Projects in categories: Documentary

Synopsis

An in-depth study of David Lean, the man and his films. David Lean was one of the greatest filmmakers. He redefined what films could be, but his singular vision and tenacious determination to film the impossible earned him a reputation as an obsessive maverick. He was a master of his craft, capable of creating love and beauty on screen, but whose personal life was often troubled, uprooted, and painful. Featuring interviews with contemporary filmmakers including Wes Anderson, Paul Greengrass, Alfonso Cuarón, Celine Song, Brady Corbet, Francis Ford Coppola, Denis Villeneuve, Nia DaCosta, and Joe Wright. Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2026 - Cannes Classics - World premiere

Synopsis

The most gifted footballer of his generation was finished. Retired in disgrace at 25, he appeared destined for permanent exile from the sport he loved. Incapable of blind obedience, Eric Cantona was a libertine who bridled against conformity whenever he felt its grip tighten. The French branded him unmanageable. But the fire that burned in Eric became the spark to ignite a dynasty at Manchester United. At turns thoughtful and explosive, CANTONA reveals how legendary manager Alex Ferguson channelled the brilliance of this most captivating and unpredictable of athletes. A tale of friendship and fatherhood, Cantona and Ferguson's testimonies reveal how a man misread as hostile and unknowable was finally understood, loved, and forgiven, by the strictest disciplinarian in football. Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2026 - Special Screenings - World premiere

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We are introduced to Ashkan, an unconventional dentist and battle-scarred visionary leading South Cliff Dental through rapid growth as he prepares to unveil a new headquarters. Ashkan navigates through a dark and turbulent period marked by personal collapse, body dysmorphia, steroid abuse, and a professional investigation that threatens to end his career. As his life spirals toward despair, a timely phone call rekindles his passion for the arts and offers a glimmer of redemption, even as the lasting effects of his choices nearly cost him his life. We follow Ashkan's transformation as he embraces a clean lifestyle and champions a bold, disruptive vision for the future of dentistry.

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The alien cosmos of microscopy becomes the setting for a posthumous dialogue: an exploration of the unspoken fallout of the pandemic years.

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In the ancient Bugis way of life in Indonesia, gender non-binary ‘bissu’ were once revered spiritual leaders. Eka, one of the last remaining bissu, decides to leave behind their identity, searching for belonging in a world that insists on definitions. Official Selection Hot Docs 2026 - World premiere Official Selection Visions du Réel 2026

Synopsis

Ryan is brimming with optimism to work on a sheep farm in anticipation of his release from a Northern Irish prison. But the harsh realities that await him on the outside soon threaten to unravel his ambitions. Filmed on two sides of the prison walls, the film contemplates whether Ryan’s path is destined by the weight of his community and history, or if it is within his power to break the cycle. Official Selection Visions du Réel Film Festival 2026 - World premiere

Synopsis

In a Japanese coastal town still haunted by the 2011 tsunami, a taxi becomes a moving confession booth. Over the course of one night, a series of conversations between drivers and their passengers reveal how those who survived live with the dead - as ghostly tales, dreams and everyday life merge in a magical drift between reality and imagination. Official Selection Visions du Reel 2026

Synopsis

In a remote village in southeast Turkey, 35-year-old Meryem begins the annual olive harvest. For generations, the groves have sustained the village women's livelihoods, but this year, the harvest takes place under a shadow of fear. Following a devastating earthquake that destroyed Meryem’s home, 60% of the village’s olive lands have been seized by the government to build a new satellite city. As the concrete edge presses steadily toward their remaining fields, this harvest may be their last. Once a stay-at-home mother, Meryem picks up a camera to document the slow unraveling of her community. Women, previously confined to the home, step into public life - leading protests, sit-ins, and a landmark lawsuit alongside thousands of indigenous landowners, to protect the land they have tended for centuries. Interweaving Meryem’s video diaries with observational footage, the film moves between intimate scenes of the family harvest and the female-led resistance. As the movement unfolds, the once-perfect harvest is gradually disrupted by destruction. HERE TO STAY tells the story of a people’s fight for justice, tracing how tragedy transforms Meryem from mother to resistance leader, as she seeks to protect the land she calls home.

Synopsis

A filmmaker unpacks her evolving relationship with her adolescent German Shepherd, confronting the painful question of why, despite raising him, he seems to love her partner more. Blending observational and verité footage with personal narration, this tender story of unrequited love unfolds into an intimate inquiry into the complexities of caregiving and cross-species bonds. Contending with the influence of intergenerational parenting styles on the human–dog relationship and the ways dog’s express agency, the film ultimately asks whether it is possible to love truly without conditions.

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In the days leading up to Christmas 1973 three astronauts enacted the first labour strike in outer space. Reconstructed from transcripts in claustrophobic close-up via CCTV system, THE CASE AGAINST SPACE is a real time investigation, dramatically collapsing embodied historical reenactment and speculative essayistic research - forming a collective testimony on struggle amongst the stars, of fights past, present and those yet to come. Official Selection Open City Documentary Festival 2026 Official Selection Visions du Réel 2026

Synopsis

At the crossroads of art, activism, and the ocean lies the extraordinary story of Paolo Fanciuli, a humble Italian fisherman with a revolutionary vision. Known as Paolo the Fisherman, he has waged a quiet but fierce war against illegal bottom trawling - one of the most destructive fishing practices threatening marine ecosystems. Driven by years of witnessing the ocean's decline, Paolo devised a radical and poetic solution: the creation of an underwater museum—a surreal seabed installation of massive marble sculptures. These works of art serve a dual purpose: they physically block trawling nets from destroying the seafloor, and they symbolically stand as monuments to resistance and hope. HOUSE OF FISH is a conservation documentary that blends Paolo’s intimate, personal journey with a natural history perspective on the fragility of our oceans... a cinematic ode to the sea and to those who dare to protect it through creativity and courage. By spotlighting Paolo’s efforts and the power of artistic activism, the film aims to awaken a deep emotional connection to our oceans - and inspire urgent action to save them.

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An experimental documentary that unfolds as a ceremony of queer belonging, inheritance, and sound. At its heart is a dialogue with Afro-Cuban priestess and musician Amelia Pedroso, whose legacy is invoked through archival traces, letters, and performance. Narrated as a letter to an ancestor, the film situates the search for connection within an interior, oceanic dreamscape where water, memory, and ritual become both setting and subject. Cinematically, MODUPE moves between a stylised ensemble rehearsal and a sacred library-archive. The ensemble of voice, drum, and dance provides the film’s pulse, collapsing rehearsal and ritual into one. Deep blue light, reflective surfaces, and submerged imagery create a sensorial architecture that is both intimate and expansive, with water presence throughout evoking both flood and transformation. Formally, the film resists linear storytelling, privileging atmosphere, rhythm, and sonic immersion. Objects, archives, and sacred materials hold the same cinematic weight as bodies in performance, reframing the archive as altar and sound as shrine. Narrative unfolds through resonance rather than resolution, drawing the viewer into a space of listening and reflection. MODUPE proposes cinema as a vessel for inheritance, where identity is fluid, memory is alive and liberation is lived through sound.