Keywords

The disappearance of the Monelos river, near the Spanish city of Coruña, is used to reflect on the memory of places and their peoples, and to draw a collective portrait of the fear that goes with the unavoidable passing of time.

A river like the sea - this is how the indigenous people used to refer to the giant stream shaping their homelands. In their language this translates to "Parana". Over 3,000 kilometers, the Parana flows from Brazil to Argentina via Paraguay, along the mythical Iguazu Falls and the breathtaking Ibera wetlands of Northeast Argentina, all the way to Buenos Aires. The Parana region hosts a unique eco-system, with abundant flora and fauna and stunning natural beauty. But this river paradise is under threat. Ambitious construction projects, contamination, deforestation and ruthless hunting are just a few of the factors endangering the entire region. We discover here a part of South America largely unknown to outsiders and get to know its people, who share their passion for the river and their worries about its future. Through their actions and beliefs, they want to show that a different future is possible, a better life along the river, while preserving its unique and vital eco-system. Innovative fishermen, biologists, environmental activists, indigenous people, photo models, ship captains, or old-fashioned gauchos - they all are part of this journey into the unknown, one that inspires and sends a message of hope and change.

Quebec Connection is a group of extreme kayakers from Quebec that are among the best in the world at their sport. These adventurers are using their kayaks and their skills to discover and map new and unexplored rivers around Canada.

The Tara is a small river on the outskirts of Taranto, a town founded 3000 years ago on the Italian shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It takes its name from Taras, the mythical son of the sea god Poseidon. The river's waters are much appreciated by the locals, who credit them with magical healing powers. Starting from these idyllic images, the film takes us to a city and land that have been sacrificed in the name of progress. The steel plant just a few kilometres away has claimed many lives and created deep fractures within Taranto's social fabric. Despite this dark presence, several of the city's inhabitants are fighting to keep up the hopes of a city that used to be known as "the Pearl of the Mediterranean". Directors Volker Sattel and Francesca Bettin reject the dynamics of the investigation, instead adopting for their film the form of an open conversation with the people who are struggling daily for the well-being of this territory and its people. In this improvised journey, the camera captures moments in which traditions and myth clash with economic development, mistaken for progress. With attention and empathy, TARA thus captures the contrasts and the subtle hues of a betrayed yet defiant place.

Joe, a rootless young drifter, finds work on a barge travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh, owned by Les and his wife Ella. One afternoon they discover the corpse of a young woman floating in the water. Accident? Suicide? Murder? As the police investigate and suspect is arrested, we discover that Joe knows more than he is letting on. Gradually we learn of Joe's past relationship with the dead woman. Meanwhile an unspoken attraction develops between Joe and Ella, heightening the claustrophobic tensions in the confined space of the barge.

Filmmaker Anup Singh constructs a documentary-like feature that serves both as a tribute to the life and work of Indian filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, particularly his Partition Trilogy (1960-1962), and as a reflection on the Partition of Bengal in 1947, which caused millions of Hindus to migrate from East Bengal to India. The story partially focuses on a man and a woman crossing the India-Bangladesh border while they reflect on their love and on the events leading to the newly established borders. Through imagery, landscapes, memories and metaphors, the film explores the inexplicability of a past that once was but still has an influence on the present.

With walkers, rafters, farmers and fishing folk, we journey the alpine to spring rivers of Canterbury. Exploring above and below the surfaces, uncovering ways through our current freshwater crisis.

When peasant girl Nives is deserted by smuggler Gino Lodi, she betrays him to the police. Police officer Enzo Cinti, who loves Nives, traces her to the Po River cane-fields, where she is working as a cutter to support herself and an infant son, and warns her that Gino has escaped from prison and is seeking revenge. She rejects his offer to protect her. Gino finds Nives, mourning the drowning death of their son. He surrenders himself to the police and then walks at Nives' side in the funeral procession.

A group of high-school friends must come to terms with the fact that one of them, Samson, killed another, Jamie. Reactions vary, as Layne is intent on protecting Samson and smuggling him out of the state, while others think it's best to go to the police. Matt's tough little brother also finds out about the body and no one knows quite how the police will learn about the murder or who will be blamed for it.

A young man decides to become a warrior, causing trouble for his clan.

A young field administrator for the TVA comes to rural Tennessee to oversee the building of a dam on the Tennessee River. He encounters opposition from the local people, in particular a farmer who objects to his employment (with pay) of local black laborers. Much of the plot revolves around the eviction of an elderly woman from her home on an island in the River, and the young man's love affair with that woman's widowed granddaughter.

Berkeley is the story of Ben Sweet, an eighteen year old boy who comes to UC Berkeley in 1968 to study accounting and avoid the draft. There begins an odyssey through sex, drugs, rock and roll, and political activism which turns his world upside down and leaves him on a path of exploration and self-discovery, far from the life of his father, Sy Sweet. The film depicts a group of young people protesting the Vietnam War.

The tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met.