Delightful Docs

Daughter of Genghis 'Daughter of Genghis' is a seven-year odyssey through the Mongolian underworld. The movie follows 33-year-old female gang leader Gerel Byamba. She is the leader of the Mongolian organization, Gerel Khas - an ultra-nationalist group made up entirely of women. Her goal is to cleanse Mongolia from corruption and Chinese oppression and return the supposed/sought ‘glorious nation’ of Genghis Khan's time. Gerel is a gang leader, an avenger and a fervent nationalist. She is also a shaman and a mother. We follow her conflicted life as a mother and gang leader, her fight against prostitution, for an overall gender equal and racially pure Mongolia - a struggle that comes with a high price. Gerel lives alone with her son Temuulen, who is six years old as the film begins. She struggles with the role of being a single mother, often having to abandon her son for her nationalist cause, even though she loves him dearly. Going forward, Gerel's gang begins to fall apart and she herself begins to question her violent methods. At the same time, Gerel harvests a dark secret that she eventually must share with her son. 'Daughter of Genghis' is the tale of an indigenous population fighting for its nation threatened by surrounding powerful empires. What means is one prepared to employ to protect its country? Will one be willing to risk their own life? Can hate be justified? 'Daughter of Genghis' takes a headlong dive into the heart of nationalism.DirectorsKristoffer Poulsen, Christian AlsDirectors Kristoffer Poulsen and Christian Als are both experienced and award-winning photojournalists. “Daughters of Genghis” is their debut as documentary film directors. Als has previously worked as a reportage photographer, specializing in documenting world conflict and disasters for leading Danish and international newspapers. In recent times, he has increasingly focused on longer-term projects that exist on the fringes of the global media agenda. Juel Poulsen's primary work is now in documentary filmmaking, and as a storyteller, he finds meaning first and foremost  in understanding other people and their life choices. Author and ideaKnud BrixKnud Brix is an acclaimed radio host and poet who has worked in all areas of journalism; war reporting, political journalism and creative writing before becoming the host of the Danish radio station 24syv. There, he anchored the daily newscast and had a weekly literature program. He then went on to host Genstart, the most popular daily podcast in Denmark 2020-2022. Knud has worked on several documentaries and has published both poetry and fictional books. He graduated from  the Danish School of Journalism and holds a master's degree in African Studies from CPH University. In April 2022, Knud Brix was appointed editor-in-chief of Ekstra Bladet, a leading investigative and tabloid newspaper in Denmark.

Once Upon a Time in a ForestOnce Upon a Time in a Forest is a cinematic ode to a group of young radicals striving to defend Finland’s forests against the vested interests of the forestry industry and the political system, demonstrating that the outcome of this Once Upon a Time story – happily ever after or ecological disaster – rests largely on the shoulders of young activists like Minka, Ida and their comrades. Virpi SuutariVirpi Suutari (b.1967) is an award-winning filmmaker known for her personal cinematic style challenging the boundaries between fact and fiction. Her films have been shown in the major festivals such as IDFA, Locarno, Leipzig, Vision du Réel and Gothenburg Film festival. The Idle Ones (2001) was nominated for the Best European Documentary (EFA award) and she has won several awards as the Best Nordic Documentary in Nordisk Panorama. Suutari has received the Finnish national Academy award, the Jussi-Award, three times. She is also the member of the European Film Academy. The previous feature documentary she directed and produced a feature documentary about architect Alvar Aalto (Aalto, 2020) received world-wide distribution. Virpi Suutari Once Upon A Time In A Forest (2024) 93 Min A People’s Radio – Ballads From A Wooded Country (2021) 26 Min Aalto (2020) 104 Min Entrepreneur (2018) 78 Min Elegance (2016) 26 Min Garden Lovers (2014) 85 Min

