Current Films

In 1998 a deep polit­i­cal and eco­nom­ic crisis forced Pres­i­dent Suhar­to to resign after 32 years in power. This was the begin­ning of the tumul­tuous period known in Indone­sia as the Refor­masi. With a pop­u­la­tion of 200 mil­lion, Indone­sia has seen on-going polit­i­cal change, accom­pa­nied by protests, pover­ty and gen­er­al inse­cu­ri­ty. The Eye of the Day doc­u­ments these con­flicts as they play out in the lives of sixty-year-old Rumid­jah, her two sons Bakti and Dwi, and her friend Ibu Sum. Leonard Retel Helm­rich dives into her every­day life. His mobile DV camera moves towards the people, accom­pa­nies Rumid­jah in the coun­try­side as she visits her rel­a­tives, fol­lows Bakti to the stu­dent demon­stra­tions against the mil­i­tary, and trav­els with Ibu Sum to the garbage dump, where her friends col­lect refuse at night. 

While film­ing a demon­stra­tion in 1995, Helm­rich was arrest­ed and jailed as a sus­pect­ed spy, then declared per­sona non grata. He was not able to return to Indone­sia until 1997 - that same year he began fol­low­ing Rumi­jah and her family with his camera.

After thirty years away, the Alger­ian film­mak­er Soudani returns to his home­land, accom­pa­nied by the pho­tog­ra­ph­er Michael von Graf­fen­ried, who has long been doc­u­ment­ing the open wounds of Alge­ria. Togeth­er … read more

The sev­en­teen year old Abdal­lah leaves his home­town, Bamako in Mali, and visits his mother in Nouad­hi­bou in Mau­ri­tius, while he is wait­ing to move on to Europe.The small, sleepy … read more

Afi­ciona­dos call it the best dance hall in the world. But you won’t find it in any travel brochure. The Salon Rosado at La Trop­i­cal is the club where gen­er­a­tions … read more

The Rabela­dos live in iso­lat­ed regions of main island San­ti­a­go and are the remain­ing rebel­lions of Cape Verde, the for­got­ten Islands near the west coast of Africa. They have been … read more

For nearly twenty years film­mak­er Peter Tor­biörns­son fol­lowed Tinoco and Ninos­ka, an ordi­nary Nicaraguan couple, through the trials of day-to-day life in Nicaragua during a period gov­erned by rad­i­cal eco­nom­ic … read more

Bon­te­heuv­el, a for­lorn town­ship near Capetown. In the 1980s, the set­tle­ment was noto­ri­ous for its mil­i­tant con­fronta­tions in the fight against Apartheid. The youth organ­ised them­selves into the “Bon­te­heuv­el Mil­i­tary … read more