I will make up a song and sing it in a theatre with the night air above my head.

Director: Hannah Collins

Year: 2007

The village of Beshencevo in Central Russia lying beside Nizhni Novogorod and the Volga entertains a camera crew in the home of the Chiline family who have lived in the village. The family have lived through the Soviet past and are reluctantly entering the new prosperity of Russia. They argue and talk, live out their personal dramas and determinedly continue with their ancient way of life through the coldest months of Winter.

Director: Marisa Privitera Murdoch

Year: 2026

Edge is Everything is a love letter to photography and to the art of truly seeing. For over 30 years, Thomas Joshua Cooper has photographed the furthest edges of land with a 19th century camera. His work bears witness to landscapes transformed by climate change while recovering forgotten histories of migration, exploration and departure. Cooper draws on his Native American heritage and an extraordinary archive of audio interviews he recorded in the 1970s with photography’s most influential figures, including Ansel Adams, Man Ray, Imogen Cunningham and Paul Strand. These previously unheard tapes create a rare intergenerational conversation about photography and artistic practice. The film also examines the cost of an uncompromising creative life. His wife and adult daughter reveal the impact of his prolonged absences and challenge the mythology of the solitary artist. At a time defined by speed, distraction and instant images, Edge is Everything asks what might happen if we slowed down long enough to fully observe. This question has guided Cooper since childhood, when he was taught by his Native American elders: “Each of us has an eye that sees and a seeing eye. When you learn which is which, you will have begun to become human.”

Director: Dan Shutt

Year: 2018

A celebration of Albanian polyphonic singing and the resilience of tradition in the face of inevitable change. Singers of Kënga Labe (iso-pholyphony) from across three generations explain their deep spiritual connection to and through their songs.