Grand Me Esfahan, Iran. Melina lives with her grandparents since her parents' divorce. She wants to live with her mother, but this is not possible because both her father and new stepfather are against it. Besides that, Melina's mother struggles balancing her relationship with her new spouse and fostering a proper relationship with her daughter. Celebrating her 9th birthday, Melina is finally old enough to bring her custody case to court. With the law on her side, she hopes to eventually choose her own custodian. Unfortunately, Melina is not aware of how the adult world is organized and how reality will probably play out differently. Atiye Zare Arandi Atiye Zare Arandi is a storyteller, raised and educated with the heritage of the great traditional Persian art of telling stories and fables. She studied film directing with a focus on fictional narrative and continued to excel in her studies of dramatic literature. Currently she lives and works both in Esfahan and Tehran. Following her studies, Atiye has gained experience and recognition as writer/director for national Iranian fiction as well as documentary work. Her work has been represented several times at the International Cinema Verité Festival (Tehran). During the edit/post-production in Belgium and the Netherlands, Atiye collaborated with several highly established professionals to finish her international debut.Bram CrolsBram Crols (co-director & producer) is a graduate of the Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema, Sound in Brussels (RITCS) and of the European Film College in Denmark. He gained experiences as a director and producer for TV, commercials and corporate AV productions before het redirected himself to the international creative documentary industry. Since 2007 Bram is connected as filmmaker and (executive) producer with the Belgian based production collective Associate Directors. He holds credits as (co)producer in about twenty international distributed documentaries including some industry changing documentaries such as ‘The King of Mont Ventoux’ (2014), an event documentary with involvement of EBU and 9 broadcasters, ‘Cold Case Hammarskjold’ (2019) by Mads Brügger, premiering and award winning at Sundance FF and ‘Nelly & Nadine’ (2022) by Magnus Gertten, premiering and award winning at Berlinale. Bram and his company colleagues received the 2016 ‘Gulden Mira' oeuvre award from the Flanders Film press for the combined oeuvre of Associate Directors. In 2014 Bram introduced the release network DocPoppies to introduce documentaries in Belgian cinema theatres. Since 2019 Bram is appointed part time lecturer at the AP Antwerp University College, focusing on factual storytelling in creative journalism.

The film will be coming to National Geographic channel and Disney+.Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story One of the most heartwarming love stories of the year is about the close friendship between a melancholic Scottish man - and an otter. An irresistible film that goes straight to the heart. In the Shetland Islands of Scotland, Billy shares his life with his wife Susan in a deserted house by the sea. Despite the endless beauty of the natural world around them and the faithful company of the couple’s dog, Billy is a melancholic man with a hole in his heart. But one day, a playful baby otter suddenly washes up on his jetty. He names the otter Molly. She ends up sticking around and the two end up becoming friends. It may sound too good (or maybe just too far out) to be true, but make no mistakes – this is one of those completely irresistible films that just wins you over. Breathtakingly beautiful, framed by the breathtaking Scottish cliffs and vast wastelands, but with scenes at otter level too, ‘Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story’ depicts how a friendship can change a man’s life forever, and how love can redirect our attention back to the beauty of nature.Charlie Hamilton JamesCharlie Hamilton James is a world-renowned National Geographic photographer, filmmaker and author known for his captivating work on wildlife and conservation issues. Growing up in the city of Bristol, his interest in photography began at a young age when his parents gave him a camera for his 13th birthday. Charlie began his career at 16, working on David Attenborough’s “Trails of Life” series for the BBC. Before becoming a wildlife cameraman, he worked on several series, including “Planet Earth” and “The Natural World.” He shot and produced his first film at 26, “My Halcyon River,” which was voted by an industry poll to be one of the top ten wildlife films of all time. Charlie’s television work has won numerous awards, including Wildscreen and the Royal Television Society Award for Cinematography twice, and he is also BAFTA- and EmmyⓇ-nominated.   Charlie started working as a photographer for National Geographic magazine in his 30s and has shot 13 stories to date, including two covers. In 2021, his coverage of the Serengeti filled an entire issue of the magazine, showcasing the changing dynamics of life for people and animals in the region. He has also worked on stories for the magazine in the Amazon, the U.S. and across Africa, covering topics ranging from bird cognition to rats. In 2022, he was awarded the National Geographic Photographer’s Photographer Award. Charlie’s current photography work centers on a series of provocative fine art images titled “End Times.” The series documents the current state of the planet, in bold, sometimes offensive, and always controversial ways. They are designed to be both dark and funny, leaving the viewer with more questions than answers.

