Palestinian women, the often-forgotten victims of the Israeli-Palestinian war, are here given the space to express themselves.

Portrait of a woman, Jocelyne Khoueiry, who in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War, was the muse of the Phalangist militia in Beirut. With her commando group of women she was responsible for several bloody operations. Fifteen years later, stricken with remorse, she becomes a nun and founds a religious order.

Portrait of Dr Hoa, an extraordinary woman who was a minister in the South Vietnamese revolutionary government. Her life is a battle, and that battle is a pleasure. During the war she was at times imprisoned and at times a member of the resistance. She tells Jocelyne Saab about her experiences.

An imaginary postcard written to the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. Jocelyne Saab writes about her illness, about the fragility of her body, and the situation in the Middle East that is ravaged by war.

Veteran director Patricio Guzmán’s latest film follows the trajectory of the Chilean nation,starting from the outbreak of the popular uprisings in 2019, sparked by increasing subway dares up to the election of Gabriel Boric- a young politician – a young politician with a vital role in the changes that unfolded in the previous months – as president. In spite of the detailed depiction of the violent acts committed against protesters throughout the two years of crisis, the whole film is drenched in optimism, as Guzmán sees recent events as an unexpected yet welcome continuation of the aspirations for individual freedom and social justice nurtured during Allende’s brief rule, brutally interrupted by the 1973 coup. The rejection of the project of a new, particularly progressive constitution, which took place after the film had been released and is presented by one of the interviewees as the darkest scenario imaginable after the sacrifices of the demonstrators, nevertheless leaves untouched the pathos of Guzmán’s ode to all rebels with a cause. (Liri Chapelan)

The film tells the story of the friendship between three Economy students in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, and offers a rare and precious inside view on the psychological and moral landscape of a generation. One of the characters is the director himself, and the initial intention, that of revealing the corruption of the academic system, the teachers’ incompetence, the sexual harassment of female students, the conditions on campus, is enriched through lively discussions on economic growth, capitalism, communism, as well as the natural complications of life – marriage, children, abortion, family. The approach is candid, without searching for the spectacular in the everyday, with a mixture of both naivety and wisdom, which even exudes a certain optimism: the hope that the new generation has a chance to not repeat the mistakes of its predecessors, or at least to make its own mistakes. (Sorana Stănescu)

Amele runs an improvised hotel in Addis Ababa: nothing extravagant, but nevertheless a precious roof over the heads of the many people who come from all corners of Africa to try their luck in the capital of Ethiopia. A life of precariousness and bargaining awaits the subjects of the short film “Katanga Nation,” projected against the backdrop of an ever-changing urban landscape. From the gentrified neighbourhoods and the new economic centres teeming with skyscrapers, the filmmakers draw an arc – that is both metaphorical and utterly real – to the ghettoized streets where another community develops in parallel. The film’s humanistic and compensatory mission is to bring to light these voices that conceal the signs of inequality, but which – out of a refusal of victim mentality – have nevertheless not given up fighting. (Victor Morozov)

A certain kind of form was needed to be able to render, on screen, the complexity of the colours, the textures and – ultimately -, the lives that pass through the hands of Zoe Lucas. For decades, the ecologist has kept a small island off the coast of Canada under observation, acting as a living, crucial memory of this natural habitat. For this reason, an insect species represents more than a trophy meant to be stuck with a needle; a herd of wild horses is more than an occasion for contemplation. As fascinated by the raw beauty of nature as the film proves to be, it eventually ends up just as angst-ridden, to the extent that not even this place located in the middle of the ocean is safe from man’s destructive action. “Geographies of Solitude” thus builds itself as an elegy in vivo to a not-so-fanciful idea about a lost paradise: a space-time where nature can evolve untouched, in an almost cosmic spectacle. (Victor Morozov)

Riotsville is a fictional city erected by the American army in the 1960s to serve as training ground for the increasingly militarized police, in the attempt to build a counter-narrative to the popular revolts and discontentment of those years. People were protesting against the Vietnam War and were demanding equal rights for people of colour, but the answer given by the authorities proved both sinister and ridiculous. In an almost kaleidoscopic manner, the film uses previously unexplored archival footage to recreate and shed light on a national consciousness more and more obsessed with maintaining order and obeying the law, by any means. Yes, the resemblance to the current reality is built on purpose, and this mental back-and-forth that the viewer operates almost unconsciously explores the relationship between authority and individual, power and resistance, state and citizen. (Sorana Stănescu)

When a small Bulgarian town is severly affected by COVID-19, the soul of the entire community of 50,000 inhabitants moves to the hospital – understaffed and under-resources, as is the case with this part of the world. Classmates reunite, people tell stories and sometimes they laugh, and the character who joins them together is the somewhat eccentric doctor, Evgeni Popov, the one who offers both medication and encouragement. The directing team manages to observe with fresh eyes behaviours and characters in life-and-death situations and to build a cinematic experience that stays with you, because the film is a story about humanity and hope, told with typically Balkan humour, which you will find familiar. It becomes a weapon itself in the fight against the invisible and omnipotent virus, for which humanity hadn’t found a cure at that point. (Sorana Stănescu)