Directed by Anka Schmid, Mélodie follows people of diverse origins as they engage with singing, alone and in groups. The film treats voice as a reservoir of resilience and comfort, tracing how song awakens memories and sustains the spirit amid life’s uncertainties. Shot with attentive, intimate framing, its approach blends observational realism and lyrical moments, exploring community, identity and the restorative power of collective voice.
In presence of director Anka Schmid.
Spanning a century of cinema, this retrospective traces the evolving face of stardom from silent-era pioneers to contemporary icons. Through nine thematic chapters and a curated selection of one hundred films, it examines the star system, shifting modernities, emerging representations of desire and identity, and the rise of anti-heroes. Shot and assembled for a keen focus on the human visage, the program foregrounds cinematic techniques that reinvent how films capture presence and persona.
Thirty days of walking across Scotland: two longtime friends trek six hundred kilometres through the Scottish Highlands to reconnect with each other, renew their bond with nature and recover parts of themselves they had lost. Shot in expansive, luminous landscapes and driven by subtle, naturalistic performances, the film offers a careful, contemplative portrait of time’s passage, friendship and the small, telling details of everyday life. A meditative road movie that privileges atmosphere, silence and quiet emotional shifts.
Jackie Reem Salloum’s documentary traces the rise of Palestinian hip hop in the late 1990s through intimate portraits of artists such as DAM, Mahmood Shalabi (MWR), Abeer Al Zinati, Arapeyat and Palestinian Rapperz. Shot with observational empathy, the film blends road-like encounters and performance footage to capture anger, resilience and lyrical dissent against occupation, inequality and gender discrimination. Raw, rhythmic and compassionate, it foregrounds music as a vehicle of identity, resistance and communal longing.
Original version with French subtitles
Óliver Laxe’s Sirāt is a hypnotic cinematic journey propelled by electronic pulses and a magnetic soundtrack by Kangding Ray. The film follows a collective adventure where music becomes an agent of attraction, moving between communal euphoria and moments of existential vertigo. Shot with immersive sound design and a patient, sensory camera, it explores desire, identity and the communal power of rhythm. Intense and meditative, Sirāt blends documentary textures and lyrical abstraction to map emotional intensities without conventional narrative anchors.
Zamo Mkhwanazi’s powerful drama follows a young man who fights to protect his family, his dignity and his dream of freedom against the brutal backdrop of apartheid. Shot with intimate, unflinching cinematography and a measured, humanist gaze, the film blends raw realism with moments of tenderness. It explores courage, resistance and the moral costs of survival, portraying how hope and personal dignity can become sources of strength even in the darkest circumstances.
In presence of director Zamo Mkhwanazi
Erik Bernasconi’s 1977-set coming‑of‑age drama follows Mario, a sixteen‑year‑old sent for the summer to a high‑altitude farm. Shot in naturalistic, panoramic images, the film captures the wild, muscular rhythm of the mountains and the tentative intensity of a first love. Between awkwardness at school and fraught ties with his father, Mario learns through landscape and encounter, in a delicate balance of silence and heat. A subtle, sensory portrait of youth and belonging.
In presence of director Erik Bernasconi.
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