Marching in the DarkThe widows come together to break the vicious cycle of debt and climate related chaos in Indian agriculture that has pushed their desperate husbands to kill themselves - and leave them with the debt. A powerful and compelling film about solidarity between sisters.The drought-stricken Indian rural region of Maharashtra is hit by a butterfly effect of chaotic crises. The climate, artificially low prices on the world market, rising imports and lack of regulation are pushing farmers into bottomless debt and deep poverty. The consequence is an unbearably high suicide rate. Some poison themselves by drinking the pesticides that put them in debt. They leave their wives with large, unpaid bank loans, the responsibility of raising their children and a farm to take care of. ‘Marching in the Dark’ turns its attention to the many women left behind who are connected by a common pain. Together they seek out a local psychologist to share stories, question orthodox practices, be vulnerable and comfort each other. But the meetings are also a silent rebellion against a patriarchal society and a first step in an inevitable liberation. A compelling story about a vicious circle and the first steps towards a resilient women’s movement.Kinshuk SurjanKinshuk Surjan is an Indian filmmaker, based in Brussels and Bhopal. His graduation film POLA won the Indian National Student Film Award for Best Film and Best Script in 2013. After working as a 2nd assistant director on the film ISLAND CITY, awarded at Venice Film festival, Kinshuk went to pursue his master at DocNomads. In this period, his short, DIVIDED LINES, was screened at the 2015 Jihlava Film Festival. In 2017 his graduation film THE FLANDRIEN won the Flanders Audiovisual Fund’s VAF “Wildcard” and was later broadcasted on VRT, WDR & CT1. In 2021, Kinshuk participated in Berlinale Talents with his debut feature documentary MARCHING IN THE DARK, that will now world premiere in 2024 at CPH:DOX.

The Bones The Bones traverses the globe alongside paleontologists on a quest to unearth dinosaur fossils that may hold the key to save humanity from extinction. It’s a race against time before the bones disappear into the hands of fossil dealers, who stand to make millions by selling them on the open market. A cinematic adventure that reaches from the Mongolian Gobi Desert to the floor of a Paris auction house, The Bones exposes the clash between science, post-colonial reckoning, and hard-headed capitalism.Jeremy XidoJeremy Xido is a filmmaker and performance artist whose work has taken him around the world in an exploration of complex issues of community and personal identity. His approach to stage and film blends emotionally gripping personal stories with the larger social contexts from which they emerge.Originally from Detroit, Jeremy graduated cum laude in Painting and Comparative Literature from Columbia University in New York.A Fulbright and Guggenheim fellow, he studied at the Actor’s Studio and since 2003 has been the artistic co-director of the performance and film company CABULA6, which was voted “company of the year 2009” by Europe’s prestigious performance magazine, Ballettanz, and awarded “Outstanding Artist of the Year 2010” by the Austrian Ministry of the Arts.Jeremy’s award-winning feature documentary «Death Metal Angola» has screened at more than 80 film festivals including Rotterdam, Dubai, BAFICI, Sydney, CPH:DOX, and DOC NYC. Reviews in Indiewire and the Hollywood Reporter have described it as “riveting,” “absorbing, beautifully shot… superb,” “raucously crowd pleasing,” and “a cult classic in the making.” It opened theatrically in the United States, in November 2014.Jeremy’s three-part solo stage performance «The Angola Project» developed with funding from the European Union and a residency at the Experimental Music and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), has premiered around the world at venues such as Impulstanz in Vienna and PS122 in New York. The New York Times found it a “marvelously quixotic…jostling collage that is intimate yet informed by sweeping issues surrounding class, race and identity.”

