Break a Leg

On the front line of the Syrian war, a 30-year-old commander leads her female battalion to retake an ISIS-controlled city and emerges severely wounded, forcing her to redefine herself in this empowering tale of emancipation and freedom.

With the Cold War about to break out in Afghanistan, young, lifelong friends Suraya and Sima must question their life choices and moral principles when they get involved in opposite sides of the conflict.

Zilan, a young woman, returns to her home town looking for traces of her dead brother, killed by ISIS. But her town is not what it used to be: social and political tensions have escalated into a state of war. The people have risen up to demand their political autonomy and the police and army repress them with brutal force. But the city’s resistance will go on for more than 100 days and Zilan will not remain a passive witness. Based on the diaries of those who died fighting and the testimony of survivors, who are the protagonists of the film, Çelik's first feature explores concepts such as hope, friendship, sacrifice and loss in the struggle for freedom of a group of young people.

Diego, a Venezuelan urbanist, and Elena, a contemporary dancer from Barcelona, move to the United States with their approved visas to start a new life. Their intention is to boost their professional careers and start a family in 'the land of opportunities'. But upon entering New York airport's immigration area, they are taken to the secondary inspection room, where border officers will subject them to an unpleasant inspection process and a psychologically grueling interrogation.

Waiting for answers that don’t seem to come, Sica stares at the waves crashing against the coastal rocks. Her father, a fisherman, drowned in the sea. In an isolated corner of the world, Sica doesn’t lose hope. Even if she needs to go against the current.

Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, a female Kurdish fighter guides her fellow fighters in the resistance to defend their city, Kobanê, from the deadly threat of ISIS. A real story of war, sacrifice, love and hope that kept the whole world on tenterhooks.

Shamima Begum and Hoda Muthana made it into worldwide headlines when they left their countries to join ISIS. When they return, their countries don't want them back.

Catalan Francesca Llopis is a visual artist. She draws, paints, sews, folds, films, photographs. And she dates. One night at a wine-fuelled dinner, the vivacious – and single – grey-haired woman declares she longs to find a partner. Her friends protest, telling her she will find no better company than them. Still, she ends up downloading a dating app on her phone and starts setting up dates. Her beloved daughter has just flown the nest to explore the world and play music, so Francesca is left alone to deal with the new emptiness rumbling in her heart. She fills the gap with splashes of bright red paint as she calls her daughter and listens to her heavenly voice, which provides the beautiful soundtrack in a gloriously life-affirming tale about the art of staying young at heart.

Inspired by the music and life of Robert Wyatt, ​“Rock Bottom” is a self-destructive love story between Bob and Alif, a young couple of artists immersed in the creative whirlwind of the early 70s hippie culture. Drugs will turn a passionate summer into a nightmare in a journey through the themes of Wyatt’s music: the euphoria and anguish of artistic creation, the unconscious fascination with drugs, the disenchantment with routine and physical and mental degradation.

In a city ravaged by war, while society tries to cope with the consequences of war, a small girl found a peculiar way to survive. Home is the first short shot in the city of Raqqa, former capital of the Islamic State in Syria, after it has been liberated. The film reflects on the trauma of war through the powerful gaze of her young director, Syrian filmmaker Sevinaz Evdike, who has experienced it in first person.

Filmmakers Isaki Lacuesta, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, Gonzalo García Pelayo, Alba Sotorra, and photographers Isabel Muñoz, Castro Prieto, Díaz Burgos, and Ana Palacios explore their fears and how they affect their creative process, speaking directly to the camera, alone with the viewer.

Three college friends go on a creative retreat in the countryside to finish their dissertations. After university, Jana is planning on moving to Canada to study and Alba and Zoe want to live together. The hours spent together and the questions that emerge at the end of this chapter in their lives will mark their time in the house with nostalgia and an impending farewell.

"Ferida arrel MMM" is a collective film around the figure of the Catalan poet Maria Mercè Marçal composed by filmmakers of different generations who deep into her life and work with the intention of reflect the construction of female identity. But isn't just a simple tribute to Mercè, is also a mirror in which the directors experience their own reflection from Marçal views and proposals. A poet, translator, teacher, feminist, intellectual, mother... crossed in the mirror for multiple (re) construct a genealogy of women in pictures. A mirror identified as a woman and artist who talks about motherhood, language, female body, memory, popular tradition, nature, art, lesbian love, disease, death.

Djalal is a young man struggling to find his place in the real world. He is obsessed with Lord_Sex, his Internet avatar. He has been building his cyber identity since his teens, recording himself recreating military operations and uploading his videos to YouTube. He has thousands of followers. He also has one of the largest private collections of weapons and military equipment. Taking his dream to the limit, he enlists in the Spanish army and volunteers to go to the Afghan front. He spends six months there with his video camera, recording in his spare time. Then he decides to leave the army. But it's not because he's afraid, it's because he's bored: war isn't like in the movies.

Five women talk about their occupations, aspirations, and the rights and status of women in their Muslim countries.