Veronika Kaserer

Both an activist and a documentarian, Valentina Pedicini also brings her background in anthropology to this impressively captured, claustrophobic nonfiction feature. Venturing beneath sea level, From the Depths profiles the lone woman at work in the last coal mine in Sardinia, Italy.

Heiko, 29, is a fun-loving dance teacher from Berlin. For the past seven years he has battled with a fatal illness. Just when his family and his friends had begun to get used to Heiko’s continued survival in spite of all the prognoses, he receives the diagnosis that he does not have much longer to live. He decides to return to his parents’ house to die. But even now, Heiko and especially his father, Jürgen, refuse to give up hoping for a miracle.

The Power of Mountain Herbs is a journey through the world of medicinal mountain plants. Set 3,000 meters above sea level, each episode focuses on a group of herbs, exploring their cultural histories across regions and their role in improving daily life within local communities. The episodes examine cultivation, harvesting, and processing, revealing centuries of knowledge behind their use in both folk and modern medicine.