Electing MS Santa | Raisa Razmerita | Romania | 1:36:15

 

Synopsis:

Politics in Moldova is no longer just a man's game—at least not in Elena's village. By launching a bold campaign for local office, 42-year-old Elena becomes the unexpected face of change. Her candidacy is more than a political race; it is the story of a woman determined to challenge deeply rooted patriarchal norms while her country stands at the threshold of a historic transformation, moving ever closer to the European Union.

 

Grandma | Muhammed Aliyev | Azerbaijan | 0:12:36

 

Synopsis:

Through memories of his late grandmother, the filmmaker embarks on a deeply personal emotional journey in search of closure. Revisiting fragments of the past, he reflects on love, loss, and the invisible bond that continues to exist beyond death. As memory and reality intertwine, the film becomes an intimate attempt to say the farewell that was never fully spoken, revealing how those we lose continue to shape our inner world long after they are gone.

 

Mystery of the Starry Squadron | Jan Borowiec | Poland | 1:15:00

 

Synopsis:

Mystery of the Starry Squadron follows the search for the lost 1930 Polish blockbuster The Starry Squadron, directed by Leonard Buczkowski—a landmark film that vanished during World War II. Following a trail of forgotten clues, the filmmaker embarks on a captivating investigation into the film's mysterious disappearance and its intriguing connection to Merian Cooper. Spanning continents, archives, and decades of history, the journey unfolds through hidden stories, long-buried secrets, and unexpected discoveries. Will the mystery of one of Poland's greatest lost films finally be solved?

 

Saip, Mon Amour | Delal Yatçi | Türkiye | 0:43:14

 

Synopsis:

Once the heart of an Aegean village, a historic school was closed in the 1990s when local children, like those in many rural communities across Turkey, began commuting to larger schools in nearby towns. Its closure left a profound social void, stripping the village of one of its most important communal spaces. Decades later, the school's former students—now elderly—return to the building. After successfully preventing its demolition, they embark on a collective effort to restore and transform the abandoned school into a vibrant gathering place for village life. Through their shared journey, memory, loss, resistance, and hope intertwine, revealing the enduring power of community and belonging.

 

Shadowless World | Afag Mammadova, Jamila Hashimova | Azerbaijan | 0:49:43

 

Synopsis:

Shadowless World is a poetic documentary that explores the timeless tradition of Turkic miniature painting and its distinctive vision of reality. Through the voices of artists, scholars, and cultural practitioners, the film unveils a universe where spiritual meaning transcends physical perspective, and where the absence of shadows becomes a profound symbol of a higher understanding of existence.

 

The Kartli Kingdom | Tamar Kalandadze, Julien Pebrel | France, Georgia | 1:44:00

 

Synopsis:

Kartli is the name of a former sanatorium in Tbilisi. Long abandoned, it has become a refuge for families displaced by war. As the building slowly crumbles, its residents continue to protest, yet nothing ever changes. Kartli stands as a fragile palace of life and death, where hopes of a promised land gradually dissolve into silence.

 

The Inheritors | Serge-Olivier Rondeau | Canada | 1:19:00

 

Synopsis:

The Inheritors is an intimate observation of a colony of ring-billed gulls nesting beside Canada's largest landfill, where they raise their young by feeding on human waste. Following the birds through a full breeding season, the film shifts between the perspectives of predator and prey as they face invasive scientific monitoring and increasingly aggressive deterrence through the ancient practice of falconry. Told through immersive cinematography and a richly textured soundscape, The Inheritors reflects on survival, coexistence, and the ecological future of a planet shaped by mass consumption and pollution.

 

Will Power | Lauro Rocha | United States of America | 1:07:22

 

Synopsis:

When a catastrophic stroke destroys the creative half of his brain days before his international breakthrough, a celebrated rebellious Russian performer wakes paralyzed - unable to walk, speak, swallow, or sing.

Filmed over several years, Will Power follows his fragile and nonlinear rehabilitation as fame fades and his family turns away. What begins as a medical recovery becomes something deeper: a dramatic confrontation with identity, limitation, and choice.

Challenging the certainty of prognosis, the film explores the possibility that the boundaries defined by science are not always the limits of human will.

 

Yugo Goes To America | Filip Grujić, Aleksa Borković | Croatia, Serbia | 1:27:00

 

Synopsis:

Four millennials from Belgrade, Serbia set off on a cross-country journey across the United States in a Yugo—a small Yugoslav car once infamously labeled the worst car ever sold in America. Traveling through 24 states from New York City to Los Angeles, they search for an answer to a simple yet profound question: what does it really mean to be the worst? Along the way, they reconnect with their own roots, meet passionate Yugo enthusiasts, and discover the unexpected ways a forgotten automobile continues to bridge two distant worlds.