Leonard Retel Helmrich

A hooker is stranded at a bustop, and a man crashes his car next to a phonebooth there. The hooker is attacked by punks, but fends them off; the man is attacked by the phone, and doesn't fare as well.

Every year millions of people look forward to the first preparation of Hollandse Nieuwe, the popular snack of raw herring from the North Sea’s spring catch. But how do you find glory in the grueling pursuit of a once-iconic fish that even the queen no longer accepts as definitively Dutch? Raw Herring celebrates the cultural legacy maintained by Holland’s last great herring fishers even as new trends and foreign competition threaten their way of life.

Using performance to inspire critical reflection, Promised Paradise delivers fascinating and revealing insight into the social and religious undercurrents dominating Indonesian society today and the Muslim world at large.

What is youth all about? Before they could figure out what was happening, Xiao-Bu finds herself in a cat fight with Angel over a cigarette, Ah-Mi sleeps with Xiao-Bu’s boxer boyfriend, and Angel kisses Xiao-Bu. What could be worse? Imagine living with an alcoholic father who chose nothing in life but to stare out of a window. Picture the embarrassment if bird droppings stained your clothes just as you were asking someone out on a date. All three girls fall in love, feel hurt, forget and have experiences that are as random as 17 year-old Xiao-Bu’s coin toss which decides her future relationship with Angel.

The film tells a story of a Tarling Dangdut songwriter who loves being promiscuous but trying to serve an order to write religious Tarling dangdut song.

A documentary by renowned filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich about life in Majdal Anjar, a Syrian camp in Lebanon. The film takes us inside and shows what daily life is like for those whose lives are postponed and waiting to return to Raqqa.