Untouchable

Director: Ursula Macfarlane

Year: 2024

On a bright January morning in 2020, 38 year old Clemmie suffered a catastrophic brain haemorrhage. Just a few hours earlier, she’d been a star on the rise - acclaimed broadcaster, writer and musician. Against the odds she emerged from a 17 day coma but, unable to speak or walk, she was now faced with having to rebuild her life. With compelling recordings of her early attempts to speak and walk, we follow Clemmie as she tries to return to work, to finish the book she’d started before her brain injury, and to play her beloved violin again with her son. The film interweaves verité filming with touching home movies and lyrical sequences of Clemmie struggling amidst the cacophony of New York’s streets. Counterpointed throughout are majestic pieces of music from her book. She’s defiant and refuses self-pity, but is haunted by the knowledge that her brain could bleed again at any moment. A film about resilience, rediscovery and identity.

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: 2027

A chance encounter on a minibus in rural Georgia leads three folk musicians deep into conversation about a pre-Christian goddess, magical dogs and the mythical hunter who broke his promise. They explore Georgian mythology through the intricate polyphonic songs that are unique to each of their remote mountain regions. 'A White Mountain Goat Appeared' mixes scripted scenes from amateur actors with real field recordings of ancient traditions.