Built to Survive

Thirty years ago, Tony Morales opened his hair salon on Hollywood Boulevard with dreams of catering to the rich and famous, instead he became a father figure to the many bit actors, outsiders, and runaways who had come to Los Angeles in hopes of a better life. HOLLYWOOD HAIR tells the compelling story of an unlikely 'family' that exists in the shadows of the world's most famous boulevard -- a place where dreams are born and die every day. Shot in stark black and white as a contrast to the typical glamorized images of Hollywood, this offbeat film shows a very real and unforgettable side of Tinseltown that most have never seen.

We Are Not Like Them connects four different locations in Europe and invites a quiet contemplation of these places as they are now in 2013. Using tropes of the early 20th Century documenatry film and the mid century espionage film to contextualise these sites (the former Wallsend and Walker shipyards in Newcatle Upon Tyne; Eisenhüttenstadt, a city on the eastern border of Germany, Nowa Huta, a city on the outskirts of Kraków in Poland, and the Groupe Scolaire L'Octobre).

Told from the point of view of a rescued buffalo, this is the story of a small town trying to find itself after the Armenian-Azeri conflict. The buffalo's reception by the other farm animals reflects the distrust rife in the countries of the post-Soviet world.

"Fugir" narrates the exile of five Ukrainian brothers fleeing the war. They leave their village, Nikopol, and for five days travel all over Europe by bus to Catalonia, where each of them will go with a different family. Longing for what they leave behind in their country and worrying about what will happen to them, they adapt to the new situation.

Falling through time as reality vanishes leaves only the soul's haunting.

Orthodox Jew Gedalia left the United States 20 years ago and went to Israel in search of his own place on earth. He and his family settled in a small village in the areas occupied by the Palestinians. Even though Gedalia doesn't care much about politics, a crisis brings to light the uncertainty that comes with living in such a place. Audience Award - Festival dei Popoli 2018.