S7.E9 ∙ Def Poetry Bay Area: Rafael Casal

A handful of young Iranian wrestlers dream of becoming the next Olympic champion, however it is not just the championships they have to wrestle their way through but the realities of their lives.

The "Duque de Alba" is one of the last three adult movie theatres remaining in Madrid. Rafael, the projectionist, works hard every day in order to make the place tidier. He hand-paints the movie posters himself, he puts flowers and houseplants around, he fits out the entrance... Even though pornography is mostly consumed online, the theatre works due to a fixed clientele. The "Duque de Alba" is, indeed, more than just an adult movie theatre: it is a shelter, a refuge. Yet Rafael has to face a new problem now: Luisa, the ticket clerk with whom he's worked with for more than thirty years, the only one who helps him make the theatre a better place, is about to retire.

A dream of love, freedom and peace in Afghanistan

A documentary that closely examines "Psychomobile 1", a theater project Lars Von Trier coordinated in 1996. 53 actors spent two months in a 19-room art museum improvising characters while Von Trier choreographed their moods and movements through a series of traffic lights.

Nebulas, self-hypnosis and Bornholm's caves bathed in red light and drone bass. A documentary about the painful relationship between parents and children are not a rarity - but Alexander Lind's first feature film is. Rasmus and his father live on the Danish island of Bornholm. The father, who is trying to move on from a searching and tumultuous life, is suffering from depression, which the son is afraid of inheriting. Unless he reconciles himself with his father, who himself never did the same with his own father. Worn VHS tapes from the family's past bear witness to the fact that weltschmerz is passed on from generation, unless you break the vicious circle in good time. 'Next Summer' combines the Nordic tradition of harsh family portraits with an expressive cinematic originality, which rather than distancing itself from the story demonstrates that it is possible to relate both in a human and artistic way to the people whose lives you have taken on the responsibility of portraying.

Four friends live their adolescence between the highways and pastures at the margins of the city. Towards the end of their primary education, a question emerges: What will they do in the future? For them life bears no mystery. In a city that traps them between the mountains and train tracks, at a school where they learn nothing. The days go by, ignoring the projects they may have. They only wait for classes to end so they can hang out with friends, and face together their arrival to an unwanted destination.