Prisoners of the Ground

Documentary about loneliness in the elderly.

Horses mirror our non-verbal behaviour, which makes them perfectly suited as 'mirrors' in therapeutic sessions. In this short documentary, director Eva Sjerps shows from up close, focusing on the senses, what these sessions with youngsters look like. How do horses react to the children? And what does the horses’ reaction do to the adolescents? During these interactions, the horses mirror the behaviour of young people who contend with various problems. In the process, they are able to recognise their underlying feelings and behavioural patterns and can subsequently change them.

Whirling through the solar system is a physics-defying planet named Insomnia where time stands still. When an elderly artist is diagnosed with incurable cancer, his doctor suggests a visit to this celestial body as a way of stemming the progression of the disease. With the help of his filmmaker daughter, the artist prepares for a momentous interplanetary journey.

The narrow streets of the old city of Fez wind around walled houses, crumbling palaces and quiet courtyards. Rajae, a schoolteacher, reminisces about the gardens and streams–places once alive with mystery and discovery–that have now fallen into neglect or vanished entirely. As architect Rachid Haloui uncovers the hidden network of waterways and springs that shaped Fez, Rajae sets out to develop a play, determined to revive these stories. On a rooftop, the rehearsal begins. Elsewhere in the city, a poet recalls an old verse, a gardener tends one of the last remaining plots, and a dancer encounters the spirit of water. Their stories, rituals and songs, as well as the daily care of the city’s fountains and parks, reveal Fez as a city at a threshold–where memory and imagination resist dissapearance, and remain deeply intertwined with everyday life.

Stories about young Ukrainian dancers and their hasty flight to the Netherlands. You see their new life as refugees. The former conservatory in The Hague is a shelter for them where they collect their lives and find refuge in their profession: dance. The formation of a new ballet company, The United Ukrainian Ballet, is an important foothold in winning back their lives. They find comfort in each other and close friendships develop. In addition, there is the great love for ballet, for the dancers the best way to express themselves.