Motherboard At the age of 38, Victoria Mapplebeck found herself single, pregnant and broke. Unable to combine motherhood with freelance directing, she was forced to abandon her career in TV, instead turning the camera on herself and her son, Jim. Mapplebeck first began documenting their lives with her old DVCAMbefore shooting almost daily on five generations of smartphones, from the iPhone 6 to the iPhone 13. She recorded hundreds of hours of footage, capturing each twist and turn in Jim’s life, from the thumbs-up he gave during her first scan, to his first day at college. Motherboard is a complex, personal and unsentimental portrait of a mother-son relationship from birth to adulthood, exploring Mapplebeck’s life as a woman, mother and filmmaker. An antidote to the judgmental and unrealistic expectations we have about motherhood, the film turns the ‘supermum’ myth on its head.Victoria Mapplebeck Victoria is a BAFTA award winning artist and director, who has worked in film, VR and immersive audio. Her works explore autobiographical stories which ask universal questions about our relationship with technology, parenting, health and wellbeing. Victoria has been shooting continuously with smartphones since 2015 and is passionate about the innovation, intimacy and diversity of smartphone filmmaking. In 2024, Victoria completed MOTHERBOARD a feature documentary, shot over 20 years which charts the joy, pain and comedy of raising her son Jim alone. MOTHERBOARD premiered at CPH:Dox and was made in partnership with OKRE and Autlook Film Sales. Victoria is also a Professor of Digital Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London .https://victoriamapplebeck.com 

The Flats In his tower-block apartment in New Lodge, Joe reenacts memories from his childhood amidst the “Troubles“. In this Catholic area of Belfast, the number of deaths was tragically significant. Joe is joined by neighbours Jolene, Sean, Angie, and others, all willingly participating in this process of revisiting the collective memories that shaped their lives and the district they live in.Alessandra Celesia Alessandra Celesia was born in Italy and lives between Paris and Belfast. After studying literature and theatre, she starts a career in performing arts. She makes her first film, Luntano, in 2006. Since then, she has directed several films including The Bookseller of Belfast (2011, ARTE, Visions du Réel, Best Film and Audience awards at Festival dei Popoli), Italian Mirage (Cinéma du Réel 2013), Anatomia del miracolo (Locarno 2017), and The Mechanics of Things (ARTE/ZDF, Torino IFF 2023).

hold on to herMawda Shawri, two years old in 2018, sister of Hama, daughter of Phrast and Shamden, was shot dead by a Belgian police officer during a migration border control on a Belgian central highway. In 2023, over 40 people, both undocumented and documented resident activists, assembled before the camera at La Voix des sans papiers in Brussels to stage a collective hearing of documents from and reactions to Mawda’s case. In this collective hearing session, the speakers acknowledge a ghostly haunting caused by police impunity and the state’s lack of accountability. It is in their refusal of such a shortage of truth and human rights that they feel the need to explore beyond the official narratives. Together they produce the counter-forensic evidence of Mawda’s deadly Channel crossing. This collective hearing is supported by Vanbesien's audiovisual grammar, which foregrounds the opaque and the poetic. Given the inability to proceed within the dominant frameworks and the urge to imagine other possible worlds, this collective hearing challenges what is visible and audible. The film moves back and forth between the hearing and the site of the crime. This dialogue is imaginary: the collective inner world of the collective hearing is projected onto a landscape, which is at once haunting and mournful.Robin VanbesienAs a visual artist and filmmaker, Robin Vanbesien explores modes of embodied knowledge and collective imagination engaged in social and political struggles. Through the notion of ciné place-making, he acknowledges the capacity of cinema to preserve, reclaim, or redistribute invisibilized memories, histories, and lived cultures, using a cinematic language that probes beyond the prevalent scenes of representation. He collaborates with situated emancipatory grassroots movements, exploring cinema as a space for social gathering and political engagement that rehearses the capacity to hold space collectively. In 2020, Vanbesien co-founded The Post Film Collective, which explores cinema as a form of speculative rehearsal and communal assembly. 'Under These Words (Solidarity Athens 2016)' (2017) and 'the wasp and the weather' (2019) premiered at transmediale and Cinéma du Réel. His first feature ‘hold on to her’ will world premiere at Berlinale Forum Expanded (2024).