the team’s participation in the prestigious 2011 Tour de France. It is an intimate cinematic portrait of two brothers and a team under pressure to live up to the expectations of their country. « The Road Uphill » documents the relationships, motivations and belief systems integral to Leopard Trek – core aspects of the team which are not usually exposed by television reportage. This documentary investigates the day-to-day life of a professional cycling team and the physical, mental and emotional thresholds that they need to overcome to win the greatest race on earth.

Antoine Prum’s documentary feature Sunny’s time now is a vibrant homage to an uncompromising artist, American avant-garde jazz drummer Sunny Murray, arguably one of the most influential figures of the historic free jazz scene… Featuring a series of interviews with key time witnesses (Val Wilmer, Cecil Taylor, Tony Bevan, Bobby Few, Sonny Simmons, François Tusques a.o.) and extensive concert footage, the film adopts a European point of view to reassess the complex relationships between the libertarian music movement and the political climate of an era whose revolutionary echoes still resonate today. Sunny’s time now also dwells on the near clandestine community of aficionados who continue to worship the gods of their musical coming of age, and whose resolute support has permitted free improvisational music – of which Murray is one of the last Mohicans – to live on.

This is a love and hate story built around something no one can see or touch: radio waves. During the 80’s, Radio Free Europe was the secret relief and confidant of its Romanian listeners. The Radio was Ceausescu’s most important enemy; he even hired Carlos the Jackal to close it down. All the protagonists of this story confront themselves once more in COLD WAVES: speakers of the radio, along with terrorists, listeners as well as party and Securitate officials, Romanians, Germans, Americans and French alltogether. The world has changed, there are different wars now. But if you listen to the voices, you may get a better picture.

Welcome to Shanghai, capital of capitalism! In an unprecedented building boom since the 1990s, more than 2000 high-rise buildings have mushroomed to the sky, creating the world’s most erratic skyline. As Shanghai hurtles towards the future at breakneck speed, many historic treasures fall prey to the wrecking ball. While his contemporaries pride themselves on investing in the future, Mr. Wong prefers to put his money on the past. Ever since he returned from Canada to China, the wealthy businessman has made it his mission to spend every penny he can on old houses: villas, wells and temples that belong to an old-and-fading Shanghai nobody seems to care for anymore. Whenever he travels the streets of Shanghai, he keeps his eyes open, ready to buy any house worth preserving before the sledgehammering begins. Stone by stone, Mr. Wong’s workers disassemble the old houses and bring everything to a large property he bought expressly for one purpose: setting up a kind of national park for endangered buildings. Every stone they bring to his warehouses is a building block for Mr. Wong’s dream: A city of his own, an historic wonderland where time is standing still, solely consisting of reassembled, ancient houses – a safe haven for lost traditions and ancient arts, and, one day, a platform for cultural exchange between Chinese and overseas artists living there. Most of his fellow Chinese are sceptical to say the least. Town planners and investors cannot understand what Mr. Wong is up to. Almost everyone sees him as a threat for progress and an obstacle to their plans. Mister Wong is both the humane and gripping story of a most unusual man realizing his vision against all odds and an insightful portrait of the divided soul of modern China.

When water runs out, the world ends. He who wants water must be prepared to kill for it» an old Arab saying goes. At the beginning of the 21st century water, the ancient source of life, already is in short supply all over the world. From the heart of Africa to the Aral Sea in the Kazakh steppe the film portrays different people`s lives and their struggle for water and survival.

Multimedia artist Timo Novotny labels his new project an experimental music documentary film, in a remix of the celebrated film Megacities (1997), a visually refined essay on the hidden faces of several world “megacities” by leading Austrian documentarist Michael Glawogger. Novotny complements 30 % of material taken straight from the film (and re-edited) with 70 % as yet unseen footage in which he blends original shots unused by Glawogger with his own sequences (shot by Megacities cameraman Wolfgang Thaler) from Tokyo. Alongside the Japanese metropolis, Life in Loops takes us right into the atmosphere of Mexico City, New York, Moscow and Bombay. This electrifying combination of fascinating film images and an equally compelling soundtrack from Sofa Surfers sets us off on a stunning audiovisual adventure across the continents. The film also makes an original contribution to the discussion on new trends in documentary filmmaking.