Twelve films, twelve profiles that narrate unique lives, each with its own hardships, joys, and sorrows. These are stories of people who dared to explore new territories and paths in life, inviting us to follow them on their journeys. Their vivid and sincere portraits express a deep desire to find happiness in unconventional ways, the need to overcome adversity and assert their existence. These films and these lives offer us a glimpse into their cultures, their souls and their quests, sharing with us precious narratives through the cinema of reality.
Italian Premiere, First Film
(Doc / Denmark, Spain, Brazil / 2024 / 93')
From the heart of Brazil's favelas, an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the world of “flying balloons.” In Rio De Janeiro and São Paulo, creating, flying, and chasing balloons is a valuable and competitive art form, as well as a central element of cultural identity since colonial times. Today, however, the authorities have declared this art illegal, ranking it just below drug dealing and forcing it underground. With the police and bounty hunters hot on their heels, the director embarks on a wild ride to witness the extreme obsession and sacrifice required to build these spectacular balloons.
Italian Premiere
(Doc / Italy / 2025 / 120')
A journey to discover a hidden Italy, invisible and far from the usual narratives. Faces, voices, stories of struggle against the extinction of symbolic horizons. In the solitary builders of ancient musical instruments or in the singers of polyphonic songs of the past, we find signs of cultural resistance and the mysterious threads of an existential fabric. The film highlights the polyphonic traditions of various Italian regions, challenging the marginalization of these cultures and refocusing them through a visual approach inspired by Byzantine icons and medieval art. The result is a collective diary, a fragile code to be completed.
Italian Premiere, First Film
(Doc / Italy, France / 2025 / 71')
Angelo, Mery and Rosy are three 11-year-olds living in Danisinni, an isolated neighborhood in Palermo. Driven by a desire for adventure, the group decides to explore an abandoned kindergarten in the middle of the district. Amidst the rubble, they discover a safe space where they can escape the gaze of others and the pressures of society. A secret place where they can let their imagination run wild without feeling judged. However, the outside world threatens to endanger this island of freedom.
International Premiere, First Film
(Doc / Denmark / 2025 / 83')
Denmark, 1980s. Kim meets Annette and they have a daughter, Nicoline. After ten years of marriage, the family falls apart. Now an adult, Nicoline decides to face the ghosts of her childhood and, driven by strong determination and optimism, invites her parents to a meeting. For the first time since their separation, the three will talk honestly, rebuilding their broken bond. But is it possible to talk about right and wrong when it comes to memory? An uncompromising film that explores memories with tenderness and humor. An original family story about the unsaid and the liberation from the chains that our origins impose on us.
Italian Premiere
(Doc / Denmark / 2025 / 97')
An epic and dynamic tale, filmed over 14 years. The story of two Danish brothers, Henrik and Christian, who find themselves involved in a feud to secure their dead wealthy grandfather's inheritance. While Henrik looks for stability and tries to break the dysfunctional patterns of their family, Christian is driven by anger and hatred, which leads him into a right-wing brotherhood. The conflict between the brothers becomes a battle for not only money, but also for their children's futures. Spanning three generations, the film reflects on power, money, generational conflicts, and the relentless search for one's place in the world.
Italian Premiere, First Film
(Doc / Norway, Netherlands, USA / 2025 / 80')
Mikal (12) is born and raised in the run-down hotel room he shares with his parents, both struggling with alcohol addiction. Mikal’s biggest wish is for his mum and dad to stop drinking. Due to the housing crisis in the U.S., many families like Mikal’s are forced to live in run-down hotels, often in dire straits. But among chaos, pain and precariousness, also love and hope resist. Director Monica Strømdahl has known Mikal for a long time and followed him for three years. The film tells the story of a child growing up in a fragile environment, showing the wounds of childhood but also the deep bonds that unite a family.
Italian Premiere
(Doc / Norway, Germany, UK / 2025 / 95')
Rob Moore, a former television producer, pretends to be a journalist for years in order to infiltrate anti-asbestos activists. In reality, he is a spy working for the asbestos industry. When the truth comes out, Rob claims to be a double agent gathering evidence against his corrupt employers. Two journalists agree to tell his story, but soon find themselves caught up in a web of lies. Is Rob a hero or a manipulator? A compelling story of deception, power, and ambiguous truths.
Italian Premiere
(Doc / Austria, Switzerland / 2025 / 105')
Inna Shevchenko, feminist activist and leader of FEMEN, meets extraordinary women who approach religion from opposite perspectives: some challenge it, others defend it, and many reform it from within in surprising ways. Female imams, theologians, activists, and rebels show how faith can be a tool for freedom. Beyond their differences, they all share one certainty: women are magnificent. No god—neither in heaven nor on earth—has the right to deny them equality or subject them to men.
Italian Premiere, Second Film
(Doc / Netherlands / 2024 / 97')
Lidija Zelović portrays her family, who have been refugees in the Netherlands since 1993, after fleeing war-torn Sarajevo. Drawing from family film archives, scenes of domestic life—discussions about politics and soccer on Sundays with her parents and brother, her son growing up, vacations “at home” in Bosnia—alternate with political events in the Netherlands—murders, scandals, growing social polarization, the rise of the radical right. Home Game offers a sometimes funny, often conflicted, and always sincere look at the director's life, which serves as a mirror for the current political climate in the Netherlands and many other countries.
Italian Premiere
(Doc / Austria / 2025 / 79')
“Peace is not the absence of war, but the presence of justice”. This is the motto of Manizha Bakhtari, Afghan ambassador in Vienna, who, following the Taliban takeover, found herself representing a country without an internationally recognized government. Despite financial and logistical isolation, Bakhtari defies the regime and continues to fight for the rights of Afghan women and girls. Through her “Daughters” program, she promotes clandestine education for young women in her country and leads the political resistance against the Taliban, becoming one of the most important international spokespersons for women in Afghanistan.
Italian Premiere
(Doc / Denmark, Czech Republic / 2025 / 90')
When Russia invades Ukraine, Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, a beloved teacher at a Russian school, is unwillingly drawn into propaganda. Known for his empathy and irony, he is now forced to promote state ideology as his school is transformed: militarized children's groups, repressive laws, students recruited for war. As the school's videographer, he documents the changes around him and becomes an international informant, capturing revealing footage of a changing society. When his safety is threatened, he plans a dangerous escape. The powerful story of an ordinary man who chooses truth in a system that punishes dissent.
Italian Premiere, Second Film
(Doc / Italy, Germany /2025 / 91')
Rocco is a heartbroken filmmaker who grew up surrounded by progressive ideals and failed relationships. After yet another romantic failure in Berlin, he returns to Salò, where his childhood friend Angelo lives. Angelo proudly calls himself a “toro” (bull) and seems to embody everything Rocco hates: ostentatious masculinity, old-fashioned gallantry, and a seemingly functional life. But there is much more than meets the eye. Toro is a surprising and tender story that starts with a clash between two opposing ways of being men and ends up recounting with disarming sincerity the rare value of true friendship, the kind that needs no masks. A disconcerting film.
