The Lake Resort
Formedia
The Lake Resort

SYNOPSES

OCTOBER 28, 2022
CITIZEN FOUR - Laura Poitras, USA, 2014,114’
Laura

CITIZENFOUR is a real life thriller, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).

BROTHERS - Wojciech Staroń, Poland, 2015, 69’

Two brothers, who managed to escape Soviet work camp, are unable to escape from each other. They love but at the same time they hate each other. One of them is an artist and a dreamer, the other one – a pragmatic scientist. They are like fire and water.

OCTOBER 29, 2022
ENLIGHTENED SOUL - Tonmoy Das, India, 2015, 52’
Laura

Enlightened Soul explores the life and work of Wanda Dynowska, who was given the name Umadevi by Mahatma Gandhi, and the name Tenzin Chodon by the Tibetan children whom she championed. Born in Russia to Polish parents, she became a noted theosophist, philosopher, writer, activist and freedom fighter. She became involved in several freedom struggles. Yet today, she is all but forgotten in the country that she considered her second home.

THE CLEANERS -Moritz Riesewieck / Hans Block, Germany, 2018, 90’

This hard-hitting documentary tackles fake news, censorship and the outsourcing of democracy. It shines a light on the most uncomfortable questions about social media and the online age. You might want to look away, but as the film shows, that's a big part of the problem.

THE TALE OF LOVE, MADNESS AND DEATH - Mijael Bustos Gutiérrez Chile 2015, 22’,

“My uncle is schizophrenic and my grandmother suffers from a terminal illness. My grandfather, who is unable to take care of them both, must decide between his wife and his son.” So begins Mijael Bustos Gutiérrez’s remarkable documentary about a family caught between love and duty.

MY SECRET FOREST, Niina Brandt, Finland, 2017, 56’

For Lauri, 20, an autist unable to speak, the only key to life in general is to write with the help of Pirjo, his personal interpreter – it is Lauri’s only way to express his deepest thoughts. In the midst of the challenges brought on by autism, love is his highest dream. Lauri fears he will remain bound to the mere yearning of infinite love to the end of his days. Through his writings he is able to reveal a beauty about life not perceived by everyone.

AND WHO TAUGHT YOU TO DRIVE, Andrea Thiele, LIA JASPERS, Germany 2012, 90’

Can you drive a car in India if you've learned to do it in Germany? Or in Japan, having been taught in the USA? It's surely entertaining to watch someone trying... Mirela moves from Germany to India, Jake from the USA to Japan and Hye-Won from South Korea moves to Germany -- all are forced to obtain a new local driver's license. There's more to it than driving on the right or left side of the road, some are using and-signals or clicking sounds.... A cultural comedy about people losing their way, finding other ways, and discover who they really are.

OCTOBER 30, 2022
KRISHNA’S WAITING ROOM – Kavita Bahl / Nandan Saxena, India, 2017, 54’
Laura

'Krishna's Waiting Room' is a journey into the lives of the widows of Vrindavan- waiting for death in the land of Lord Krishna. While some find solace in spirituality and others in the sisterhood of ashram-life, the vast majority of the 20,000 migrant women in Vrindavan beg on the streets. Why did they come? What made them stay?

THE CHOCOLATE CASE - Benthe Forrer, Netherlands, 2016, 90’

Journalists from the Dutch investigative show Keuringsdienst van Waarde found out 10 years ago that something was wrong in the cocoa industry. Child slaves working on plantations in West-Africa. The Chocolate Case tells the true story about changing an industry and solving a global problem.

IN ANOTHER WORLD - Anna Bedyńska, Poland / Russia 2016, 26’

Kasia is pregnant with a baby with Down’s syndrome. At this moment, she can decide either to give birth or have an abortion. Each will result in a drama and trauma. The camera stays with her up to the delivery.

FATHER AND SON ON A JOURNEY - Marcel Lozinski Poland 2013, 75’

A son and a father spend two weeks travelling in a camper van from Warsaw to Paris. An opportunity to raise painful but also amusing subjects families don’t normally talk about. And for the two documentary filmmakers to discuss the essence of the film as it’s being shot. An interesting family and film driven experiment. Two reports from one journey.

CHRIS THE SWISS –- Anja Kofmel, Switzerland, 2019, 90’

In the midst of the Yugoslav Wars, Chris, a young Swiss journalist is found dead in mysterious circumstances. He was wearing the uniform of an international mercenary group. Anja Kofmel was his cousin. As a little girl, she used to admire this handsome young man; now a grown-up woman, she decides to investigate his story, trying to understand what really was the involvement of Chris in the conflict.

OCTOBER 31, 2022
THE UGLIEST CAR, Grzegorz Szczepaniak 2017, Poland, 47’
Laura

The youngest protagonist of the documentary is Wartburg, an automobile over 50 years of age. The car is still on the road, driven by Bogdan, who is inside it with his mother Kazimiera. This road movie is a journey into the past and also a portrayal of a unique relationship between mother and son.

FESTIVAL PARTNERS

SUPPORTED BY

Founding Supporter:

Alliance Francaise
Whites of London
Polish Institute
Vandana
Sarva Dharma Samvaad
Saha
Polish Institute
Softlogics
In Memoriam: Chaudhry Devinder Singh