“I don’t want any more”: Confined to bed, 96-year-old Alicia is nearing the end of her life, surrounded by her loved ones
Bed-ridden Alicia, 96, hasn’t long to live. Tended to by her daughters, filmed by her granddaughter, she gazes out her window. Her memory is going. Her appetite, too. How she used to love desserts! And yet she still makes others laugh and smile. “Life is a hospital where every patient wants to switch beds.” – […]
“Matriosca”: Paolina has big teeth. Could it be a hang-up? Or could it simply be that big teeth mean big smiles?
Paolina has big teeth. She follows in the footsteps of her mum and gran before her. Could it be a hang-up, handed down through generations? Or could it simply be that big teeth mean big smiles? Facebook ↗ Twitter ↗ Directed by Paolina Stefani Thanks to Jodie Clifford Interview Paolina Stefani Filmmaker “The one rule […]
“Blood Rider”: A race against time and death in the congested streets of Lagos
As global cities go, Lagos is one of the most congested. In Nigeria’s economic capital, delivering blood to patients can take up to 24 hours. Joseph is a so-called “blood rider”. He risks life and limb on hair-raising journeys, threading through streams of traffic: cars, minibuses and pedestrians. With one eye on his GPS, he […]
“My Deadly Beautiful City”: Norilsk is isolated, polluted, dark. But for many that call it home, the beauty of Norilsk is to die for.
Norilsk is in the middle of nowhere. Like a captive ‘Russian doll’ in the Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, the town is cut off from the rest of the “continent” – so called by the 177,000 residents with reference to Russia. It can only be reached by plane, or in summer, by taking a boat along the […]
“The Shampoo Summit”: Jews, Arabs, and Christians, one after the other, have their hair shampooed. Welcome to Fifi’s, a ladies’ hairdressers in Haifa, Israel
Perched above the washbasin, the camera is filming. Jews, Arabs, and Christians, one after the other, have their hair shampooed. Welcome to Fifi’s, a ladies’ hairdressers in Haifa, Israel. In the time it takes for the film director to lather each client’s locks, they answer her questions: they are in her foamy hands. At Fifi’s, […]
“Adem’s Island”: Can time sweep clean, like the River Sava?
Nestled in the heart of Belgrade, Adem, the sole inhabitant of Ada Međica, a small island on the River Sava, seems lost in a rose-filled wilderness, far from the hustle of the Serbian capital and its 1.2 million souls. Adem still mourns his daughter, Ivana.Can time sweep clean, like the River Sava? Facebook ↗ Twitter ↗ […]
“Elong E’nabe”: A prayer for a Bright Future. Rose whispers a prayer for little Angela, who is turning six, that she will grow up happy in Belgium
Little Angela is six – innocent, secure, and happy with her mother and father, brother and sister. Born in Belgium, she does all the normal things a child does: makes paper airplanes, blows out her birthday candles, paints rainbows in watercolours… Her mother, Rose, whispers a prayer to her in Wolof, the language from where […]
🏓 “Table for One”: Chunli is a table tennis champion. Nearing 60, she dreams of winning an Olympic gold medal for New Zealand.
Chunli’s life is solitary. Alone in New Zealand, unbeaten in table tennis. Alone at home, with a bare fridge. Alone in her living room, apart from the table, where she trains, and trains, and trains. Then alone and afraid during Covid, under the 2020 lockdown. When she was young, Chunli’s heart told her to follow […]
Around and around and around she goes… ‘Keeping Balance’ – Denise escapes reality on a fairground ride.
The Tagada ride is one of the features of the Prater amusement park in Vienna.Young Denise has been coming here almost every day for six years. Around and around she goes, to forget herself. “I can let myself go, and when I stand up on this ride, all my problems fly away,” she tells us. […]
A young refugee tries to live his life in France, fleeing the shadows of his past
“When the boat capsized, I told myself: ‘I ran away from death and… I’m dying here, like this?’” Fleeing threats of murder, Mamadou embarked on what African migrants call ‘The Adventure’. He left Ivory Coast behind him, crossed the Sahara and Mediterranean, lost friends along the way, and was robbed of self-worth. Now an unofficial refugee […]