Eating the Silence

"Mother married a photo of Father," says director Firouzeh Khosrovani in the opening of this deeply personal documentary. She's not speaking metaphorically though. Her mother Tayi literally married a portrait of Hossein in Teheran -he was in Switzerland studying radiology and was unable to travel back to his homeland for the wedding. The event illustrates the abyss that still exists in their marriage: Hossein is a secular progressive and Tayi a devout, traditional Muslim.

Young brothers Konrad and Baschi get into a fight that spirals out of control and leads to dire consequences. While the world outside their home crumbles, Konrad has just one chance to right his wrong.

Tracing the emigrations of his family over more than half a century, this riveting documentary epic from acclaimed expatriate Iraqi filmmaker Samir pays moving homage to the frustrated democratic dreams of a people successively plagued by the horrors of dictatorship, war and foreign occupation of Iraq.

Pensioner Roli comes to Fareed's assistance when the Syrian refugee is faced with the burial of his Muslim wife. Together they stumble into a bewildering forest of Swiss bureaucracy to which Roli finds beautifully simple answer.

Madrid, 1974. Six years have passed since Martin and his family have returned to Spain from Switzerland. A visit to their adopted country will bring complications.

A wide variety of Iraqis in exile meet at Café Abu Nawas in London, including the architect Amal, the poet Taufiq and the gay IT specialist Muhannad. They all want to finally feel free in London - something that was denied them in their homeland. But adversity threatens...

Fantasizes an 'Old' Middle East, wherein communities were not divided along ethnic and religious lines; a Middle East in which even metaphorical borders had no place

Jonas and Silvia are enjoying a wonderful sailing holiday in the Mediterranean sea. But while sailing through the night, far away from land, they discover an overloaded refugee boat, close to sinking. They are shocked, but too afraid to help. So they call the coast guards but lose the boat out of sight into the darkness of the night. In the early morning they find themselves drifting through an ocean of dead bodies. The refugee boat has sunk. Jonas and Silvia manage to pull a few survivors out of the cold water: Syrians. This rescue marks the beginning of a dramatic conflict between the hopes and dreams of the refugees, and the fears and ideals of the holiday sailors.

Nada is going home. Or at least she wants to. When she comes back to Lebanon, she realizes she's a foreigner in her own country. But there's still a place she calls home: an abandoned house in ruins, haunted by the presence of her grandfather who disappeared mysteriously during the civil war. Something happened in this house. Something violent. A young woman searching for the truth and discovering herself.

A murder, a police raid and a photo of a mysterious girl; a young mother must piece together her twin son's secret romantic life, in order to find out what happened to them.

When Muslims are shown in the media, they are often portrayed as the bad guys. And yet every year, over a hundred Swiss people convert to Islam. «I testify that there is no God but Allah and that Mohammad is His prophet.« The heroes of Shalom Allah study the new religion and begin their journey into Islam.

It has been 35 years since Maria left her newborn in a baby window. With the help of the authorities, she tracks down her daughter and meets Caroline for the first time. A DNA test is to prove their kinship. An increasingly close relationship develops between Maria and Caroline. However, unfulfilled expectations and quiet accusations threaten to break it time and again. The two women struggle together – until the result of the DNA test is available.

The blind ferryman Ayoub lives in the swamps of southern Iraq. One day he meets a mysterious woman and falls for her. Nobody believes that she exists. When even his neighbors turn away from him, he carries out a fatal act in desperation.

Maria, a Mexican migrant, is pregnant. Her husband Giorgio is sterile. She conceals the pregnancy from him out of fear he might suspect infidelity. Caught between doubt and longing, both seek tenderness elsewhere. Fascinated by the unknown, their feelings drive them into the depths of love. There, where only trust can prevent them from losing one another.

At the age of six, Adilia Alieva recorded her first radio performance. At the age of seven she performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 on stage, conducted by Leo Ginzburg. The story of this playful person’s life depicts her longings, dreams and experiences and accompanies her on her journey back to Russia, where she reunites with her sister after 17 years of absence, while being confronted with a dramatically changed city of Moscow.

The ten-piece afro-helvetic band “King Kora” starts a tour through Gambia, the home country of its kora player and singer Lamin Jobarteh. The band travels for nine days on a boat on the river Gambia, stopping at eight villages and cities along the shore to perform, and finally giving three large concerts on the coast. But what they find in this country does not always meet their expectations…